Tool Tracking System: How It Works and Where the Tag Goes

How does a tool tracking system work without a data plan per tool?

Each tool carries a crowdsourced tag, and any phone that passes reports it, so no tool needs a data plan. Any GPS tracker for tools needs two things: power and a data plan. A cordless drill's battery comes out for charging, and a tool bag or a gang box has no power at all. So a GPS tracker carries a battery that someone charges every few weeks or months, and a data plan to send each position.

A crowdsourced tag needs neither. It has no GPS receiver and no data plan. It broadcasts a Bluetooth signal, and any phone that passes reports where it heard the tag. These networks are large (Apple counts over a billion iPhone, iPad and Mac devices, and Google over a billion Android devices).

Small tools were rarely tracked, because nothing that small carried a tracker with web access and site alerts. The smallest tag is about the size of a coin, so it fits on a drill. A tag's battery lasts up to six years, depending on its size, so there is nothing to charge.

Updates follow people. A tool on a staffed jobsite updates all through the working day. One in a locked yard overnight updates less often, and picks up again when the yard opens. With no data plan per tag, tool tracking can cover every tool that leaves the shop.

This page is for contractors who share tools across crews and jobs. A one-person van crew mostly needs to know what got left at the last call, and tag tracking for plumbers and electricians covers that. When the van itself is the target, tool theft from work vans covers locks, parking and insurance.

Which tools belong in a tool tracking system?

A tool belongs on the map when someone would go looking for it. That covers power tools, test and survey gear, and anything that leaves the shop on its own.

Tag the container, not every item in it. The drill, charger and batteries in a case, or the hand tools in a bag, travel together. One tag on the case tells you nearly as much as ten tags on the tools inside.

Consumables do not earn a tag. Blades, bits, fasteners, tape and anything the crew uses up are cheaper to count at the shop than to track.

The brand does not matter to a tag. Some cordless tools carry their maker's tracker, found only by phones running that maker's app, so a shop with two brands keeps two lists. A crowdsourced tag goes on any brand, bag or gang box, and any phone that passes reports it. The guide to one map for every tool brand covers a mixed-brand shop.

Where does the tag go on each kind of tool?

The tag goes where the work cannot knock it off. A tag that falls off keeps reporting where it fell, so the map shows the tool in the wrong place. Anything that hammers carries its tag on the case. Anything oily takes a clamp, because glue lets go.

Anything that lives outside takes a sealed tag rated IP68. Steel weakens the signal, so a tag in a steel box goes near a hinge gap or a plastic panel. The figure shows six kinds of tool and where the tag goes on each.

The tag hardware options guide covers holders and mounts, and asset tracking tags explains what the IP rating means.

Tool tracking software: one shared map for every crew

Tool tracking software shows every tagged tool on one map, with the history behind each position. It works best as one record shared by every crew. Private spreadsheets drift apart, and nobody trusts any of them. One map that every foreman, shop lead and dispatcher reads becomes the answer to "where is it".

The tag records where a tool was seen and when. Who had it comes from your custody record: a sign-out sheet, a barcode check-out at the tool crib, or your ERP. A check-out scan shows where the tool was at that moment, and the tag keeps reporting after it.

Read together, they answer the question a foreman asks. The core drill was signed out Tuesday, left the job Thursday afternoon, and has sat at one address since.

The equipment sign out sheet has a free printable layout, and a tool crib checkout system takes over when a staffed crib outgrows paper.

What does the tracking history give you after a theft?

The tracking history gives you a dated trail: where the tool was, when it left, and where it has been reported since. While the tag stays with the tool, it keeps reporting as people pass. Each report gives police an address and a time. Hand those over, and do not go and collect the tool yourself.

Export the tool list each month and keep the file outside the platform. Put the serial number in the same row as the tag. The trail shows an object moved, and the serial shows it was yours. The timestamps come from the reports, not from someone typing them, so keep that column unedited in every copy.

The first-hour steps are in the stolen tool and equipment recovery playbook. Data export and API integration covers the file and the API.

Geofences that flag the exits worth acting on

The exits worth acting on come after working hours. A geofence logs when each tool arrives at a site and when it leaves. That covers the part of a sign-out sheet nobody fills in.

Draw each one at least a city block wide. The position comes from the phone that heard the tag. A tight fence can trip when a phone across the street reports a parked tool (how accurate tag locations are).

Start with the shop or yard, then fence the long jobs. A three-day call is not worth the setup. Tools move all through the working day, so an exit at 11 p.m. is the one to act on.

Keep fences to work sites. If an alert would show where an employee lives, redraw it.

What to expect from tag-based tool tracking

A crowdsourced tag keeps a dated location record for every tagged tool, case and box.

• Updates come from passing phones. Any phone that passes reports the tag. A staffed jobsite updates all day. A saw left in a vacant building updates when someone walks past, or when it moves somewhere busier. The GPS tracker for construction equipment guide covers sites that sit empty.
• Building-level position. The position comes from the phone that heard the tag. It gets you to the right job, truck or building, and the label on the case does the rest.
• Where, not who. A tag records where a tool was seen. Who had it comes from your sign-out sheet or crib.
• A hidden tag stays on. A tag in plain view can be pulled off. The spots above keep it out of sight.