Asset Tracking That Shows Where Every Asset Is & Who Has It
Barcode, QR & RFID Asset Tracking for Equipment, Tools, IT Devices & Everything Else Your Business Keeps & Uses.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Asset tracking is tagging each asset with a barcode, QR code, or RFID tag and recording every scan against a location and a person, so you know where equipment is, who has it, and when it is due back or due for service. A handheld RFID reader can read more than 1,300 tags per second without line of sight.
Where & Who
Every scan is stamped with a location, a person, a date and a time, so the record moves when the asset does.
Barcode, QR or RFID
Scan one at a time where someone can walk to the asset, or read a whole shelf or room at once with RFID.
Keep Your Asset Numbers
Your spreadsheet becomes the starting record. Existing asset numbers can usually be kept.
RECOGNIZE
You Might Need Asset Tracking If…
Your asset list lives in a spreadsheet that gets updated when someone remembers.
People spend part of their day looking for equipment that is “somewhere in the building.”
You have bought a replacement for something, then found the original.
Assets move between sites, departments, or trucks, and the record does not move with them.
Someone changes roles or leaves, and their laptop, phone, or tools do not come back with them.
FEEL THE COST
What Untracked Assets Cost You Today
The usual starting point is a spreadsheet, an occasional walk-around count, and one or two people who know where things are. That process costs more than it looks.
Search Time
Every minute spent looking for a meter, a laptop, or a pallet jack is paid labor that produces nothing.
Duplicate Purchases
When an asset cannot be found fast enough, the fix is usually buying another one.
Assets That Walk
Equipment leaves with people, trucks, and contractors, and nobody notices until the replacement order.
Missed Service Dates
Calibration, maintenance, warranty, and lease-return dates live in someone’s calendar, or nowhere, and get missed.
Records That Drift
Every move that is not written down makes the list less true. By the next count, nobody trusts it.
Count Labor and Errors
A manual count means walking every room, reading every tag, writing it down, and re-keying it later, with typing errors on the way in.
MODELED EXAMPLE
25 people losing 10 minutes a day to the search
- ≈1,040hours a year spent searching
- ≈$18,900a year in search time alone, before a single duplicate purchase
- ≈33hours of labor every time you count 2,000 assets
Assumptions: 25 employees each lose 10 minutes a day looking for equipment, across 250 workdays, at $18.12 an hour (the May 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics median annual wage for hand laborers and material movers, $37,680, divided by 2,080 hours). That is about 1,040 hours and roughly $18,900 a year in search time alone, before a single duplicate purchase. A full count of 2,000 assets at one minute each adds about 33 hours of labor every time you count.
RUN IT ON YOUR OWN OPERATIONpeople who search × minutes lost per day × workdays ÷ 60 × hourly wage
UNDERSTAND
How Asset Tracking Works
- 01
Tag It
Each asset gets a durable barcode, QR, or RFID tag chosen for its surface and environment: metal, outdoor, heat, or washdown. Existing asset numbers can usually be kept.
- 02
Capture It
Staff scan tags with a phone or mobile computer, or an RFID reader picks up a whole shelf or room at once without line of sight.
- 03
Record It
Every scan updates one system of record: what the asset is, where it is, who has it, its condition, and when it is next due for service, stamped with the date, time, and user.
- 04
Act on It
Check assets out to people and back in, run counts from a handheld, get alerts when something is overdue or due for service, and share asset records with the systems that need them.
THE RESULT
You can look up any asset and see where it is and who has it, check before buying a replacement, count without a clipboard, and hand an auditor, insurer, or finance team a list that matches the floor.
CHOOSE
Which Asset Tracking Approach Fits
Asset tracking comes down to three approaches, and most operations use more than one. Barcode and QR labels are scanned one at a time wherever someone can walk to the asset. RFID tags are read in bulk without line of sight. Device tracking follows the phones, handhelds, and laptops issued to people. You do not need to pick software first. Tell us what you track, where it lives, and how you count it today, and we scope the complete solution.
What it does not cover: live GPS location. Asset tracking records where an asset was last scanned or read at your sites. Vehicles or equipment that need a moving dot on a map across a region need GPS telematics, which is a different system.
Barcode or QR
Assets you count on a schedule: tools, IT equipment, furniture, test gear, and shared equipment that someone can walk to and scan.
