Asset Tracking Hardware

Build a Complete Asset Tracking System

Durable labels, scanners, mobile computers and RFID for tracking equipment, tools, IT hardware and returnable assets. Specified so the label survives where the asset lives and still reads at audit.

Labels That Last Years, Not MonthsBarcode or RFID Depending on the JobOn-Metal Tags for EquipmentPrint at the Asset or in Bulk
Browse Asset Tracking HardwareGet Selection Help
Build a Complete Asset Tracking System

Popular Asset Tracking Hardware

Start with the label, because that is what makes the record real. Then choose whether you need to scan assets or locate them.

Polyester Labels
13 Products

Polyester Labels

Polyester label stock for asset tags, outdoor use and anything facing chemicals, heat or abrasion. Requires thermal transfer with a resin or...

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Industrial Barcode Scanners
62 ProductsBarcode Scanning

Industrial Barcode Scanners

Rugged and ultra-rugged barcode scanners for warehouses, manufacturing, yards and anywhere a scanner gets dropped, rained on or used in a freezer....

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Mobile Computers
190 Products

Mobile Computers

Rugged Mobile Computers for Warehouse, Retail, Healthcare & Field Service Mobile computers combine the power of an enterprise computer, barcode scanner, camera,...

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RFID Mobile Computers
15 Products

RFID Mobile Computers

Handheld computers with a built-in UHF RFID reader, or ready to take an RFID sled. Reads hundreds of tags per second without...

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RFID Label Printers
13 Products

RFID Label Printers

Printers that encode and verify an RFID tag as they print the label, in a single pass. An ordinary label printer cannot...

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How It Comes Together

Configuring an Asset Tracking System

Asset tracking projects rarely fail on the software. They fail because the label was chosen last, and by the time anyone notices, it is attached to several thousand assets. This is the order we work in to avoid that.

01

Define What Gets Tracked

Not every asset earns a label. The ones worth tagging are those that move, are worth enough to care about, and that someone eventually has to prove the location of. Assets that never move and nobody audits rarely repay the effort.

What we need from you A rough count by category, and what each category is made of. Metal, plastic and anything holding liquid all behave differently.
02

Assess Where They Live

The environment decides the label, and the label decides whether the whole system still works in three years. Indoor office equipment, a workshop full of oil and swarf, and equipment stored outdoors are three different specifications.

What we need from you Where the assets sit, what they are exposed to, and whether any go through heat, chemicals or sunlight.
03

Choose Barcode or RFID

Barcode if you need to confirm an asset is where you expect. RFID if you need to find one that has moved. Most sites end up running both, with barcodes on lower-value items and RFID on the equipment that actually goes missing.

What we need from you How often you audit, how long it currently takes, and whether locating assets is a real problem or a theoretical one.
04

Specify Label and Hardware Together

The printer, the media and the reader have to agree with each other. A thermal transfer printer with the wrong ribbon, or an RFID reader without a printer that encodes, leaves you with half a system and no way to finish it.

What we need from you Your asset software, so we can confirm the hardware is supported rather than discovering it afterwards.
05

Pilot Before You Commit

Tag one category, run it for a quarter, and see whether the labels survive and the process holds. Discovering a material problem across two hundred assets is far cheaper than across twenty thousand, and RFID read rates in particular have to be proven against your own items.

What we need from you A sample of the actual assets, or agreement to run sample label materials in your own environment.
06

Roll Out and Restock

Once the specification is proven, the rest is logistics. We can pre-configure hardware, stage delivery across sites, and keep the label and ribbon specification on record so reorders match what is already on your assets rather than something close to it.

What we need from you Site list and timing, plus who holds the consumable budget so restocking does not stall.

Most of this is a conversation rather than a project. Tell us what you are tagging and where it lives, and we can usually specify the right label and reader in a single call.

Start With a Pilot Kit
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Asset Tracking Hardware

Filter by category to see what we stock. Every item ships from inventory, and we can confirm compatibility with your asset software before you order.

Label PrintersWasp, WPL304 Plus, Label Printer

Wasp, WPL304 Plus, Label Printer

Wasp

Featuring direct thermal and thermal transfer barcode label printing technology and best in class standard connectivity options (Ethernet, USB, Serial, and Parallel),...

Starting At

$426.64

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Mobile ComputersWasp, DR6 Mobile Computer

Wasp, DR6 Mobile Computer

Wasp

Wasp DR6 Rugged Android Mobile Computer Introduction The Wasp DR6 Rugged Mobile Computer is a powerful enterprise Android handheld designed...

