Australian businesses are being warned to stay on top of Christmas stock this season with experts warning of an increase in missing stock and supply chain delays.

Leading Australian tracking technology manufacturer Digital Matter says this time of the year is notorious for missing assets due to an increase in goods being moved across the country.

“Shipping delays, supply chain issues and seasonal demand can all cause havoc with business owners at this time of the year,” said Digital Matter’s Cameron Everett.

“We’ve seen a big increase in businesses across a range of industries utilising tracking technology to gain better visibility over their assets,” he said.

It’s estimated Australian businesses lose on average 6% of their assets every year, including expensive items like vehicles, lab equipment and IT hardware.

“The main reason businesses lose assets is because employees misplace them, or they aren’t properly brought in and out of stock,” says Mr Everett.

“Digital tracking has become an essential tool for businesses who want to reduce the financial impact that lost assets have on their bottom line.”

“From small items like keys and pallets to large valuables like heavy equipment, machinery, shipping containers and medical equipment – all businesses have something that they don’t want to lose.”

“One of the biggest challenges with improving business operations is a lack of visibility of the issues. If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. By automatically tracking the location of assets and Christmas stock, businesses can rectify problems as they occur and before they become too large to fix,” says Mr Everett.

Digital Matter tracking devices also allow businesses to monitor how their assets are performing and what condition they are in. By connecting to various sensors (either hardwired or Bluetooth), businesses can gain visibility to a variety of variables like temperature, excessive vibration, and impact detection – especially important for cold chain monitoring and the transport of fragile goods.

A growing number of Australian businesses are using the technology to monitor items that move along supply chains including bins and containers, trolleys, pallets and machinery, especially during the busy Christmas stock period.