Asset tracking is the process of monitoring the location, status, and movement of physical assets—such as vehicles, equipment, and tools. Today, innovative fleets are adopting IT asset management by leveraging modern technologies like GPS, RFID, barcode scanning, QR codes, and cloud-based solutions. Asset tracking systems provide real-time visibility into where assets are and how they are being used, helping businesses improve utilization, reduce loss, minimize downtime, improve operational efficiency, and streamline asset lifecycle management. 

Samsara’s Asset Tracking solution helps businesses protect and manage their physical assets by providing real-time visibility into location and usage. Offering an easy-to-deploy platform and industry-leading capabilities, field teams can quickly locate equipment, while back-office teams can remotely monitor assets and improve efficiency. Some benefits Samsara offers include:

• Protect equipment from loss and misuse: Minimize theft and misplacement with proactive location tracking and geofence alerts, quickly track high-value unpowered assets with Find My Asset, and prevent unauthorized use with movement-based alerts.

• Optimize asset operation and utilization: Pinpoint inefficiencies and right-size inventory with Utilization and Dormancy Reports, and prevent downtime with usage-based maintenance and real-time fault code alerts.

• Boost productivity and service: Manage all assets from a single view to reduce manual work, automate inventory reporting, and improve customer experience with shareable visibility links.

Some powered equipment that Samsara can track includes generators, light towers, forklifts, skid steers, excavators, backhoes, dozers, specialty heavy equipment (yellow iron), chassis and reefers with powered systems, pallet jacks, concrete saws, and more. Some unpowered equipment that Samsara can track includes roll-off containers, dumpsters, water tanks, intermodal containers, portable tanks, flatbed trailers, dry vans, chassis, tankers, specialty trailers, tool cases, manual pallet jacks, concrete saws, laser levels, portable pumps, portable toilets, cable reel trailers, arrow board trailers, pole setters, and more.

Equipment tracking uses real-time technology to track the condition, performance, location, and utilization of physical assets, such as vehicles, trailers, and equipment. It provides real-time visibility into how equipment is operating, helping businesses improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and address issues before they lead to failures.

Samsara's Equipment Tracking solution gives operations teams comprehensive asset visibility from a single platform, from small toolboxes to heavy yellow iron. Some benefits Samsara offers include:

• Get the most out of every asset: Unlock revenue with comprehensive asset visibility, avoid unnecessary purchases by reallocating underutilized assets, keep jobs on track with the right assets in the right place, and improve scheduling and billing accuracy to prevent financial losses.

• Catch and address maintenance issues early: Reduce costs with digital workflows, save time by automating inspections and issue reports, prevent emergency repairs by addressing issues as they occur, and extend asset lifespan with preventive maintenance programs.

• Prevent theft and recover lost assets: Prevent loss with real-time tracking and anti-theft tools, track and locate any asset anywhere, detect theft through movement and tampering alerts, and recover stolen assets with ultra discreet tracking.

• Help operators work safely and efficiently: Mitigate risks with guided workflows and mobile training, streamline training with custom courses, protect operators with critical safety content in the field, and ensure compliance by digitizing forms and checklists.

The Samsara Asset Tag is an ultra-rugged, discreet asset tracking solution that uses Bluetooth technology, along with the Samsara Network, to provide real-time location tracking of the assets they are attached to. Samsara offers two rugged tracking solutions to protect assets of any size.

• Asset Tag: About the size of a "fun size" candy bar, this tag is designed for larger high-value equipment like skid steers, generators, and trailers. It features a battery life of up to 6 years.

• Asset Tag XS: Our most compact option, the size of a "bite size" candy bar. It is designed for smaller, mission-critical items like power tools, hand scanners, and laptops. It features a battery life of up to 3 years.

Both tags work by connecting to the Samsara Network, an industrial network that consists of millions of Samsara-connected devices that travel on 99% of major U.S. roads. Some benefits the Samsara Asset Tag offer include:

• Proactive theft prevention: Don't wait until an asset is long gone to realize it's missing. Immediately know about a "Left Behind" incident to prevent potential loss before it becomes a permanent theft.

• Investigate and recover: Coordinate a quick recovery when an asset is marked “Missing.” Message drivers or share the live location with law enforcement. See critical context with Street Sense to view the area where it was last seen.

• Pinpoint asset location: Locate tools faster with Compass Mode. Powered by ultra-wideband (UWB), it provides real-time distance and directional guidance with an on-screen arrow leading straight to the asset.

• Unmatched visibility: Track assets in more places than ever before. The Samsara Network consists of millions of Samsara-connected devices that travel on 99% of major U.S. roads.

