Asset-intensive companies use a large number of equipment tags to locate and monitor their assets. They are a means to internally organize important physical capital and are heavily relied upon by employees. Many companies struggle with implementing these identifiers effectively, largely due to lack of an efficient equipment tag management solution.
The Issues
There is a significant lack of international standards surrounding the classification of equipment tags. This means that businesses are left to their own devices when it comes to managing the information included in their equipment tag guidelines. It takes a lot of time to come up with a central set of rules that integrate large amounts of information. This decreases productivity and breeds disorganization as companies grapple with protocols.
Another, more complicated issue, is the adoption of automated tools and software to organize and create equipment tags. Companies choose to use spreadsheets and other rudimentary systems as a cost-effective measure. These solutions, however, become cumbersome, as they are error-prone and difficult to manage. This makes it difficult to enforce tag standards, resulting in non-compliant tags and duplicate tags.
The Solution? Efficiency
The day-to-day operations of asset-intensive companies rely heavily on the performance of their technical assets. They need to ensure that they are able to effectively and efficiently maintain their equipment. Here are some tips on how to improve the efficiency of your equipment tag management:
The Naming Convention
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve efficiency is to establish a universal naming convention for your equipment tags. This will ensure that the amount of information in the tag is appropriate and well understood across the business. By simply adding a number or letter to represent a location, details are referenced rather than included in the equipment tag. This will simplify and shorten your tag, making it easier to read and input. Furthermore, it makes it easier for employees to request and create new tags.
Automation
Many companies opt to manually log and create new equipment tags. While it makes sense money-wise, it has the potential to be pricier in the long-run. Errors are especially prone when the organization of data is done manually; it’s no different with equipment tags. By implementing a software solution that automatically logs and makes new equipment tags for assets, issues and costs surrounding erroneous or duplicate tags are eliminated. This also prevents the creation of other errors, which have the potential to waste time and money down the line.
The Database
What’s the use of an effective naming convention and automated creation software for your equipment tags if there is no infrastructure to universally organize and pool them together? Building a database will help ensure that your newly established, efficient equipment tag management solution is neatly organized and easily accessible. By localizing your information and having it properly sorted in a central, digital location, employees will be able to readily and efficiently access the data needed to identify and track your assets. If the solution is cloud-based, they will also be able to obtain this information anywhere, at any time.
How Can NRX Help?
NRX AssetHub makes it easy to create complex tags through an established naming convention. By capturing site-specific naming requirements in a simple-to-use form with drop-down lists, assigning equipment tags is simple and error free. Our software also integrates with other EAM systems such as Oracle, SAP, and IBM Maximo. By importing your data from your respective EAM system, NRX AssetHub ensures that your equipment tags conform to corporate tagging standards, helping you avoid costly retagging and delays. If you want to learn more about how NRX AssetHub can help to create an efficient Equipment Tag Management system for your company, look at our Equipment Tag Management Brochure or contact us at 1-877-603-4679.
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