Rapid Plant Recovery in Leeds Despite Machine Being Stripped Down

The recovery of a stolen Kubota KX16 Mini-Excavator in Leeds has demonstrated the ability of AMI Group’s tracking devices to be effectively concealed due to covert installation. Despite being completely stripped down, the plant thieves failed to locate and remove the tracking device and the Kubota machine was rapidly recovered.

The Mini-Excavator was owned by one of AMI’s customers and when it was stolen from a construction site in Leeds, the customer contacted AMI Group as fortunately it was fitted with an AMI Nexis GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking device. AMI’s monitoring station was able to instantly access the company’s web-based Nexis platform to establish the exact time of theft, the route taken by the thieves and its destination.

The GPS data revealed that the stolen Mini-Excavator was located in Coupland Road, Leeds, and the customer set off to search for the machine. However, whilst the customer was in transit, new GPS data was provided by the unit, indicating that the Mini-Excavator was on the move once again. Despite being transported inside a vehicle, the AMI tracking device was able to reveal the new location utilising GPS data and the latest Google mapping within seconds. This data revealed that the machine had been moved a mile away and it was found and recovered off Selby Road in Leeds. The customer was quickly able to go to the new location and recover the Mini-Excavator.

Peter Stockton, Operations Director at AMI Group said: “This recovery really does highlight that our tracking devices are amongst the smallest in the industry, the most well-hidden and the most difficult for thieves to detect. In this case, the machine had been totally stripped down and the thieves were most likely trying to locate a tracking device, but despite their efforts, they had been unable to do so and the equipment was able to be tracked and successfully recovered.”

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.