As the name implies, this branch of asset management focuses on the effective management of the physical assets of a company. Usually, companies have in-house departments taking care of this. Otherwise, professional management teams can help in tracking, analyzing and defining a policy to maintain them.

For any team to manage physical assets, they first need to know the assets possessed by the company. This means the first step involves identifying the assets. This is very important because any business decision can be made keeping in mind the assets a company possesses.

Also, a company can avoid duplication. They can also study their depreciation value and utility in the process of production. Physical asset management can help save time and resources by doing their cost analysis, defining ways to increase their economic life and reducing the number and component failures.

Keeping a track of all physical assets has additional benefits. Besides preventing duplication, policies can be devised to reduce incidence of theft and mistakes in procurement. Physical asset management can also assist in tax planning and forecasting business decisions. In fact, proper physical asset management results in saving thousands of tax dollars.

More important than anything else is that people get a clear-cut idea of what they have. This means they are now in a position to utilize these resources when the need arises. In any business, timing is very important, and not using an asset because people don’t even know that they have it can result in business losses.

Many asset management software available can help people keep track of their assets. These software programs ensure that all asset data is centrally located in data- repositories, thus ensuring easy access through the company’s intranet. Also, people can get customized solutions for managing their business assets.

One important aspect of physical asset management is the process of bar coding. This not only increases accuracy but helps to save time on repeat inventories.