AMI Group’s tracking technology has led the Police to a stolen JCB 2CX Streetmaster Backhoe Loader worth around £25,000.
The high value machine was reported stolen this morning at around 10.30am from a site in Croft-on-Tees south of Darlington. Owned by one of the UK’s major plant hirers, the JCB 2CX had been fitted with an AMI Nexis GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking system and AMI’s monitoring station was able to utilise the company’s web-based Nexis software portal to establish that the JCB had been moved to a new location in Snipe Lane just off the A66 in Darlington, some six miles away.
Using the latest Google mapping and GPS positional information, AMI’s monitoring station could see that the 2CX was actually hidden in some bushes. The hiring customer contacted County Durham Police, who subsequently liaised with AMI’s monitoring station to obtain the exact position. The Police went to the location in Snipe Lane and the JCB 2CX was recovered at around 2pm, just a few hours after first being reported stolen.
Peter Stockton, Operations Director at AMI Group said: “This recovery shows the speed with which stolen plant machinery can be recovered if it is fitted with an AMI tracking device, plus it shows the level of detail we can provide to the Police to lead to a successful recovery. We were able to provide very intricate mapping information and the JCB 2CX was able to be returned to the hiring customer within just three and a half hours of first being reported as stolen.”
AMI tracking devices are used in conjunction with AMI Nexis, a web-based platform whereby customers can logon to the system to not only use it as an anti-theft deterrent, but as a total fleet management solution. Following months of development work and consultation with customers, the AMI Nexis portal has recently been enhanced to empower AMI customers with more information than ever before to help locate and manage plant equipment and vehicle fleets more efficiently and safely.
A series of new high tech features have also been added to give organisations full control and visibility of their plant or vehicle fleets. For example, a new timeline feature has been introduced to allow users to see a quick snapshot of each asset’s activity over the last 24 hours, allowing rapid identification of any assets being used outside working hours or over the weekend. New features such as a new hours usage widget have also been added to enable users to identify the utilisation of plant equipment or other assets. This enables customers to identify under-use or over-use of plant and help ensure accurate charging for plant use.
One of AMI’s latest innovations is the AMI Nexis AT5, a self-contained, battery operated tracking device which utilises state-of-the-art GPS, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and RF (Radio Frequency) technology. The AT5 is lightweight, tiny in size (just 21 x 55 x 52mm) and it can be concealed almost anywhere on any asset. Via its advanced battery management software, the unit has the capacity to last up to 18 years and it is backed by IP68 waterproof rating, ensuring it is robust and heavily protected. The device has the ability to be traced both outdoors and indoors even in very remote locations. In situations where GPS is unavailable, the device relays GSM cell site positions and the internal RF beacon can be activated to assist in locating stolen assets.
Such innovations have led to AMI Group recently being named ‘Best for After-Theft Recovery Technology and Recognised Leaders in Plant Security Systems – UK’ as part of the esteemed 2016 Technology Innovator Awards.
