I've recently been given the responsibility to keep track of all our equipment and the ability to buy new toys for all the crews.
How do you guys keep track of and manage everything?
Any info and advice would help out a lot.
TexanSurveyor, post: 418088, member: 10957 wrote: How do you guys keep track of and manage everything?
'We got everything?'
'Yup'
How big is your outfit?
Are we talking 1 crew? Solo? 10 trucks? 100 trucks?
Im solo, and I've lost several t post steppers, more than a few rolls of flagging, a few hammers...
🙂
Make the crews sign out on the equipment they keep (with S/N) with them. That way you can track who has what. If anything needs replacing make the hands bring in the "broken" gear and write out an explanation as to how the gear became "unusable". After a while you may be able to see a trend as to who takes care of their stuff and who is rough on it.
It also keeps multiple crews from using the parking lot as an "equipment smorgasbord" and trying to swap broken gear for good gear from one of the other crew's truck. The funniest rationalization I ever heard was, "how can you call it stealing when we all work for the same outfit?"
PS - use an Excel spreadsheet or equivalent. Tracking the service on equipment is important.
We currently have 4 crews right now (I'm a party chief for one).
We've never had a good system in place to actively keep track of everything. It's always kind of been like R.J. said.
I have a spreadsheet started that has an area for everything from the most expensive to the least. I plan on making a request form for the more expensive items with an area for an explanation of why they need the new item/replacement as Paden suggested.
TexanSurveyor, post: 418136, member: 10957 wrote: We currently have 4 crews right now (I'm a party chief for one).
We've never had a good system in place to actively keep track of everything. It's always kind of been like R.J. said.
I have a spreadsheet started that has an area for everything from the most expensive to the least. I plan on making a request form for the more expensive items with an area for an explanation of why they need the new item/replacement as Paden suggested.
One thing I remember during my "chief of parties" days (with seven crews) was the difficulty in convincing my boss we needed new or upgraded equipment for the crews. All the owners see sometimes is the dollar signs. If you can show you've got a good record keeping system in place with which you can easily show how old equipment is or how often repairs are needed it can help expediting an equipment requisition. If the bosses feel like you keep track of and take good care of the inventory they're less likely to feel like they're doing nothing but throwing money at the field crews. I got that sentiment a lot.
I worked on a construction staking crew in Chicago.
Harry B Blizzard and Assoc.
Bosses were:
Dave Miller
Don Preuter
Shat Fer Brains (Dougherty)
So, 3 full crews.
Harry would come by, and do his own inventory check, about once a month.
We had a t-2, and a 200' tape, and a 100' tape. Misc sledgehammers, flagging, upside down paint. A nice autolevel, lenker rod, etc.
I learned alot. We did have an old lady run over a tripod leg... Cracked it.
We rarely needed anything, and worked 50 60 hrs a wk. There were 2 seasons up there...
GET IT DONE 60+hr weeks all summer.
and
40 hr weeks.
Harry lived in Sherewood Forrest, on Nottingham Lane. Harry was a PE.
My boss was Dave Miller, of Crown Pt. Indiana.
Dave's motto was. "Do it once, do it right".
Harry finally sold out to "Concrete Structures".
Each crew chief gave accounts to Harry.
It was fun, and we all learned alot. We sure did alot of work.
Route 53 has probably been rebuilt since then... And, we staked Sauk Trail too.
We all as a society, have come to rely on properly constructed roads, and traffic control devices.
The work we do, often is taken for granted. But, do it wrong.. Heads roll! We get headlines...
We got our supplies at Kara Co. (Where's [USER=1598]@Eric Kara[/USER]?)
Anyway, some crews, managed their stuff well, others needed more management.
2 sins in this dpt. Are under management, and over management.
You'll figure out who needs what pretty fast...
As others have said... Equipment care is a variable... So is people care / management.
They are related...
Deflect Right, 20*...
N
I worked on a construction staking crew in Chicago.
Harry B Blizzard and Assoc.
Bosses were:
Dave Miller
Don Preuter
Shat Fer Brains (Dougherty)
So, 3 full crews.
Harry would come by, and do his own inventory check, about once a month.
We had a t-2, and a 200' tape, and a 100' tape. Misc sledgehammers, flagging, upside down paint. A nice autolevel, lenker rod, etc.
I learned alot. We did have an old lady run over a tripod leg... Cracked it.
We rarely needed anything, and worked 50 60 hrs a wk. There were 2 seasons up there...
GET IT DONE 60+hr weeks all summer.
and
40 hr weeks.
Harry lived in Sherewood Forrest, on Nottingham Lane. Harry was a PE.
My boss was Dave Miller, of Crown Pt. Indiana.
Dave's motto was. "Do it once, do it right".
Harry finally sold out to "Concrete Structures".
Each crew chief gave accounts to Harry.
It was fun, and we all learned alot. We sure did alot of work.
Route 53 has probably been rebuilt since then... And, we staked Sauk Trail too.
We all as a society, have come to rely on properly constructed roads, and traffic control devices.
