Patent ID: 8036925

Claim:
A method to manage utilization of a plurality of types of assets having at least one tracking element by a plurality of independent entities, the method comprising the steps of: using a tracking system including a controller having a processor to detect a measure of time of one or more of the plurality of assets at a location, wherein the tracking system communicates with the plurality of assets through the at least one tracking element; via the controller, determining, based on a location detected by the tracking system, a status of the one or more of the plurality of assets, wherein the statuses include CLEANING, SERVICE, INVENTORY, USE, and DIRTY; receiving a plurality of parameters of utilization from each of the plurality of independent entities, wherein at least one of the plurality of parameters of utilization comprise the measure of time in one or more of the statuses; segmenting the plurality of independent entities into more than one cluster dependent on identified similarities in at least one of the plurality of parameters of utilization of the one or more of the plurality of entities, wherein the step of segmenting includes calculating a relationship of a set of data points of at least one measured parameter of each independent entity relative to a reference, assigning each data point of the set to a nearest centroid; and assigning each of the centroids as one of the clusters; and generating a display of a comparison of the plurality of parameters of utilization of each of the independent entities relative to another in each of the plurality of clusters.