Ford trucks now keep a running tally of what construction tools are back on board and which may have been left on the job site. It’s part of Tool Link, a $1,120 RFID tag option for Ford trucks. That sounds like a lot until you leave a $1,000 sliding compound miter saw on the job site overnight and it’s not there in the morning. Ford developed Tool Link with DeWalt. You get a 50 ID tags (in DeWalt yellow, of course) that you apply to tools, an RFID scanner and software for creating a database, and two RFID antennas that go in the truck bed and monitor what’s onboard and what’s missing. You monitor the tool status via the Ford In-Dash Computer. One button press brings up a screen that shows what’s missing that you had on board earlier in the day.
While it’s meant for construction tools, there’s no reason it couldn’t be used, say photo or video equipment. A carbon fiber tripod can cost $500-$1,000, a pro’s digital camera or HD camcorder many times that. You don’t think anyone could be so stupid as to leave a digital camera on the work site, when you bring two or three, those things can happen.
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