Remote assets are used in our everyday lives, and can vary from small portable devices to large engineering equipment or flexible storage units. They can be placed in fixed positions such as industrial generators or constantly moving like refrigerated food trailers.
In all cases, they have critical information such as location, operation, temperature, battery status, and fuel / oil levels that are essential for usage monitoring, diagnosing problems, service and maintenance. However, as most assets operate standalone at remote, moving or inaccessible locations, critical information is often out of date when collected during site visits or remains unused.
Minor equipment faults often go undetected, resulting in critical failures with machines being out of service and multiple site visits needed before they can be returned to a serviceable condition.
Equipment down-time results in reductions in revenue and increased service costs due to multiple site visits and the need for major repairs resulting from avoidable critical failures. So much is the fear of equipment failure, that many organisations over-service their assets, resulting in increased maintenance costs, lost revenue, and inconvenience to the customer.
Asset base M2M systems can automatically notify users of impending systems failures and provide essential maintenance and servicing information; utilising this essential information to drive service activities can realize Significant Cost Savings and Operational Benefits.
The availability of affordable GSM services, low-cost M2M hardware, and wide-spread Internet access has facilitated a new era of asset monitoring.
"Many industrial assets will be transformed by the ability to communicate electronically, enabling them to be actively managed, perform much more efficiently, and deliver increased profits and additional revenue opportunities". Harbor Research
Companies such as PearTrack Systems provide remote asset management, tracking and monitoring systems that enable organisations to better manage their remote assets. These 'TeleAsset' systems can provide critical time sensitive information such as GPS enhanced event alerts and usage information, allowing the user to effectively manage all their assets from a single web-based portal or desktop PC. This information can assist users in making informed management decisions based on up-to-the-minute event driven alerts and information regarding their remote asset.
TeleAsset systems connect remote assets (machines, equipment and devices) with business critical systems and people. Systems such as Pear">http://www.peartrack.com">Pear Track
TeleAsset solutions can increase profitability through reduced maintenance cost, better asset utilisation and improved productivity, while providing increased revenue opportunities by leveraging additional services and business models.
TeleAsset systems can prove invaluable in supporting business models and services that generate ongoing revenues, such as: pay-as-you-use, inclusive maintenance packages, supplying consumables, and equipment rental and leasing. As an example; Plant Hire, Equipment Manufacturers, Trailer Rental, and Consumable suppliers could dramatically enhance their revenue opportunities by embracing asset monitoring as part of their business model.
"Many companies have realised that for every dollar of goods sold, there can be anywhere from $5 to $20 of associated services and follow-on products, often at higher margins" Harbor Research
Critical information gathered from remote equipment and products can be used to improve asset management, drive down costs, and improve profitability. Companies need new ways of managing their assets, and being able to combine these with new business opportunities that grow revenues and strengthen customer relationships is a fundamental change from a conventional product/service based business models.
M2M systems can gather and communicate operational and alert information from almost any remote asset, regardless of type or location. This time-sensitive information combined with GPS derived positional and timing data can prove invaluable in the management of asset operation, maintenance, utilisation, and security.
TeleAsset units such as the PearTrack PT-700 can provide multiple inputs that can report operational alerts and asset specific faults. These inputs can trigger a real-time alert notification which can result in an alert notification being sent to a user in the form of an SMS and/or email message, ensuring that immediate action can be taken to prevent escalation of the problem and ensure that a timely solution is found.
Previously remote asset monitoring was restricted to permanently powered equipment, and the critical M2M link was reliant on the local power source - which is far from ideal. However PearTrack's ground-breaking long life battery powered TeleAsset devices allow the autonomous monitoring and management of all remote assets, even when there is no power available (containers, rolling stock, and storage facilities), or for security reasons when the monitoring device is covertly fitted.
Autonomous monitoring is not just for non-powered assets, when used to monitor powered assets (plant and equipment) or partially powered assets (articulated trailers and demountables), PearTrack's battery powered TeleAsset devices can also monitor the asset power source to ensure continuous operation; which is essential for many critical mobile services such as road-side traffic systems and flood relief pumps.
