In the world of asset management and maintenance, there is a silent enemy that devours budgets and generates legal risks without anyone noticing at first glance. We are not talking about catastrophic breakdowns or storms; we are talking about the Ghost Inventory.
It is estimated that in companies with highly dispersed assets (such as municipalities, water utility companies, telecommunications, or energy providers), between 10% and 30% of inventory data does not match reality. Assets listed in the books that no longer exist, and equipment operating in the streets that no one has registered.
How is it possible to lose track of a streetlamp, a transformer, or a valve? And most importantly, how does GIS technology help us solve this chaos?
What is a "Ghost Asset"?
A ghost asset is any property that appears in your accounting records or maintenance software (CMMS/ERP) but is physically impossible to locate.
The causes are varied, but almost always human:
- Broken equipment was removed, but no one remembered to write it off in the system.
- A new element was installed during an emergency, and the registration was never completed.
- The asset exists, but it has been moved to a new location without updating its file.
The opposite problem is "Zombie Assets": equipment that is functioning, consuming energy, and requiring maintenance, but does not exist in the system. If they break, there is no plan to fix them; if they cause an accident, legal liability is a nightmare.
The Real Cost of Not Knowing What You Have
Maintaining an outdated inventory is not just an administrative issue; it is a financial black hole:
- Spending on Non-Existent Maintenance: Preventive work orders are generated for equipment that is no longer there. The technician travels to the site, finds nothing, and returns. You have paid for hours and fuel for nothing.
- Unnecessary Purchases: You buy spare parts for machines that were scrapped years ago.
- Taxes and Insurance: You are paying insurance premiums and municipal taxes for assets you no longer own.
- Compliance Risk: In regulated sectors, not having all critical assets located can lead to million-dollar fines.
Excel Is Not Enough to Audit Reality
The underlying problem is the tool. Trying to control thousands of geographically distributed assets using Excel spreadsheets or alphanumeric databases is inefficient.
A name in a cell ("Container C-405 – Main Street") is an act of faith. It gives you neither context nor proof of existence. This is where GIS CMMS (Geographic Information System for Computerized Maintenance Management) comes into play.
The Solution: Visual and Geolocated Audit
Tools like Maptainer change the paradigm: "If it's not on the map, it doesn't exist; and if it's on the map, it must be on the street."
By dumping your inventory onto a satellite map, the audit becomes visual and intuitive. Here are the keys to eliminating ghost inventory using GIS:
1. On-Site Census (Mobile App) The fastest way to clean up inventory is to equip technicians with a mobile app connected to the CMMS. When a technician is in front of an asset, they can georeference its exact GPS position with a click, upload a current photo, and validate its status. This updates the central database in real-time.
2. Duplicate Detection by Proximity In a classic database, it is difficult to know if "Streetlamp North Sq" and "Luminaire N. Square" are the same thing. On a map, if you see two overlapping points at the same coordinates, you immediately know you have a duplicate in your inventory.
3. Movement Traceability For mobile assets (such as waste containers or generators), GIS is vital. Knowing where the asset was last dropped off prevents it from being lost in oblivion after a construction project or event ends.
4. Information Maintenance Every time a Work Order (WO) is performed, the system can force the operator to confirm that the asset's location is correct. Thus, your inventory "self-audits" every day with the maintenance activity itself, without the need for massive and costly annual inventory campaigns.
Having a reliable inventory is the foundation of any intelligent maintenance strategy. You cannot maintain what you don't know you have, and you cannot optimize what you don't know where it is.
Making the leap to map-based CMMS software (GIS) not only cleans your data but gives you the peace of mind of knowing that your physical reality and your digital reality are, finally, the same.