The work we do, often is taken for granted. But, do it wrong.. Heads roll! We get headlines...
We got our supplies at Kara Co. (Where's [USER=1598]@Eric Kara[/USER]?)
Anyway, some crews, managed their stuff well, others needed more management.
2 sins in this dpt. Are under management, and over management.
You'll figure out who needs what pretty fast...
As others have said... Equipment care is a variable... So is people care / management.
They are related...
Deflect Right, 20*...
N
I suggest applying latest technology. Setup a Qcode scanner system, using a smart phone app. Associate equipment serial number, manufacturer, model, person responsible to check in or out, to a Qcode.
leegreen, post: 418154, member: 2332 wrote: I suggest applying latest technology. Setup a Qcode scanner system, using a smart phone app. Associate equipment serial number, manufacturer, model, person responsible to check in or out, to a Qcode.
I was thinking RFID tags.
Those may cost more than QR codes.
We have an Access database with automated Emails for when things require Service/Calibration/Checks
Everything from our TS15 down to our offset tapes.,
TexanSurveyor, post: 418088, member: 10957 wrote: I've recently been given the responsibility to keep track of all our equipment and the ability to buy new toys for all the crews.
How do you guys keep track of and manage everything?
Any info and advice would help out a lot.
Spreadsheet with prices, models, dates, et cetera, including when sold. You could even take it further and assign them to crews by serial number.
We assign inventory numbers to everything and track who has it, how much it's been billed out, depreciation, you name it. The equipment numbers get put on everything with either a bar code label, a printed label, or a Sharpie. I'd track everything with a serial number.
I consider batteries, cables, tripods, poles, etc. to be consumables. Granted some things should last a lot longer than others, but sooner or later all of those items need to be replaced, especially if they get used daily. I agree that you should assign each crew an inventory and track each time someone needs something repaired or replaced. I don't want the guys to try to make do with broken or malfunctioning equipment because they're afraid to ask for a replacement, but you can definitely see trends develop if you keep track.
I would suggest doing an inventory on each truck every month or two months and just make it part of the routine. Make sure they have everything they were issued and that it all works.
Lee brings up a great point inasmuch as you can get bogged down in the minutia of equipment and you need to take a Cost Accounting lesson and "put it in overhead" for certain things.
I'd want to know these things ish
Gun
Pole
Prisms
Bi-pods
hammers
Kris Morgan, post: 418346, member: 29 wrote: hammers
Hammers? To me a $30 hammer isn't worth the cost of inventorying.
I guess it all depends on your company.
I think the best recommendation is to keep it as simple as possible, but have enough records needed for your company. I would ask your accounting department (if you have one) what they need to know from you each year.
We have 11 crews and keep it simple. Our computers list is maintained by our IT department and Vehicles/mileage by another department as well.
We Just use a spreadsheet to keep track of Instrument, Data Collector, Level, GPS heads and any needed radio like and Rc5 or Trimble glass.
We keep track of Serial Numbers and any maintenance / calibration / Purchase date and cost
Although we have spots for them, we don't really keep track of anything less than our levels. The other stuff is all pretty much overhead type, which we regularly replace as needed. I have to sign off for each purchase, but if they get stolen or ran over, it's usually not worth claiming on insurance. I'm sure these are more important to keep track of for smaller firms, which may impact taxes differently.
Jim Frame, post: 418378, member: 10 wrote: Hammers? To me a $30 hammer isn't worth the cost of inventorying.
I am solo with the exception that my son helps on occasion. Here is a snapshot of one day:
Leaving job 1:
Me: Do we have everything?
Son: yeah
Me: Are you sure?
Son: yeah
Me: Let's roll.
Drive 45 miles to the next job:
Me: ok you need a couple of nails, a couple of lathes, and a hammer
Son fumbling around in the back of truck: aw sh!t
Me: what did you forget?
Son: the hammer...
Me: Guess what you get to buy on the way back.
Son: a new hammer.
Me: yep, get the other one. ( I had 2 in the truck at the time)
We stopped and he bought a new hammer. The client emailed me that she found the hammer in her backyard. I told her I would swing by because I had another job in the area the next week. So now I have 3 hammers in the truck.
But when I was at the County, they had a system where they put asset tags on anything over $5k and tracked that inventory annually. All the other stuff like hammers, rods, tripods, prisms and etc... were kept in a ledger and each chief had to sign for a new item. If they were replacing a broken item they had to bring in the broken item and exchange. Lost items were replaced on the offender's dime.
Jim Frame, post: 418378, member: 10 wrote: Hammers? To me a $30 hammer isn't worth the cost of inventorying.
I don't disagree unless you're purchasing a $30 hammer once a week because you have a crew that isn't paying attention. Taking the inventory per crew down to these necessary items allows to see who is taking care of equipment and who isn't. We have a similar issue with radios. After two people have to come up with $180, our radios just don't go missing much anymore.
How do you get away with making employees pay for broken or lost gear? I would think that is a recipe for a lawsuit.
