Tagging the awkward ones: a field guide for assets that resist a label

The last twenty per cent

Every tagging project goes the same way. The office is done in a week: laptops, monitors, desks and printers take a standard label on a flat, clean surface. Then the team reaches the shop floor, the hospital ward, the vehicle yard and the store at a vendor's premises, and progress slows to a crawl.

This article is about those assets. It assumes you have already chosen a technology and a numbering scheme; if not, start with the QR, barcode and RFID guide, which covers label materials, numbering and the basic placement rules. Here we go asset type by asset type.

Before you start: three rules that apply everywhere

1. Ask the people who maintain the asset. Maintenance engineers know which surfaces get hot, which get washed down, which panels are removed for servicing, and where a label will be scraped off by a forklift. Ten minutes with them saves a re-tagging exercise.
2. Test before you roll out. Put a few labels of each candidate material on the real surface, leave them for a few weeks of normal use, then try to scan them. Vendor data sheets give temperature and chemical ratings, but your conditions are what matter.
3. Record the tag position in the register. A note such as "inside front door, top left" on the asset record turns a hunt into a scan.

Hot, oily or vibrating machines

Production machines are the most common problem. Surfaces near motors, ovens or hydraulic units get hot and oily; vibration loosens adhesives; washdowns remove paper.

• Place the label on a frame member or a guard panel away from heat sources, not on a moving cover or a panel removed for maintenance.
• Prefer metal plates (anodised aluminium or stainless steel) fixed with rivets or industrial adhesive where heat and oil are severe. A printed polyester label with a protective overlaminate works on cooler, cleaner surfaces.
• Degrease the surface before applying any adhesive label. Most failures are adhesion failures, not print failures.
• Many machines already carry a manufacturer's nameplate with the serial number. Record that serial in the register as well: if the tag is lost, the serial still identifies the asset.

Never climb on, open or reach into running plant to attach or read a tag. Tagging and verification teams should work under the site's normal safety permits, and some areas (classified hazardous zones, clean areas, high-voltage rooms) may require a permit or an escort just to enter.

Medical, laboratory and clean-area equipment

Hospitals, diagnostic labs and pharmaceutical plants share a different problem: surfaces are cleaned frequently with disinfectants, and some items are sterilised.

• Ask the equipment owner which cleaning agents and processes the item is exposed to, and choose a label rated for them. Some labels are designed for autoclave cycles; confirm with the label vendor for your process.
• Do not place labels where they could interfere with the equipment's function, cover a safety marking or obstruct a vent. The equipment manufacturer's instructions take priority.
• In clean areas, the label material and the act of tagging may need to go through the site's change-control process. Plan for it.
• Small instruments that go through sterilisation as sets are often better tracked at the set or tray level, with the tag on the container, than item by item. Decide this with the clinical or quality team.

Vehicles and mobile equipment

Vehicles already have strong identifiers: the registration number, chassis number and engine number. A tag adds a fast way to open the record during a count.

• Record the registration, chassis and engine numbers in the register. These, not the tag, are what a verifier should match against the registration certificate.
• Put the tag where it can be scanned without climbing in: inside the driver's door frame or on the dashboard edge. Exterior labels on body panels are lost to washing and weather.
• For forklifts, tractors and construction equipment, use the same approach as machines: a metal plate on a frame member, plus the manufacturer's serial number.

Vehicles and mobile equipment move, so the verification evidence for them is often a sighting at a known place on a known date, with a photograph. Plan counts for when they are back at base.

Small, portable and attractive items

Phones, tablets, power tools and test instruments go missing more often than anything else.

• Use small labels and, where a QR code will not fit, a compact Data Matrix code.
• Put tamper-evident labels on items where removal of the tag is itself a warning sign.
• For phones and laptops, record the serial number and, where relevant, the IMEI or MAC address, which IT systems can report without a physical scan.
• Combine the tag with custodian assignment and periodic custodian confirmation, so each item has a named person responsible.

Furniture and pooled items

Schools, colleges, hotels and offices hold large numbers of identical chairs, desks and beds. Tagging each one is possible but rarely worth it if they are capitalised as a pooled lot.

• If items are pooled in the register, tag the location instead and count the quantity per room. The physical verification guide explains why the register must carry the quantity.
• If items are tagged individually, place the tag in the same spot on every item (the underside of a desk's front edge, the back of a chair below the seat), so counters know where to look.

Assets at someone else's premises

Moulds, dies, jigs and tools often sit at a job worker's or vendor's premises; demonstration equipment sits with customers; IT equipment sits in employees' homes.

• Tag them before they leave, and record the third party and address as the location.
• Verification usually relies on a confirmation from the third party, ideally with photographs of the tagged item, and on visits where the value justifies it.
• For capital goods sent for job work under GST, section 143 of the CGST Act generally expects them to be brought back within three years of being sent, but moulds and dies, jigs and fixtures, and tools are excluded from that time limit. Keep the challans with the asset record and check the current position with your tax adviser.

Buildings, land and leasehold improvements

You cannot stick a label on land. Land and buildings are verified through title documents, site visits and photographs, and CARO 2020 clause 3(i)(c) asks the auditor to report on whether title deeds are held in the company's name.

Components inside a building are different. Lifts, chillers, generators, transformers and fire systems are often capitalised separately and should be tagged like machines, usually in their plant rooms. A floor-plan reference in the register helps verifiers find them.

Agricultural and outdoor assets

Pumps, irrigation equipment, cold-storage plant and processing machinery in agricultural and food businesses face dust, moisture and sunlight. UV-resistant materials and metal plates last longer outdoors. Place labels on the shaded side of the equipment where possible.

Printing and replacing labels

Once you have chosen materials, print a small batch and run a pilot. The free QR label generator produces printable labels from a list of codes, which is enough for a pilot area. Expect to replace a share of labels every year in harsh areas, and make replacement a normal transaction that keeps the tag history rather than a quiet reprint.

How FixedAsset Pro helps

FixedAsset Pro prints QR, barcode, Data Matrix and EAN-13 labels on your own label sheets, exports RFID EPC codes for your printer-encoder, and records every reprint and replacement in the tag history. A QR code carries a secure identifier, never asset data. During physical verification, outcomes such as Damaged or Found Elsewhere carry photo and comment rules, and assets at third-party sites can be confirmed with evidence. Warranty and service contracts for the same equipment sit on the asset card under Maintenance and AMC.

This article is general information as at October 2026. Label performance depends on your surfaces and conditions; test with your label supplier, and follow your site's safety rules and the equipment manufacturer's instructions.