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Any warehouse or distribution center, or any workplace really, has an inventory to manage and keep an eye on. Such an inventory can include equipment, hardware devices, transportation utilities, and all of the essential assets necessary to complete a day’s work, along with the incoming and outgoing parcels that make their way through the system. To be able to possess and maintain such insights into where things are can play a huge role in the success of operations. Asset tracking has proven to be a necessity in gathering the right pool of data across a variety of markets and verticals to avoid assets from being lost or to readily locate them if they are to be stolen or misplaced, but also simply to track the status of a parcel as it leaves its port.
Each distribution facility can hold thousands of devices constantly moving around with purpose, and some seemingly without. Asset tracking in supply chains can help tackle complex and more expensive challenges that can be a quite a deal to handle manually. Practices can be rid of inefficient workflows and resources can be optimized to deliver new and improved positive outcomes. 
Technically, there are four essential pieces of an asset tracking system and they include the following: A Tracker, A Platform, an ERP component, and Connectivity. Starting off, the tracker is necessary to complete all of the monitoring and tracking activity, so that the most important and pertinent data can be sent off to the person in charge. Once managers have ahold of the platform in usage, a better control of device management can be performed at any time. A solid ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning structure or really any sense of inventory management can help distribution centers to better manage any maintenance that is to be orchestrated, not excluding repairs and any other scheduled operations. Lastly, and almost most importantly, it’s vital to uphold a sense of connectivity to perform effective asset tracking capabilities. Coupled in with a long-lasting battery life and a strong-held connection, this solution can last for miles and miles.
IoT is a huge component of a smart asset tracking solution, for IoT can hold the key to connect sensors wirelessly to the internet across multiple sites, facilities, and even countries and other locations, through every step in the supply chain. Such emerging technology offers low-cost solutions that provide the real-time location of parcels’ and equipment’s status during its lifetime. 
Thanks to IoT sensors, this technology can provide the power to acclimate organizations with their equipment, eliminating the potential for human error. If all pieces of equipment are readily partnered up with a sensor, organizations are less likely to go blindly throughout the item’s lifecycle. Organizations can filter through which pieces are operating effectively and which are malfunctioning, saving workers a deal of hurt when it comes to troubleshooting and repairing hardware devices. Once businesses, large and small are able to capitalize on these capabilities, success and a peace of mind aren’t far from reach.
