09 August 2022

IoT in Asset Management: Trends, Benefits, and Use Cases

Asset management is the process of monitoring and managing a company’s assets throughout its lifecycle in a cost-effective manner. It is an essential business process that helps an organisation keep track of all its assets and maximise their utilisation, helping ensure consistent growth and expansion for the company. With asset tracking being one of the most important capabilities offered by the Internet of Things (IoT), utilising the technology for better asset management is just the next step.

 

What IoT Brings to Asset Management

Dedicated asset management systems allow for easy access and updating of asset information. Generally, all assets are tagged with QR codes, barcodes, etc., that can be scanned with mobile devices. In these systems, the tags are the links that connect the assets to their data. With all the benefits of asset management solutions, IoT brings intelligence and automation capabilities, which allow real-time tracking of asset information without any need for human intervention.

Different types of sensors for pressure, proximity, temperature, acceleration, etc. can be used for different use cases. These sensors are attached to assets for the collection of relevant data, which is stored on cloud platforms.

 

Benefits offered by Using IoT in Asset Management

The top benefits of IoT asset management solutions include:

• Real-Time Tracking

With IoT-based solutions for asset management, you can get real-time information about asset location, operations, condition, etc., which can provide valuable data for making informed business decisions and planning.

• Asset Lifecycle Optimisation

The main aim of any asset in a business is revenue generation, which is also one of the primary reasons for ensuring an asset’s in good running condition. This requires having a clear idea about asset utilisation. IoT-enabled asset management helps track asset performance to assess whether it is meeting expectations. If it is not, preventive maintenance, better utilisation, etc. can be implemented.

• Better Management

IoT-based solutions allow for the easy monitoring of all assets, their condition, maintenance schedule, and performance in real-time. Removing the risk of human error from the process, IoT asset management solutions can help reduce operational costs.

• Avoid Breakdowns

Real-time monitoring of all assets allows for early detection of potential risks, so preventive measures can be taken to avoid breakdowns and unnecessary downtime.

 

Key Trends

The key trends in new-age IoT asset management solutions include:

• Remote Asset Tracking: The use of cloud-based technology allows access to asset information at any time, from anywhere.

 

• Monitor Asset Health: This is a cost-effective way to track asset health. IoT-enabled asset management can evaluate health indicators of assets and their maintenance history and even provide recommendations to improve the condition of the assets.

 

• Asset Lifecycle Management: Easy access to the entire portfolio of assets allows for the optimisation of the asset lifecycle, maximising the profit generated by the asset.

 

• Workflow Automation: The automation capabilities of IoT can help save time, accelerate business processes, reduce errors, and improve productivity.

 

• Predictive Asset Maintenance: Better understanding of performance thresholds allow for setting up relevant backup measures.

 

Use Cases

Nowadays, more and more businesses are adopting automated asset management systems with IoT instead of relying on traditional methods, like using excel sheets, job cards, etc. Here are a few use cases where IoT-based solutions facilitate better asset management:

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Optimization

This is an essential parameter that measures the production efficiency of a business, which can be significantly affected by breakdowns or maintenance downtimes. Proper maintenance of assets is essential for ensuring equipment availability and minimal downtime. By integrating IoT in asset management, real-time asset information, maintenance history, and OEM inputs can be analysed for creating the most efficient predictive maintenance schedules that ensure minimal downtime.

• Reduced Need for Human Intervention

IoT-enabled asset management allows tracking all assets and relevant asset information through sensors and cloud-based technology, minimising the need for manual intervention, which also helps reduce the risk of human errors.

• Enhanced Workflow

Reducing human intervention requirements, IoT-based asset management can automate end-to-end processes with continuous data collection.

• Quality Control & Management

IoT-based solutions for asset management offer deep insights into quality control and management of assets, allowing for detection and fixing of issues in real-time, which also helps maintain compliance.

• Location Tracking

IoT sensors allow for automatic tracking of any asset at any time.

IoT-based asset management solutions are the best way forward toward success for asset-intensive organisations.