Samsara offers operations-grade asset tracking for every industry, including assets such as concrete saws, generators, rebar scanners, core drills, utility locators, bulk tank trailers, dry van trailers, unit load devices, aircraft engine stands, truck tractors, zero-turn mowers, aerial lift buckets, air compressors, wood chippers, survey equipment, flatbed trailers, message board trailers, traffic control equipment, water meters, light towers, medical equipment (i.e. defibrillators), tanker trailers, pumps, telehandlers, surveying equipment, cable reel trailers, and more. 

For example, Hoskins Equipment saved $120K in potential replacement costs in one year after deploying Asset Tags, recovering three forklifts in three months and protecting an $80M equipment fleet.

An asset management solution is a system that helps businesses track, monitor, and optimize their physical assets, such as vehicles, equipment, and inventory, throughout their lifecycle. It provides visibility into asset location, utilization, maintenance needs, and performance, enabling organizations to reduce downtime, improve efficiency, extend asset lifespan, and maximize profitability.

Samsara offers a suite of industry-leading asset management solutions, including Asset Gateways, Asset Tracking, Equipment Tracking, Asset Tags, Smart Trailers, Connected Workflows, Connected Training, Fleet Maintenance, API integrations, and more. With Samsara’s asset management solution, organizations have full control and visibility over their assets. With comprehensive tracking, maintenance management, and proactive risk management, businesses can optimize utilization, prevent disruption, and ensure compliance, helping reduce operating costs, drive revenue, and streamline critical tasks across even the most complex operations.

You can prevent equipment theft using fleet management technology like Samsara Asset Tracking. Samsara unlocks real-time visibility across an asset fleet, enabling you to minimize theft, improve utilization, and maximize profitability. With Samsara, you can track assets such as:

• Unpowered equipment: Tracking unpowered equipment, like dumpsters, shipping containers, or generators, helps prevent theft and streamline inventory management with ruggedized battery-powered trackers across job or construction sites.

• Powered equipment: Tracking powered equipment helps monitor usage and ensure equipment is being utilized effectively before your fleet rents or purchases additional equipment. 

• Heavy equipment: Tracking heavy equipment, like loaders or excavators, helps keep these assets out of the shop and avoid breakdowns by addressing issues instantly with engine diagnostics and fault codes. 

• Trailers: Tracking trailers like dry vans, flatbeds, and reefers reduces downtime, improves supply chain efficiency, and improves the bottom line.

Samsara Equipment Tracking offers industry-leading technology that enables you to prevent theft and loss, such as:

• Geofence Alerts: Geofence Alerts let you set up virtual boundaries around locations like job sites, yards, or customer locations. When an asset enters or leaves a geofence, the system generates a real-time alert. This helps you monitor asset movement, reduce theft risk, ensure vehicles and equipment are where they should be, and streamline site operations.

• Find My Asset: Find My Asset is a dashboard function that lets you request a real-time location check-in for any Samsara-tracked asset. This is especially useful for critical, unpowered equipment that may not have a constant power source. It helps you track down lost, misplaced, or stolen items, reduce time spent searching yards or sites, and speed up asset recovery.

• Live Location Sharing: Share the real-time location of a vehicle or asset with stakeholders (like customers, project managers, or receiving sites) via a unique link, without giving full account access. This improves coordination, ETA accuracy, and customer transparency.

• Inventory and Dormancy Reports: Inventory Reports show the up-to-date status and location of all your tracked assets, helping you manage inventory levels, plan usage, and avoid loss. Dormancy Reports highlight assets that haven’t moved or have been unused for a set period—enabling you to identify underused equipment, optimize asset allocation, and right-size your fleet.

You can also use Samsara’s Asset Tag to protect small equipment and reduce theft. By using the Asset Tag to track small equipment, like laser levels, pallet jacks, portable pumps, skip loaders, and more, fleets can reduce theft and ensure employees have the tools and resources they need to operate at top productivity, reducing downtime and improving efficiency.

Poor asset visibility leads to unnecessary purchases, idle equipment, and missed revenue. Samsara helps you unlock hidden revenue with 360-degree asset visibility, so you can avoid unnecessary purchases by identifying and reallocating underutilized assets:

• Utilization and Dormancy Reports: Pinpoint inefficiencies and right-size your inventory. You can also quickly identify underutilized assets to rent out, reallocate, or sell.

• Time on Site reports: Track how long equipment was deployed at each client site, improving billing accuracy and uncovering assets that aren't pulling their weight

• Map Overview: Generate a consolidated view of every asset across all locations, eliminating yard hunts and manual inventory checks.

