Heavy equipment theft is a growing concern, especially construction equipment. National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) 2020 Equipment Theft Report claims that around 11,117 equipment thefts were reported in 2020. Victim companies have to bear theft losses between $300 million to $1 billion annually. With such significant numbers, machinery thefts affect the industry’s sustainability and profitability. It further leads to delayed projects, high replacement costs, and insurance expenses.
Plant hire businesses should take proactive steps by embracing tech-enabled solutions to protect their assets against theft and get access to comprehensive data about equipment usage and safety.
This case study provides insights into how a plant hire and building supplies company deployed GPS tracking technology from Rewire Security to recover their stolen excavator in time and save thousands of dollars.
About Plant Hire and Building Supplies
Plant Hire and Building Supplies is one of the oldest plant hire companies in the UK, with over 35 years of operations in Cheshire and Greater Manchester. The company offers more than 150 machines and attachments for hire with exceptional customer service. They pride themselves on providing machinery from leading brands such as Takeuchi, Sany, Doosan, and JCB, ensuring that their customers have access to modern machinery and equipment.
Business Challenge
With the increasing incidence of machinery thefts in the UK, the Manager of Plant Hire at a prominent company was seeking an effective solution to safeguard their organizational assets. In discussions with Rewire Security, this manager expressed the need for a system that would enable close monitoring of the entire fleet of machines and attachments. The company sought a solution capable of both preventing thefts and facilitating the recovery of assets in the event of a theft.
Solution
After understanding the problem and requirements of Plant Hire, Rewire Security proposed a GPS tracking device for effective heavy equipment monitoring. Designed in accordance with the latest tracking and design trends, the tracker offers real-time location of each machine and equipment.
The GPS tracker by Rewire Security notifies fleet admins in real-time about any suspicious activity or theft. With its geofence feature, the tracker automatically sends instant alerts if the machinery is moved out of a designated area unauthorized or used outside official working hours.
The tracker is easy to use and can be easily attached to all equipment, irrespective of size. GPS trackers by Rewire Security are dust and water-resistant, ensuring endurance in all weather conditions. All solutions run on a cloud-based platform with robust and intuitive mobile application support. Customers have the flexibility to view data on the web portal or mobile application anytime, anywhere.
Other Features
Besides real-time theft alerts, GPS trackers by Rewire Security offer a multitude of features and benefits:
- Monitor Equipment Usage and Condition
- Preventive Maintenance Schedule
- Accurate Billing
- Inventory Management
- Historical Data
- Battery-powered Solutions
- Highly skilled Team
After considerable due diligence, Our customer implemented Rewire Security’s GPS trackers for all its machines and equipment to run seamless rental operations and protect its assets.
Incident Overview
One of our customers received an alert of ‘out of hours movement’ from the tracker on one of the company’s excavators on one fine Wednesday evening. As the excavator was off-hire that day, He assumed the machine was being used for its last activity before the rental team moved it back to the company’s workstation.
However, after five minutes, He received another ‘theft alert’ on his smartphone that made him suspect a potential theft. He promptly contacted police authorities, explaining the incident to them and providing crucial information.
Problem Addressed
Thieves were unaware that the stolen excavator was equipped with a GPS tracker. With the help of Rewire Security’s GPS tracking solution, We were able to track the real-time location of the thief van and share coordinates with the police to catch hold of thieves. Running out of the house and making a hot pursuit 40 miles from the theft location, He could take note of the van’s number plate by maintaining a safe distance.
Location and number plate details helped the team of nine police cars to make a tactical stop and catch thieves on the run. They arrested two young lads and helped recover the stolen excavator from the back of their van.
Benefits of Rewire Security’s Tracking Solution
The GPS tracker by Rewire Security played a pivotal role in recovering the stolen asset. With real-time geofence alerts and notifications around suspicious activities, Our customer could act swiftly and involve police authorities as soon as possible.
Further, having access to the excavator’s exact whereabouts helped him track its movements, strategically plan the roadblock for thieves, and recover the stolen machine. Integrating Rewire Security’s GPS tracking solution into the company’s fleet management strategy exemplifies a proactive approach to asset protection and theft prevention.
Results
GPS tracking solutions from Rewire Security empower Plant Hire and Building Supplies to prevent thefts and enhance operational efficiency.
About Rewire Security
Rewire Security is one of the leading GPS tracking solution providers in the UK and Europe. Providing fleet management services to over 2000+ businesses, it offers a wide range of intelligent GPS tracking devices coupled with reliable GPS tracking software and apps for tracking assets, people, and vehicles in real-time.
Our software GPSLive is one of the UK’s premier organizations to provide the most extensive range of GPS tracking systems and Telematics devices pre-configured and ready to use out of the box to the end user’s specific needs and requirements.