Starting At

$1,045.00

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Mobile ComputersUnitech, RT112 Windows Tablet

Unitech, RT112 Windows Tablet

Unitech

Enhance indoor operations with the lightweight yet durable RT112 Windows tablet. Featuring a 10.1" touchscreen with 450-nit brightness, Wi-Fi 6E,...

Starting At

$1,144.54

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Complete Systems

Three Ways to Track an Asset

The right configuration depends on whether you need to confirm an asset is where you expect, or find one that has moved. These three cover most deployments.

Mobile Asset Tracking
Asset Tracking SystemPrint on Site

Mobile Asset Tracking

Create the asset record and print its label standing in front of the equipment. A handheld paired with a mobile label printer means the identifier goes on immediately, so the record is correct by construction rather than matched up later from a sheet of pre-printed labels.

  • Rugged handheld with 2D imager
  • Mobile label printer, thermal transfer capable
  • Polyester asset label stock with resin ribbon
  • Belt clip, charger and spare battery
Print at the AssetThermal TransferPolyester Labels2D ImagerField Deployable
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RFID Asset Tracking
Asset Tracking SystemLocate, Not Scan

RFID Asset Tracking

For finding assets rather than confirming them. An RFID reader captures hundreds of tags per second without line of sight, including equipment inside cabinets and containers, which turns a multi-day audit into a walk through the building.

  • RFID handheld reader or sled for an existing device
  • RFID label printer that encodes and verifies
  • On-metal tags for equipment and tooling
  • Standard inlays for non-metallic assets
No Line of SightBulk ReadingOn-Metal TagsPrint and EncodeAudit in Hours
Request RFID System Quote
Mobile Computing Bundle
Asset Tracking SystemTeam Deployment

Mobile Computing Bundle

The everyday configuration for teams auditing and checking assets in and out. A rugged Android handheld running your asset software, with multi-bay charging so a shared device is always ready for whoever picks it up next.

  • Rugged Android handheld, Wi-Fi or cellular
  • Multi-bay charging cradle for shared use
  • Spare batteries and hand straps
  • Desktop label printer for bulk tagging
AndroidShared ChargingWi-Fi or CellularRuggedMulti-User
Request Bundle Quote

Not sure which fits your assets?

Tell us what you are tagging, what it is made of, where it lives and how many there are. We can supply a pilot kit with sample label materials so you can test durability against your own environment before committing to volume.

Request a Pilot Kit

Asset Tracking Questions

Most asset tracking projects succeed or fail on the label rather than the software. These are the questions worth settling first.

What do we actually need to start tracking assets?

Three things: a durable label or tag on each asset, something to read it, and software to hold the record. The hardware question is usually simpler than people expect.

For most deployments that means a label printer producing polyester asset labels, and a barcode scanner or mobile computer to read them. RFID enters the picture when you need to locate assets rather than scan them one at a time.

The mistake is starting with the software and treating labelling as an afterthought. The label is what makes the record real, and it has to survive wherever the asset lives.

What kinds of assets do people usually track?

The common ones are IT equipment such as laptops, monitors and network hardware; tools, jigs and fixtures in workshops and on sites; medical devices such as pumps and beds; test and calibration instruments where certification dates matter; returnable transit items such as cages, pallets and containers; and plant and machinery on construction and facilities sites.

What they have in common is that they move, they are worth enough to care about, and someone eventually has to prove where they are. If an asset never moves and nobody audits it, tracking it rarely repays the effort.

Should we use barcodes or RFID for asset tracking?

Barcodes if you know where the asset is and need to confirm it. RFID if you need to find it.

Barcode scanning is line of sight and one item at a time. It is cheap, reliable and perfectly adequate for annual audits, checkout and check-in, and anything where someone is already standing in front of the asset.

RFID reads hundreds of tags per second without line of sight, so it suits locating equipment across a building, gate reads, and counting assets inside containers or cabinets. The cost is higher per tag and performance depends heavily on what the tag is attached to, so it earns its place on higher-value assets rather than everything.

Many sites run both: barcodes on consumable and low-value items, RFID on the equipment that goes missing.

Which asset label material should we use?

Match it to where the asset lives, not to the price list.

Polyester is the general-purpose answer for indoor equipment, IT assets and tools. Acrylic where chemical exposure is likely. Polyimide for anything going through heat. Paper only for temporary tagging, because it will not last a year anywhere real.

