Metal Construction News, January 2021

the job site craftspeople need to be assigned responsibility for any tool they use No matter how you work that whether you use spreadsheets or everything is hand written there is often little interest among construction crews to spend their time doing paperwork I bet that on 50 of job sites that is how inventory is taken says Stoller The foreman grabs somebody who writes down a bunch of inventory numbers that have been email then goes around to check off all the tools The process is painstaking The person in the fi eld has to fi nd everything then transpose it back Giving responsibility to a craftsperson for a tool often implies ownership You have a drill on your site assigned to Joe who takes it to another site says Gagliano but you didnt track that move More often than not on a site with a lot of tradespeople theyre just trying to fi nd the nearest tool to get the task done They think its their tool A lot of crew members take tools home to do side jobs They dont mean to be malicious about it but somewhere in the process that tool may get stolen and doesnt get back There are technologies out there that can improve that system Using labels with barcodes and QR codes you can scan into an online database can make the process much simpler Tied to smartphone apps that method digitizes an onerous process Those programs work well in the manufacturing world where tools tend to stay in the same place but in the construction arena tools move from site to site and often can get buried in the bottom of a trucks toolbox making them far more mobile than intended Tool Manufacturer Technology Tool manufacturers such as Bosch Milwaukee and Dewalt a division of Stanley Black Decker are leaning into technology to help prevent tool theft and loss By giving management and workers the ability to monitor and track tools more simply and effectively they are reducing the burden of inventory management and creating new capabilities that can help recover lost tools For the most part the new technologies rely on a combination of Bluetooth technology and software apps Milwaukee Tool has a program called One Key that pairs Bluetooth enabled tools with a software app The tools may be a Milwaukee Tool but the company also provides small asset ID tags called TICKs that can attach to any tool such as a ladder Tools are tracked and managed through the app You use the app to scan the asset id tag says Gagliano Every time you do that it will give you a location update with the time signature and date code Its really good for scanning in and scanning out Using Bluetooth technology and apps to scan which Dewalt and Bosch also have means that inventory moves much more quickly Doing inventory manually can take two to three minutes per tool says Stoller Just digitizing even without Bluetooth and bar codes can drive that down 50 With Bluetooth and bar codes you can drive that time down even further And you start to create easy accountability These technologies create seamless management processes between the tool crib the job site and the trade person No longer do workers roam the site looking for the impact drill interrupting everyone in their work to ask if theyve seen it Tracking tools this way means the tool is always visible Boschs system is called Bluehound and Bauer says In the tools tab of the Bluehound application users can access a tools last known location and see who each tool was assigned to establishing a helpful starting point The system is also able to pinpoint tagged assets within 100 feet of their geographic location Some of the apps such as One Key even allow for geo fencing which allows users to set up a perimeter and get notifi ed when the tool wanders beyond that point For dog owners these kinds of tags are very familiar A small Bluetooth enabled tag affi xed to a collar lets the owner known when Fido has roamed beyond the property The same can be used for tools helping to prevent that unfortunate event when a lead carpenter has landed a side job building a deck and decides the company laser level is the perfect tool to do the layout Given the new technologies tool management is now so easy that loss of productivity and from theft or loss no longer need to be major issues on job sites Workers can feel comfortable knowing the tool they need is easily available and management can take solace in the knowledge that the tools theyve spent so much capital on are staying on site and being used Milwaukee One Key Tools connect through Bluetooth to an inventory management app and other assets can be included in inventory through QR Codes or by using a Bluetooth enabled TICK button The Dewalt Tool Connect System provides inventory management support through a website and app Existing tools can be updated with a new Tool Connect connector that slides into the battery slot or tagged with small buttons that can be affi xed to any asset January 2021 METAL CONSTRUCTION NEWS 29