Milwaukee Tool Broadens Cloud-Based Tool Tracking Software

When Milwaukee Tool introduced its OneKey wireless tool-tracking platform in 2015, it started small. Two years later, the system has grown to be a comprehensive tracking system for jobsite assets.

“When we first launched OneKey, it could program four custom settings into a power tool, and that was about it,” says Steve Matson, Milwaukee product manager for OneKey. “Three months later, a free update let you track the tool anywhere on the map, and six months later, you had the ability to remotely lock out the tool. Updating our software offerings dynamically like this is a new area for us.”

The tool’s global tracking is based on the last time a smartphone installed with the OneKey app “saw” the tool over Bluetooth, and any user’s smartphone can log anyone’s tool, resulting in crowd-sourced locating. Tools and other assets that lack OneKey can be added using a Tick, Milwaukee’s bolt-on Bluetooth receiver.

This fall, Milwaukee plans to add geofencing to OneKey, so tools can be linked to a specific jobsite, allowing for tools to be linked to projects and managed remotely.