business
Left: SAMAR labels can be applied to any asset, are completely UV resistant,
temperature resistant to 200°C, and will leave the barcode behind if
removed.
Above: SAMAR produces its own electronic certificate, as well as labels to
be applied to the asset.
plate that they use is easily identifiable and
has allowed for more than 90% reduction
in construction equipment theft. What was
happening previously is that guys would
just walk onto a construction site, get into a
vehicle and drive off because no one actually
knew who owned it. Now, people can see
the plate on the equipment and they know
that it is part of a registry; it’s been micro-
dotted, and they are much less likely to steal
it. And that’s what we want the SAMAR label
to become — if someone sees it on a vehicle,
they won’t touch it,” he says.
This will be particularly useful when
dealing with larger fleets at remote locations,
as is often the case with the larger mining
companies. Dutton explains that they aim to
approach these larger companies — once the
system has been rolled out and is running
smoothly — with a practical example of
how this system will benefit them. “We’re
hoping that these companies, when we
approach them, don’t even see this as
making a difference in terms of cost and
administration, because the manufacturer or
importer would’ve labelled and registered any
new equipment they’ve purchased from the
beginning, or the banks would have it built
into new financing contracts,” says Dutton.
“The banks will likely also start to push
for registration of any equipment that they
still hold title to, particularly once we have
actual cases showing how the register can
be used in the case of stolen equipment, for
example,” he adds. “But if we can approach
these companies and show them that the
40 new vehicles they’ve just bought are all
registered on SAMAR and it didn’t cost them
anything extra in either time or money, then
I think this will also go a long way towards
convincing them. I think the fact that they
will easily be able to see how many and which
vehicles they own and hold title to will also
be a definite benefit.”
According to Dutton, SAMAR does produce
its own certificate in electronic format, which
you can then print, but even the banks are
saying they’re not going to print it, just keep
it electronically. It’s very similar in look and
feel to an eNatis document, but the differences
stem from the fact that the register is not
government legislated. “And we want it to stay
that way,” he says, “because otherwise you
are just introducing an unnecessary layer of
complexity and bureaucracy to a system that
is there to let people — banks, insurers, the
public — know who owns what. It’s going to be
difficult to get people to adhere to everything
that we’re trying to do and we know that there
are going to be those who will try find ways
around it, but we’re ready to address these
issues as they come up.” n
SAMAR aims to
provide a complete
history of an asset’s
lifecycle. If the asset
gets stolen, it can be
marked as such on the
register. If the asset
is later recovered, then
it can be reintroduced
to the register and
marked as ‘recovered
and reintroduced’.
QUARRY SA | MAY 2017 _ 15