Whether in industry, construction and public works, logistics or maintenance, unfortunately the search for an equipment fleet management tool generally comes when problems have been building up for some time: loss of equipment, loss of time looking for it, loss of money to replace it or hire it out, loss of business due to cessation of activity because of a lack of available or repairable equipment, etc.

This is a great pity, because by using a traceability and management tool for materials and equipment, you eliminate all these unproductive inconveniences and benefit from many advantages:

• Your management is organised, efficient, proactive and in real time.
• You avoid losses.
• You anticipate maintenance and prevent breakdowns.
• You reduce your costs.
• You’ll save your teams time, keep them safe and improve their responsiveness.

The advantages of using software to manage a fleet of equipment are many and immediate

1. Tracking and tracing each item of equipment: by tagging each item in a fleet, you can list it in the IT database of your management tool, find out its location and status, track its allocation and movements, anticipate repairs and maintenance and keep a record of all these operations.
    Good digital tracking helps you minimise loss, theft and omissions, and optimise the use of resources by your teams, in real time.
2. Tracking maintenance and repairs: maintenance operations, repairs and replacements can be anticipated and scheduled. You can avoid unforeseen events, keep your equipment running smoothly and extend its lifespan. You can keep track of periodic checks, and all work carried out can be traced and logged in your software, so you can retrieve it instantly if you need it or if an inspection is carried out.
3. Optimise stocks and resources: the digital traceability of equipment enables you to track its use, identify unused or under-used equipment, redistribute allocations and make informed decisions on the purchase, hire or sale of equipment based on your real needs.
4. Controlling costs and budgets: an equipment fleet management tool also helps you to significantly reduce your costs: purchase, maintenance, repair, storage and equipment replacement costs, etc.
   Accurate monitoring of these costs helps you to better allocate budgets, forecast future expenditure and identify areas where savings can be made.
5. Safety and compliance: an equipment traceability tool enables you to ensure that your equipment complies with the safety standards for your sector, that employees work safely and that the safety measures in force in your sector are in place (compliance with regulations and standards).
6. Renewal and performance: digitised management of your fleet helps you to anticipate equipment renewal and plan its replacement in line with its lifecycle and technological developments. This avoids interruptions to your operations and ensures that your teams always have high-performance equipment.

With equipment management software, the savings are immediate and lasting.

You can evaluate these gains by estimating the savings you would make by answering the following questions:

• How much does lost equipment cost you each year?
  Traceability of equipment, tracking of assignments and entries/exits gives technical teams a sense of responsibility and involvement. It reduces losses and theft.
• How much time do you spend looking for your equipment or its documentation (invoices, warranties, technical data sheets, inspection certificates, etc.)?
  Traceability makes your organisation and your teamwork more efficient. The equipment manager is more relaxed, and the technicians are better equipped and more productive.
• How much do you estimate each year for breakage, equipment buy-back or hire, and problems linked to poor maintenance?
   With a traceability tool, these costs are eliminated. You can manage and plan the maintenance of your equipment so that it is always available and in good working order.
• How much do you estimate the number of work stoppages each year due to equipment not being available on time?
   By managing your equipment fleet more effectively, you can optimise your activity, manage equipment assignments, ensure that it is available at the right time and meet your deadlines.
• How much equipment, and at what cost, do you need to oversize your fleet in order to deal with unforeseen events?
   With a good management tool, you can reduce your stock of equipment, make savings on the size of your fleet and its storage area, improve the rotation of tools between teams and manage more sites with the same amount of equipment.
• How much do fines, accidents and work stoppages cost you if your equipment isn’t checked?
   With traceability for your materials, equipment and PPE, you know the status of each piece of equipment, you can manage repairs, maintenance, periodic inspections and their certificates. Your teams are safe.
• How much do management errors or billing oversights cost you?
   With a good equipment management tool, you can also track the availability of equipment on your customers’ sites and accurately calculate your invoicing costs, without the risk of errors in deadlines.

Other benefits for you: the quality of service you provide to your customers and the image you give them.

Good equipment management not only cuts costs, it also brings qualitative benefits that help you to develop your business, your competitiveness and your sales volume:

• Quality of your customer service: responsiveness, efficiency of technical teams, meeting deadlines.
• Brand image and reputation: an organised, efficient company.

The return on investment in setting up a materials and equipment fleet management solution is immediate in the face of all these expenses.

The gains you make across the board are immediate and lasting.