Bluetooth asset tracking uses short-range wireless signals from small tags attached to equipment or tools to communicate location data to nearby connected devices, which then relay that information to a cloud platform. Samsara's Asset Tags and Asset Tag XS take Bluetooth tracking to an industrial standard: 

• Samsara Network: The Samsara Asset Tag is powered by an industrial-grade Bluetooth network made up of millions of Samsara-connected devices traveling on 99% of major U.S. roads, providing far greater location coverage than a closed fleet mesh.

• Enterprise-grade connectivity: Samsara Asset Tags provide up to 10x better yard accuracy than previous-generation trackers. Samsara devices are also ultra rugged and built for the toughest conditions, suitable for harsh job site conditions with IP69K and C1D1 certification.

• Track your assets anywhere: Compass Mode uses ultra-wideband (UWB) to guide users to an asset's exact location with real-time distance and directional guidance, even when hidden in a truck bed, a busy job site, or a storage area.

Unplanned equipment downtime causes project delays, labor costs, and emergency repair expenses, all of which are significantly more costly than proactive maintenance. With Samsara Equipment Monitoring, fleets have real-time visibility into the performance and health of their asset fleets, enabling them to take a proactive approach to asset maintenance. Samsara reduces unplanned downtime through:

• Real-time fault codes delivered the moment an issue is detected, not in batched uploads, giving teams the window to act before a breakdown occurs

• OEM telematics integrations that capture rich equipment diagnostics without installing aftermarket hardware, reducing maintenance issues and asset breakdowns.

• Usage-based preventive maintenance scheduling that triggers service reminders based on engine hours and actual usage, not arbitrary calendar intervals.

• Automated workflows streamline inspection reports, maintenance logs, and issue escalations from a single platform.

For example, Fraley & Schilling leveraged Samsara to save $240,000 per year by reducing out-of-route miles, tractor-trailer downtime, and fuel costs.

Managing equipment across dispersed job sites without centralized visibility leads to yard hunts, duplicate rentals, and assets sitting idle at the wrong location. Samsara streamlines asset management by consolidating your assets and siloed data into one unified platform:

• Map Overview: Manage your physical assets from a single view. Reduce time-consuming yard hunts or manual work to locate assets across all sites. 

• Geofence Alerts: Receive automatic notifications when any asset arrives at or leaves a specific site or risk zone.

• Utilization and Dormancy Reports: Keep jobs on track by ensuring assets are at the right place, at the right time. Avoid unnecessary purchases by identifying and reallocating underutilized assets.

• Asset Scheduling: Increase visibility, save time, and improve back-office workflows with job scheduling for powered and unpowered assets.

Live Sharing: Improve customer experience by extending equipment and job-site visibility to your clients with shareable links.

Samsara offers an expansive integration ecosystem featuring over 350 API integrations through the App Marketplace, including integrations for asset tracking and OEM. 

Some integrations that Samsara offers include Caterpillar VisionLink, B2W Maintain, Clue, CreteSuite, EarthWave FleetWatcher, Fontaine Modification, Rivian, Carrier Transicold, Daimler Truck, Hyundai Translead (PDI), Vanguard Truck Centers, MHC Kenworth RoadReady, Liebherr, International Truck Specialty Centers, Ford Pro, Rush Truck Custom Vehicle Solutions, Navistar Gateway Integration, General Motors, Thermo King, Mobilisights, Volvo Construction CareTrack, Vermeer Telematics, and more.

Customers achieve significant return on investment (ROI) from leveraging Samsara asset tracking, driving improvements in safety, utilization, efficiency, and cost-savings. Here are a few examples:

• City of El Paso: Recovered a stolen excavator worth $1.3M by tracking its journey in real time with Asset Tag, recovered a stolen pickup truck and trailer that crossed state lines, reduced mobile usage events by 80%, reduced accidents by 29%, saved $145,000 in accident-related costs, saved $50,000 in potential legal charges via driver exoneration, achieved a 24% decrease in idling saving approximately $100,000 annually in fuel costs, and reduced an estimated 680,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year.

• Cable East: Recovered an estimated $2.5M in assets over four years across 400+ assets for a telecommunications construction company in northeast Georgia. Director of Risk Management Billy Porter stated, "I can physically put my hands on $2.5 million in assets that we never would have seen again without Samsara."

• Hoskins Equipment: Saved $120,000 in potential replacement costs in one year after losing three forklifts in 12 months prior to Samsara, recovered three forklifts in three months using Asset Gateways, protected and managed an $80M equipment fleet, generated an estimated $300,000 in additional annual revenue by redeploying underutilized equipment to billable jobs, and achieved a 97% decrease in harsh events with AI Dash Cams across a high-reach equipment rental operation managing 2,600+ pieces of equipment.