LOOK FOR
- Check-out to named people, with self-checkout so a supervisor is not the bottleneck
- Due dates
- Condition logged on return, with damaged items taken out of circulation until they are repaired
- Limits on who can check out high-value equipment
- A date, time, and user stamp on every change
- A mobile app that keeps working offline in basements, job sites, and warehouses with poor coverage
CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY
How licenses are counted. Some asset tracking software licenses only the people who manage and record assets, so employees who just borrow equipment need no seat; others charge for every user. If staff will scan with phones, use QR codes: phone cameras read QR codes far more reliably than 1D barcodes.
HARDWARE
mobile computers or rugged handhelds, barcode scanners, a desktop label printer, and durable asset labels.
Issued Devices
Phones, rugged handhelds, and laptops assigned to people, often already managed by a mobile device management (MDM) platform.
LOOK FOR
- Software that works alongside your MDM and shares its device list
- An alert to the supervisor when a device is not back by end of shift, naming the item and the person, with escalation if it still is not returned
- Alerts scoped by department
- Warranty, maintenance, and lease-return dates with reminders
- Sign-in through your existing company directory
- A choice of cloud or on-premise hosting if your IT team requires one
CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY
Your MDM still manages each device’s software, settings, and security. Asset tracking adds custody, location, and service dates. It works alongside the MDM; it does not replace it.
HARDWARE
Asset labels for each device and barcode scanners at the point where devices are issued and returned.
RFID
Assets you need to find fast or count in bulk: high-value or fast-moving equipment, crowded shelves and cages, or so many assets that scanning one at a time takes a crew and a shift.
LOOK FOR
- Handheld RFID that reads a room in seconds and switches to a find mode that homes in on a single tag
- Barcode and RFID mixed asset by asset, so you are not locked into one method
- RFID tags printed and encoded in house, so new assets are tagged the day they arrive
CHECK BEFORE YOU BUY
Test tags on your actual assets first. A standard RFID label on metal loses most or all of its read range, and liquids interfere too, so metal assets need on-metal tags. Ask how you will re-order the same tag a year from now; low-cost tags are often hard to source again. For readers mounted at doorways and docks that record movement with no one scanning, see RFID Inventory Visibility.
HARDWARE
handheld RFID readers or RFID mobile computers, an RFID printer, and RFID tags, including on-metal tags.
IF YOUR PROBLEM IS NARROWER
- Audits, depreciation, and the fixed asset registerFixed Asset Tracking
- Checking tools and equipment in and out of a cribTool & Equipment Tracking
- Finding assets and inventory automatically with fixed RFID readersRFID Inventory Visibility
- Counting stock you sell or consumeCycle Counting & Physical Inventory
- Steel, pipe, lumber, and other material stored outsideOutdoor Material Tracking
Not sure which approach fits?
Answer six questions about what you track and where. We scope the complete solution, software, tags, devices, and rollout, and send back a quote.
BELIEVE
What It Looks Like in Practice
EXAMPLE
An Electronics Manufacturer Gets Control of Its Tools
THE STARTING POINT
An office equipment manufacturer tracked the tools and test equipment in its R&D labs and on its production lines in a shared spreadsheet. Errors in that spreadsheet caused production delays and added labor, and much of the equipment was metal, where barcode labels were hard to place.
WHAT IT DEPLOYED
It moved to RFID asset tracking: handheld RFID readers attached to mobile computers, and on-metal RFID tags printed and encoded in house on an industrial RFID printer.
WHAT CHANGED
Within a few days, its most critical tools were under control. Within a month, bulk RFID audits had cut the effort to track them sharply, and the production delays and extra labor caused by missing tools were nearly eliminated.
WITHIN A FEW DAYS
Critical Tools Under Control
The most important tools were tagged and tracked first.
WITHIN A MONTH
Far Less Effort
Bulk RFID audits sharply cut the work of tracking them.
THE RESULT
Delays Nearly Eliminated
Production delays and extra labor from missing tools all but disappeared.
TRUST
What Advanced Automation Delivers
Advanced Automation delivers the complete asset tracking solution: the software, the tags and labels, the printers and mobile devices, and the rollout. It starts when you reach out. We scope your assets, sites, and workflow, and take the project from there.
