Tagging Non-Physical Assets Or Assets That You Cannot Reach

When performing a physical inventory of your assets, there may be times that your assets will not be easily accessed or physically present at your facility.  If these assets still need to be accounted for in your annual inventories, you have a few options to ensure they are included in your reporting.  Many of our customers have found ways to maintain visibility of assets that cannot have an RFID tag attached, or that are off-site.  

Examples include: 

• Equipment that is physically missing due to temporary work from home measures 
• Tradeshow equipment that is constantly moving and never actually in the office 
• Outdoor statues that cannot keep an RFID tag attached 
• Assets where an RFID tag might interfere with the operation of the asset (centrifuge rotors, small handheld devices, etc.) 
• Assets that contain electromagnets (example: MRI machine) because of the metal in the RFID tag’s antenna 
• Art pieces that physically cannot have an RFID attached 
• Buildings 
• Software that does not have a physical container 

Customers in these situations have the following options: 

1. Keep a binder of barcode tags for these assets, which you can pull out and scan as needed. 
2. Use a software that allows you to create manual asset entries without having to scan the asset such as our asset tracking software, RFTrack. 
3. Place a tag in an area nearby, but not physically on the asset.  For instance, in the case of an MRI machine you might place the tag somewhere just outside of the MRI room.
4. If there are multiple assets at the same off-site location, you could consider buying an extra RFID handheld scanner to take inventories when needed. 
5. Tag the case that the asset is kept in.
6. In the case of a centrifuge rotor, the stand that the rotor is stored on could be tagged.

These options will allow you to continue to take inventory as normal, even when you cannot physically access an asset.  You can still utilize an RFID asset tracking software for your business even if you have a good number of off-site assets that must be accounted for.  Our customers continue to create innovative ways to utilize their RFID technology to save time and increase visibility of their assets. 

Visit www.inlogic.com for additional information.