• Grand Isle Shipyard: Recovered over $100,000 of stolen equipment including a skid steer using Asset Tags across a fleet where $10M worth of oil rig equipment had previously been tracked entirely on spreadsheets, reduced distracted driving by 99%, no-seatbelt use by 91%, and at-fault accidents by 50%.

• DeSilva Gates Construction: Protected their $200M equipment fleet from theft using Asset Tags, eliminated $60,000 in annual administrative labor through automated asset tracking, reversed 90% of insurance claims with dash cam footage, and saved $2.34M annually by preventing equipment delays caused by paperwork inefficiencies.

• Emery Sapp & Sons: Deployed Asset Tags with AT11's discreet placement on equipment costing up to $150,000 per unit, ensuring thieves cannot remove the tracker, reduced DOT-reportable incidents by 40% YoY, cut mobile device use by 65%, and improved their FMCSA score by 11%.

• Michigan State University: Protected $1M+ in assets across 5,000 acres and 16 satellite locations, reduced idling by 71% saving $60,000 annually, achieved a 30% increase in hours between PM cycles, and reduced the time needed for a company-wide asset audit to a matter of minutes.

• Hydromax USA: Recovered a high-value LAMP II robot within 36 hours after a theft incident, eliminated expedited shipments from not knowing where precision tools were located, reduced the time needed for a company-wide asset audit to a matter of minutes, and improved Safety Scores by 9% year over year.

• Buckeye Power Sales: Tracked over $500,000 worth of equipment with Asset Tags, saved 40 hours annually on inventory audits, generated an estimated $300,000 in additional annual revenue by redeploying underutilized generators to billable jobs, saved 250+ technician hours annually, recovered an excavator from a non-paying customer collecting $12,000 in outstanding billing, and intervened via geofence alert when a rental unit was moved 90 minutes from its contracted location.

• TEAMS Transport: Recovered 100% of previously lost pallet jacks saving over $19,000, saved $389,000 in trailer maintenance and tire-related repairs, cut insurance claims by 39% saving over $1M in insurance-related costs, and reduced HOS violations by 63%.

• VLS Environmental Solutions: Recovered a stolen truck with sensitive materials worth approximately $600,000 using Asset Gateway, saved over $800,000 in annual auto claims, extended vehicle operational life by 15%, reduced fleet-wide CO2 emissions by 10%, increased their alternative fuel fleet by 20%, and saved over $350,000 annually in fuel costs across 500+ vehicles at 50+ locations.

• Sunrun: Recovered a stolen vehicle within 15 minutes using live GPS tracking, improved vehicle utilization by 23%, avoided new vehicle purchases by reallocating existing vehicles, and reduced vehicle incident rates by 32% in under one year across a fleet of 3,000+ vehicles in 22 states.

• Market Express: Combined Asset Gateways with Cargo Monitors to reduce trailers sitting idle for 14 or more days by 60%. 

• Heath: Overhauled asset visibility across 1,600 pieces of field equipment, recovered a $35,000 unit that would have been lost forever, and eliminated the manual tracking burden that once left $1.5M in assets unaccounted for.

• ChampionX: Gained real-time visibility into their assets and fleet operations to reduce downtime, recover lost inventory, and proactively protect critical deliveries. Previously untracked totes often sat idle or went missing, driving millions in losses due to daily rental fees of nearly $5 per inactive unit. Today, asset data is centralized in a shared platform, creating a single source of truth across teams and establishing a clear chain of custody. 

• City of Poughkeepsie: Protected $200,000 worth of assets including mowers and tractors, reduced accidents by 25% in four months, proved no-fault in one major accident, and saved thousands by bringing vehicle repairs in-house across a public works department serving 30,000 residents.

• Caddo Parish Public Schools: Recovered three stolen school buses saving $420,000 in replacement costs, saved up to $100,000 annually in engine repair costs, reduced distracted driving by 26%, achieved a 100% decrease in major incidents, and now operate $2M under their previous annual budget.

• Sterling Crane Canada: Used Asset Tags, Asset Gateways, and Vehicle Gateways to protect mission-critical crane assets across 16 branches, improved proactive maintenance by 14%, saved $517K+ in annual maintenance labor, saved 10,000+ technician hours, saved $1.2M in driver downtime through Connected Workflows, saved $1.5M in labor costs, and achieved estimated overall maintenance savings of $3M+.

• Collins Trucking: Completely eliminated trailer loss and in-person yard hunts after seven trailers went missing simultaneously, achieved 91% of trailers sitting dormant for less than three days, reduced accident rate by 40%, and completely eliminated rear-end accidents.