Scoping
We learn what you track, where it lives, who uses it, and how you count today, then specify the software, tags, devices, and rollout in one quote.
Tags and Labels
Asset labels and RFID tags matched to each surface, including on-metal, outdoor, and high-heat, plus Custom Labels and ongoing supply so every re-order matches the original.
Printing and Encoding
Printers set up to print barcode labels and print and encode RFID tags in house, so new assets are tagged the day they arrive.
Devices
Mobile computers, barcode scanners, and handheld RFID readers, staged and ready before they reach your site.
Rollout
Run it yourself with the software and hardware, or have us help with a site survey, tag testing, implementation, and ongoing training. Tag testing happens remotely with our demo equipment and tags, or on site when the project calls for it. We decide it with you, project by project. The timeline is set in your scoped quote; the biggest driver is how many existing assets need tagging before go-live.
Support After Go-Live
Hardware repair, parts, maintenance, and tag and label supply stay with AAI. Application questions go straight to the software’s own support team, so you never wait on a go-between.
Asset records can be shared with ERP, accounting, and IT service systems through the software’s own integrations.
RESOLVE DOUBTS
Asset Tracking FAQ
What Is Asset Tracking?
Asset tracking is recording where each physical asset is, who has it, and what condition it is in, by putting a barcode, QR code, or RFID tag on the asset and scanning or reading it as it moves. It covers what a business keeps and uses, such as equipment, tools, IT hardware, vehicles, and furniture. Stock a business sells or consumes is inventory tracking.
Should We Use Barcodes, QR Codes, or RFID for Asset Tracking?
Barcode or QR is enough when assets are counted on a schedule and someone can walk to each one; if staff scan with phones, QR codes read far more reliably than 1D barcodes. RFID earns its cost when assets move often, are too many to scan one at a time, or must be found without searching: a handheld RFID reader can read more than 1,300 tags per second from about 20 feet away. Most setups mix the two.
How Much Does Asset Tracking Cost?
Every operation is different, so every asset tracking solution is scoped and quoted to yours, based on what you track, how many sites and users you have, and whether you need barcode, RFID, or both. The Find My Fit questionnaire is the fastest way to a quote.
How Do You Set Up an Asset Tracking System if We Track Assets in a Spreadsheet Today?
The spreadsheet becomes the starting record. Existing asset numbers can usually be kept, each asset is tagged and scanned during the first count, and records that were wrong get corrected rather than carried forward. After that, every move is a scan instead of a spreadsheet edit.
What Asset Tags Work on Metal, Outdoor, or High-Heat Equipment?
A standard RFID label on metal loses most or all of its read range, so metal assets need on-metal RFID tags or rigid metal barcode tags. Outdoor, chemical, and high-heat assets need label materials rated for those conditions, and containers of liquid need tags designed for them. Tags are chosen per asset type, and a tag test on your own assets settles it before you buy in volume.
Does Everyone Who Borrows Equipment Need a Software License?
Not always, and it can change the cost a lot. Some asset tracking software licenses only the people who manage and record assets, so employees who just borrow equipment need no seat; others count every user. It is one of the first things settled when your solution is scoped.
Can Asset Tracking Show Where an Asset Is Right Now, or Alert Us When It Leaves?
It shows where an asset was last scanned or read and who has it, and it can alert a supervisor the same day when a checked-out asset is overdue. Detecting an asset leaving the building takes fixed RFID readers at the exits. It is not GPS: a live location for vehicles or equipment out on the road takes GPS telematics, a different kind of system.
How Do You Track IT Assets Like Laptops and Phones?
Tag each device and check it out to the person who uses it, so custody, location, warranty, and return dates sit on one record. If you already run an MDM, asset tracking works alongside it: the MDM manages the device’s software and security, and asset tracking adds who has it and when it is due back. Optional device agents can also report battery health and app usage.
GET STARTED
Find Out What Fits Your Assets
Answer six questions. We scope the complete solution, software, tags, devices, and rollout, and send back a quote.
THE SIX QUESTIONS
- 1How many assets you track
- 2What kinds
- 3How many sites
- 4How you track them today
- 5Whether you need alerts when assets are overdue or leave
- 6Whether you need to find them without scanning
WHERE THIS SHOWS UP
Asset tracking works the same way in every industry: tag it, capture it, record it, act on it. See how it applies to yours: