The larger the worksite, the harder it can be to keep track of vital tools and equipment.Over a typical day in mining, resources and construction, large numbers of trades arrive and depart. Multiple workshops require an extensive range of tools. Different teams have competing demands for equipment.
Whether stolen, taken offsite accidentally or lost in another team’s work area, leakage of essential equipment like power tools can impact budgets and deadlines.
Migration
Worksites are big, busy and chaotic. Tools and equipment are often used randomly across different teams and workshops.
Result? They turn up in unexpected places, with different people claiming ownership. Site migration can be a huge and costly problem on large, complex worksites.
Theft and loss
Tools go missing, never to be seen again. Sometimes they are taken home accidently, by visiting trades. Or they are stolen.
Batteries of various sizes and types are now staples on Australian worksites. Yet they are can also be difficult to monitor. Expensive batteries can be traded between workers or spirited away for unauthorised resale.
It’s incredibly hard to keep track of every single piece of equipment on major projects, with multiple tasks, teams and personnel involved.
Misuse
Premium power tools are costly pieces of equipment. Yet their value and working life are often reduced due to misuse.
Whether it’s due to carelessness, excessive force or ignorance, misuse such as kickbacks when operating an angle grinder can impact productivity, result in injury, void warranties and trash an expensive toolkit.
‘Smart’ solutions leveraging the IoT
The latest power tools offer smart features that help streamline asset management on site.
Site managers can ‘talk’ to these enabled devices via a communication adaptor, providing vital information about their current status. Digital etching confirms owner identity, preventing loss. Pin coding and sync lock control when, where and how equipment can be used, deterring theft. Active feedback technology reveals tool misuse, a trigger for user training to help prolong life and optimise worker safety.
Global tool supplier Makita has equipped its 40V and 80V max range of battery-powered tools and equipment with the XGT Xdefence Asset Management System.
According to Andrew Shaw, Makita’s Industrial Business Development Manager, these tools have an inherent advantage.
“On a typical mine site, key mobile equipment maintenance and fixed plant departments can safeguard their tools. Companies can deploy multiple tool kits to different users, each with its own built-in ID,” he said.
“This advanced asset management solution is both deterrent and diagnostic, uniquely protecting people and individual power tools while promoting work continuity.”