Types of Construction Equipment and How to Track Each One

The main types of construction equipment are earthmoving machines, lifting and road equipment, towed and unpowered gear, and attachments and tools. Machines with engines get a ruggedized telematics device; the rest get a standalone tracker or a Bluetooth tag. Excavators, backhoes, bulldozers, wheel loaders, skid steers, motor graders, scrapers and articulated dump trucks are the core of a contractor's fleet and among its most valuable items. With engines, electrical systems and usually a diagnostic connector, they take a GPS tracking device in a sealed housing that reports location, engine hours, fuel, idle and fault codes. On newer machines, the manufacturer's own telematics data can also come into the same platform through the AEMP 2.0 (ISO 15143-3) standard feed. Engine-hour and idle data run maintenance and utilization; location and after-hours rules recover the machine after a theft.

Cranes, telehandlers, boom and scissor lifts, forklifts, pavers, milling machines and rollers take the same device, with two extra needs. Many require a certified operator, and the fleet wants to know who ran the lift. The device can also log a hard impact, such as a roller hitting something, as a harsh event. Driver ID readers on the device's expansion port link each session to a person.

Compressors, generators, light towers, trailers, water and fuel tanks, plate compactors and concrete equipment move behind other vehicles and often sit for weeks. Most of this gear takes a standalone tracker with its own GPS, such as the battery-powered GO Anywhere, so it reports wherever it sits, including sites your trucks don't visit or out on rental. Smaller items that ride with your own trucks can take a Bluetooth tag, which a nearby GPS tracking device fitted with the IOX-BT module reports. A generator with an engine can take a powered device for hours and fuel, though a battery tracker usually shows where it is and whether it moved.

Buckets, hydraulic breakers, augers, forks and grapples are worth thousands each and move between machines constantly. Survey instruments and laser levels cost as much and fit in a truck cab, and power tools walk off. All of them take Bluetooth tags, which are small enough to go on almost any item worth tracking, seal out site conditions and run up to three years on one battery. Your GPS-tracked trucks and machines are the readers, so coverage follows the fleet. A tag no reader has heard for a set number of days raises an alert before the next job needs the item. High Point GPS installs all three kinds of hardware for contractors across Canada and the United States.

High Point GPS uses this pairing when scoping a contractor's fleet. Start with power, then ask how often your own trucks pass the asset.