There's no doubt that you've heard the advice, "Don't sweat the small stuff."

Great guideline for life, but often impossible for fleet managers.

Along with the yellow iron, there are hundreds of other assets flying below the radar such as trailers, containers, portable heaters, welders, pumps, and the like.

Those unpowered items have traditionally stayed outside the connected fleet, causing a visibility problem for managers. 

Where are they? How many do we even have? Can I track my lunch, because I think someone's been taking it?

Okay, maybe not that last one.

The telematics experts at Trackunit have introduced Spot S300, a battery-powered fleet tracking device specifically for all that unpowered equipment.

It takes just minutes to mount and activation is as simple as peeling off a sticker. Reporting starts almost immediately, the company says.

Spot S300 is the successor to Trackunit's Spot 2, but with enhanced reporting frequency, cell coverage, and deeper device intelligence.

The details

Spot S300 provides its connection over LTE Cat 1 bis, running on standard 4G networks worldwide. It reports its position four times a day by default, which can be adjusted easily in the Trackunit Fit app and in Trackunit Manager.

"Spot S300 is not an incremental update," said Heini Hoff Brondum, SVP of IoT Devices at Trackunit. "It's a ground-up redesign around what construction and rental operations actually need. Dependable data, easy deployment, and battery intelligence." 

In Trackunit Manager, Spot S300 devices are visible alongside powered equipment and tools. That data also feeds Trackunit IrisX, the company's operating data platform for construction, where fleet managers can build reports and dashboards tailored to how their business runs.

Contractors can see which assets are active, idle, or sitting in the wrong location, and act on that information before it costs time or money. Greater visibility enables contractors to increase equipment utilization, reduce the time and cost of locating and coordinating assets, and maintain tighter control over project costs.

Vorster: Attack the causes of equipment cost

Speaking of utilization, rental companies can also use Spot S300 because it closes the gap between contracts and reality. Managers know exactly where every asset is when a rental period ends, equipment for off-rent pickup is located without a phone call, and assets get back on rent faster.

Faster recovery and redeployment enable rental companies to reduce collection costs, increase utilization, and generate more revenue from their existing fleet. 

With pre-built IrisX Blueprints, fleet managers can put data insights to work on automated tasks including flagging out-of-contract usage and reporting idle cost. The result is less manual reporting and faster decisions on every jobsite.

As for batteries, Trackunit says the devices achieve up to seven years of battery life before replacement. Also, device health insights include alerts on battery status so fleets can act before the power runs low.