Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/330408
30 | ZZZFHGPDJFRP | Construction Equipment Distribution | June 2014 A Closer Look Heavy equipment manufacturers and distributors love to talk about their equipment's environmentally sensi- tive, increasingly sophisticated, and adaptive engineering. What they don't talk about is the industry's failure to stop – or even slow down – equipment theft. Again in 2012 (the latest reporting year), reported equipment dollar losses to thieves totaled some $400 million, according to the National Equipment Register and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The estimated total loss from the thefts, including emergency rentals, loss of work time, and project delay penalties, was in the range of $1 billion. Those figures haven't changed much in recent years and Ryan Shepherd, NER operations manager, isn't sure why. "It is hard to say why the number remains at a certain level, varying only slightly from year to year," he said. "There could be a correlation with available inventory, if that's what you want to call it." In other words, equipment thievery may have reached a saturation point. A slight reduction in thefts over the last few years is mostly attributed to the decline in construc- tion activity and theft opportunity. It follows that, if the economy finally recovers and the thieves' "inventory" of new equipment increases on jobsites and in equipment yards, machinery owners can expect an increase in theft. The elephant in the room in any discussion of heavy equipment theft is that some of these machines are as big as an elephant. Stealing a Lexus or Lamborghini and concealing it in a garage or moving van is one thing. Hiding a stolen Caterpillar 6D dozer or a John Deere 130G SWIPED! The stolen equipment market is still crazy after all these years, and any modest decline in theft might be attributed to the correlating reduction of machines out on jobsites. BY GILES LAMBERTSON FRQWLQXHGRQSDJH