Print method matters as much. Direct thermal fades with light and heat, so asset labels should be thermal transfer with a resin or wax-resin ribbon. A faded asset label means the next person identifies the equipment by guesswork.

Browse polyester labels and resin ribbons.

Does RFID work on metal equipment?

Only with on-metal tags. A standard RFID inlay placed on metal detunes and effectively goes silent, which is why so many asset tracking pilots fail on tooling and IT hardware.

On-metal tags include a spacer or ground plane so the antenna works against a conductive surface. They cost considerably more than paper inlays, which is why they suit high-value equipment rather than everything.

Liquids cause the same problem. If assets are containers of fluid, or equipment that holds fluid, test read rates with your actual items before committing to volume.

What about assets stored outdoors?

UV is the killer. Sunlight degrades both the adhesive and the print, and a label that looked fine in the store room is unreadable after a summer outdoors.

Specify a UV-stable polyester or acrylic facestock with an outdoor-rated adhesive, printed thermal transfer with a resin ribbon. Where the asset is a rough or textured surface such as concrete plant or scaffolding, surface preparation matters as much as the label choice.

For outdoor assets that are hard to reach, RFID often works out cheaper overall than sending someone to scan each one individually.

Can we print asset labels on site rather than in the office?

Yes, and for installed equipment it is usually the better approach. Printing labels in the office means carrying a sheet of pre-printed labels and matching them to assets by hand, which is where numbering errors creep in.

A mobile label printer paired with the handheld lets the technician create the asset record and print its label standing in front of the equipment. The label goes on immediately and the record is correct by construction.

Check the mobile printer supports the label material you need. Many mobile printers are direct thermal only, which is not durable enough for a permanent asset label, so this is worth confirming before ordering.

How should we number our assets?

Keep it simple and let the software own it. A sequential identifier that means nothing on its own is usually better than an intelligent code that encodes location or department, because assets move and departments get reorganised while the label stays where it was applied.

Print the human-readable number alongside the barcode. When a scanner fails or a label is partly damaged, someone will read it out over the phone, and a barcode with no printed number is useless at that point.

Can we track calibration and service dates on the label?

Put the identifier on the label and the dates in the software. A printed calibration date is out of date the moment the instrument is recalibrated, and a label that says something untrue is worse than one that says nothing.

Where a visible date is genuinely required, use a separate small calibration label that is replaced at each service, alongside the permanent asset label. That keeps the durable identifier stable while the changeable information stays current.

How do we make an annual asset audit less painful?

The hardware decision that changes this most is whether you scan or read. A barcode audit is one asset at a time in line of sight, so the time cost scales directly with asset count.

With RFID, an auditor walks a room with a handheld reader and captures everything present in seconds, including assets in cupboards and cabinets. For organisations auditing thousands of items across many rooms, that is usually where RFID pays for itself rather than in day-to-day tracking.

Whichever you use, the audit is only as good as the labels. Assets whose labels have fallen off or faded will be counted as missing, which is why label durability matters more than most people expect.

Which manufacturers do you carry for asset tracking?

For labelling, Zebra, SATO, TSC, Citizen and Brother for mobile labelling on site.

For scanning and mobile computing, Zebra, Honeywell, Datalogic and Unitech. For RFID, Zebra's handheld readers and sleds alongside fixed readers where gate or doorway reads are needed.

We are not tied to one manufacturer. What suits depends on where your assets live, how many there are and whether you are scanning or locating.

Where should we start if we have never tagged anything?

Start with one category of asset that already causes you problems, rather than trying to tag everything at once. Usually that is either the assets that go missing or the ones an auditor asks about.

Label that category properly, run it for a quarter, and see whether the labels survive and the process holds. What you learn there sets the specification for everything else, and it is far cheaper to discover a label material problem across two hundred assets than twenty thousand.

We can supply a small pilot kit for exactly this, including sample label materials so you can test durability against your own environment before committing.

Hardware Selection Support

Not sure which model is right?

Send us what you are trying to do and we will come back with a specific recommendation rather than a catalogue. If you are replacing equipment, a model number or a photo of the existing setup is usually enough to work from.

  • Solutions experts on staff to answer your hardware questions
  • 30 day return policy, excluding consumables
  • In-stock items ship same day when ordered by 4:00pm Eastern
  • Volume and multi-location pricing reviewed on request

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