Ask most organisations how many assets they own and you'll get an estimate, not a number. That gap between the register and reality costs money in ways that are easy to miss.
The hidden cost of an inaccurate register
- Missed maintenance: assets that aren't on the register never get preventive maintenance scheduled.
- Audit findings: assets on the books that can't be found, or found assets that aren't on the books, both cause problems with auditors.
- Insurance and depreciation: you may be insuring or depreciating equipment you no longer have.
- Loss and theft: untagged assets are much easier to lose track of.
Identification, verification, tagging
These three steps work together:
- Identification: confirm each asset is correctly described and labelled, and find duplicates.
- Verification: physically confirm the asset exists, where it is, its condition and its value, and reconcile against your financial records.
- Tagging: attach a durable barcode or RFID tag so the asset can be scanned quickly in the field from then on.
What you get afterwards
With a verified, tagged register in your CMMS, technicians can scan an asset to see its history, manuals and open work orders. Managers can see total cost of ownership and make better repair-or-replace decisions. Your next audit becomes a scan, not a search.
Want to know where your register stands? Ask us about an asset verification project.