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Performance Contracting Uses Smart Asset Tags to Gain an Edge on Material Tracking

Updated: Aug 29, 2024

Overview: Performance Contracting Inc. needed a way to confirm their material shipments were arriving in good condition and at the right place. BR Code™ Smart Asset Tags and the BitRip App made this possible. Once in place, this simple material tracking system enabled more accurate delivery accountability and fewer replacements of damaged shipments.


Delivering construction materials to the Jobsite
Delivering panels to the Jobsite - where Material Tracking was needed.

Performance Contracting Inc. - Who are they?

One of the leading specialty contractors in the U.S., Performance Contracting Inc. (PCI) provides over 25 types of services and products to the industrial, commercial, and non-residential markets – from complex interior build-out services to large-scale insulation systems and scaffolding. Serving as a true single-source contractor for customers throughout the U.S. and Canada, the company prides itself on ”providing value that exceeds customers’ expectations.” Employing nearly 9,000 people across the U.S. and ranked in 2021 by ENR Magazine as the # 1 – Wall and Ceiling Contractor in the U.S.; # 13 – Specialty Contractor in the U.S.; and # 8 – Asbestos Abatement Contractor in the U.S., PCI is the largest subsidiary of Performance Contracting Group (PCG).


The Shipment Tracking Problem

With an organization that size, keeping track of materials is no small task. Even drilling down to managers on a single jobsite knowing when materials arrive and where they’re stored can prove challenging. A particularly challenging site is located on roughly 1,600 acres near Elizabethtown, KY, and features two 3.5-million-sq-ft buildings where electric car batteries are manufactured for Ford. PCI’s material management team onsite – Brandon Brody, Justin Lehman, and Treasure Journey – had been using traditional material tracking methods (Excel sheets and forms) and sought a better way of knowing exactly where materials were at any given moment.


"[We were] using traditional material tracking methods (Excel sheets and forms) and sought a better way of knowing exactly where materials were at any given moment"


Specifically, shipments of prefabricated panel walls were arriving onsite in three or four truckloads a week, and the team needed better visibility of their whereabouts. While the team was researching material tracking methods, PCI colleagues from another jobsite in Indiana recommended a free app and inexpensive scannable labels solution that had been successfully employed there. BitRip turned out to be just the solution the team had been seeking.


A Scannable Label being used for Shipment Tracking
A BR Code Scannable Label being used for Panel Shipment Tracking

A Simple Shipment Tracking Software and Scannable Labels do the Business

At this jobsite, each preprinted code links to a cloud-based file or “Bit,” that can store massive amounts of data and tracks every scanned location, unlocking field-level visibility. “We did our trial run tracking some panels for the first building here on the site and we liked it,” Brody said.


Both mineral fiber insulation and foam wall panels are used on this site. Since the mineral fiber panels are moisture sensitive, they’re stored in tents inside the warehouse. The foam panels are stored outside. “These are active, moving panels, they move every day, throughout our three yards, and even the yards themselves are moving around, the warehouse is moving things. We don‘t know when the panels are going to be installed,” Brody added.


Taking Tracking from Static to Dynamic

According to Journey, BitRip transforms the tracking process from static to dynamic. “It allows more people to interface on it versus just the office staff, usually on the computers using Excel. It allows the field staff to have their input on the Bit. It‘s more collaboration, a lot less loss of communication with everyone having access to it,” she said.


The Steps for Shipment Tracking with BitRip and BR Code Scannable Labels

As soon as the PCI staff receives the panels from the manufacturer at the construction yard, they affix a BR Code label onto the end of the panel and scan it into the system by creating a Bit. Then they take a picture of the manufacturer’s tags that come on every bundle of panels and every bundle is also tagged with a BR Code label and loaded into the BitRip app so everyone on the team has access to it.


The team monitors all that information from the onsite construction trailers, and it can also be monitored remotely by anyone who has been granted permission. Journey explained that before using BitRip, bundles had gone missing onsite “all the time.” “We didn‘t know where a certain bundle was, but BitRip definitely allows us to locate where it is. BitRip has prevented what was frequently a headache, a big headache.”


“We didn‘t know where a certain bundle was, but BitRip definitely allows us to locate where it is. BitRip has prevented what was frequently a headache, a big headache.”


When each panel is installed, the installers simply scan the BR Code label, providing the material management team with a real-time update.


PCI uses PXL BR labels, and they’ve withstood the abuse heaped upon them in construction yard, warehouse, installation zones, and UV light exceedingly well. “We’ve had no issues at all and no complaints,” Brody said.



A Roll of Scannable Labels for Shipment Tracking
A Roll of Asset Labels - BR Code

Very Straight-forward Setup that takes Minutes to do

Brody said getting started with BitRip was quite straightforward and quick. Everyone who interfaces with the panels installs BitRip on their phone and receives a small instruction sheet with basic directions. “It was pretty simple for the guys in the field and the guys unloading the panels to use BitRip. Knock on wood, no one‘s had much trouble at all doing it,” he said. Any of the team’s time that isn’t spent physically looking for (or at) the bundles is time – and money – saved.


“It‘s worked great, everyone‘s stayed on top of it, and it has been very useful. We haven‘t gotten full blown in using BitRip, but we can see how it‘s going to help. Every bundle is tagged, so we have somewhat of an idea of its location,” Brody said. Journey added that BitRip is a big time-saver even in just verifying deliveries, for instance if a partial instead of a full order was delivered. “So, knowing which bundle numbers came on, which truck when they get tagged, that‘s a big-time saver instead of tracking them down and crossing our fingers that they got delivered today,” she said.


Going forward, this PCI team sees BitRip and BR Codes playing a key role in their material management process and potentially helping other processes


"Knowing which bundle numbers came on, which truck when they get tagged, that‘s a big-time saver instead of tracking them down and crossing our fingers that they got delivered today"


For more information about this Shipment Tracking case study, reach out to support@bitrip.com



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