• Road Commission of Kalamazoo County: Used Asset Gateways and Site Visibility across 85+ assets to achieve $60K in immediate cost savings, eliminated a 1 to 2 day lag in back-office processing, saved approximately 15 hours per month, and exonerated 6 drivers with AI Dash Cams.

• Lodging Solutions: Saved up to 500 hours of staff time each storm season with Asset Tags that perform reliably on idle assets across 1,000+ trailers and 1,700+ pieces of equipment, replacing a previous provider whose hardware failures and battery drain left operations teams chasing device issues.

• Hope Gas: Recovered a stolen side-by-side valued at $40,000, achieved a 20% decrease in excessive idling, and reduced catastrophic vehicle failures by an estimated 12% across natural gas operations serving 125,000 customers in West Virginia.

• Walthall Oil Company: Greatly reduced the time mechanics spend locating assets in the field, eliminated guesswork when dispatching for emergency deliveries using Asset Tags and Asset Gateways, saved over $5 million in liability exposure using AI Multicam, achieved a 73% drop in max speed events, and achieved a significant reduction in insurance premiums across 10 regional locations in the Southeast.

• Maxim Crane Works: Increased billing for excess equipment usage by 27% year over year using Vehicle Gateway data, saved approximately $13M in 2024 through predictive maintenance, reduced harsh driving events by 94%, and saved $894,000 in insurance expense reduction with liability claims down 30% across 60+ locations.

• Certarus: Saved $500,000 in maintenance costs, saved 8,500 hours from digitized billing, and contributed to $100M+ in new contracted revenue by using Equipment Monitoring to provide detailed chain-of-custody reports for customers' compliance needs across 19 locations.

• LAZ Parking: Unified siloed data systems across 1,500+ vehicles using real-time data integrations, eliminated 40+ hours of data entry each week, and used their documented operational efficiency as a key factor in winning a record-breaking $370M contract.

• City of Atlanta: Achieved a 70% increase in accurately tracked mowing operation work orders using Equipment Monitoring to confirm FAA-required grass mowing heights across 4,700 acres surrounding the world's busiest airport.

• AWP Safety: Used Equipment Monitoring across 7,300 assets across 28 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, reducing speeding by 74%, seatbelt violations by 73%, and mobile phone usage by 81%, while improving coaching effectiveness by 75% and coaching timelines by 38%.

• ConGlobal: Used Samsara reports to inform fleet rightsizing and electrification decisions, successfully transitioning one location to a 100% EV hostler-driven intermodal yard with 35 EVs in operation and 12 to 15 more planned.

• Mohawk Industries: Removed 200 trailers from their fleet after Smart Trailer data revealed they were unnecessary, saving $500,000 annually in trailer costs, reduced miles driven by 4.2M saving $7.75M, completed a one-time routing audit saving $650,000 in overpayments, cut communication time by 93%, and reduced administrative work by 75%.

• ITF Group: Reduced trailer downtime by 25%, improved trailer utilization by 20%, achieved a 25% improvement in routing optimization, saved $4M in fuel costs, and generated $8.4M in combined fuel and insurance savings across 2,000 trucks and trailers.

• Fraley & Schilling: Reduced overdue preventive maintenance checks by 75%, saved an estimated $240,000 per year from decreases in out-of-route miles and tractor-trailer downtime, and saved $800K+ annually across a fleet of 700+ trucks and 1,200+ trailers.

• Gordon Food Service: Eliminated days of potential trailer downtime, improved trailer utilization, saved 700,000 gallons of fuel translating to $2.5M in total fuel spend savings, and reduced idling from as high as 17% to under 2% across 10,500 vehicles and trailers making 17,000 daily deliveries.

• Interstate Waste Services: Went from 35% to 85% compliant on routine preventive trailer maintenance, reduced underutilized assets by 21%, saved $240,000 in one year through better asset utilization, saved 4,080 hours annually via API integration, and saved $101,000 annually in back-office digitization.

• Sobeys: Saved an estimated 4,600 gallons of diesel and 469 metric tons of carbon emissions in just four months, achieved estimated savings of 5 to 7% by avoiding unnecessary vehicle purchases, and optimized trailer deployment across 16,000+ stores using Smart Trailers and Utilization Reporting.

• MAVIN: Cut two leased trailers saving $16,000 per year, lowered fleet idling below 20%, saved $15,000 in insurance costs, and improved customer visibility by 100%.

• R.E. Garrison Trucking: Used Asset Gateways to gain real-time visibility into a fleet of 800 tractors and 1,500 refrigerated trailers, saved $730,000 in fuel costs year over year, and lowered preventable accidents by 30%.