Items of equipment and assemblies for use in drilling or completion of a well or in other well operations are monitored from the time they are assembled for shipment to a particular well site for a job through the time of delivery and installation at the well site. Radio frequency identifier devices (RFID's) are mounted with the items to electronically tag them as they are assembled for shipment. The items are assembled into containers which can be readily inventoried during transit to detect loss or pilferage. Detailed information about the individual items can be encoded into the RFID at the time of electronic tagging. If desired, the shipping containers can be provided with separate RFID's detailing the particular items within the container and the progress of the shipment monitored remotely by satellite or the like.