Keeping track of valuable assets is crucial for fleet success. The “Use It, Don’t Lose It” session at Vision 25 shed light on the challenges businesses face in monitoring equipment and how Motive’s innovative solutions are tackling those issues head-on. 

Led by Julie Vasquez, Motive Product Marketing Lead, and Robert Higdon, Product Director, alongside customer Christian Zuniga from Staker Parson, the session highlighted the universal need for robust asset management.

Before an audience of fleet professionals representing food service, oil and gas, public transit, and construction. Higdon emphasized Motive’s expansion from fleet management and safety to comprehensive equipment monitoring.

As Higdon explained, customers “need to be able to count on equipment being there – that the location is going to be available; that cold weather or the fact that it’s been dormant and hasn’t been hooked up to a truck in a while isn’t going to make a difference.” The goal? To get complete visibility and control over their operations. 

The critical need for equipment monitoring


Equipment monitoring isn’t just a “nice-to-have”—it’s a necessity for efficient operations. Here’s why:

  • Loss and theft: $300 million to $1 billion dollars worth of equipment are stolen from job sites annually, in construction alone. This leads to project delays, increased costs for replacements, and a host of other problems.
  • Misplacement: Equipment is frequently misplaced, causing operational slowdowns and inefficiencies. Time spent searching for missing assets is time not spent on productive work.
  • Utilization: Idle equipment costs money and doesn’t generate revenue. Knowing which assets are being used and which are sitting idle helps optimize resource allocation.
  • Maintenance: Tracking equipment usage and engine hours is essential for proactive maintenance. Preventing unplanned downtime means avoiding costly repairs and schedule disruptions.
  • Visibility: Many organizations lack comprehensive visibility into the location and status of their assets, especially when operating across multiple job sites. This lack of visibility can lead to confusion and miscommunication.

Motive’s comprehensive solutions

At Motive, we offer a broad range of solutions to address these critical needs:

  • Asset Gateway Mini: Ideal for tracking trailers and larger equipment, the Asset Gateway Mini provides long battery life and location updates, even in challenging environments.
  • Motive Beacon (coming soon): A small, cost-effective Bluetooth tracker designed for managing a large volume of smaller equipment like portable generators and toolboxes. The Beacon makes it easy to track items that often go missing.
  • Unified platform: Motive integrates all asset tracking data into a single dashboard, allowing businesses to see drivers, vehicles, and assets in one place. This unified view simplifies management and enhances visibility.
  • Additional features: We offer geofence alerts, utilization tracking, reporting, and seamless integration with other fleet management tools, giving you even more control and insights.

Reliable battery life: Find the assets you need, when you need them

Customers want peace of mind. They don’t want to worry about battery issues. They also expect the battery to perform as advertised, even after long periods of dormancy or in harsh conditions. Unlike some competitors with fine print caveats, Motive engineers batteries to deliver long term, ensuring reliable performance when you need it most. 

We engineered the battery chemistry to make this all work. At the end of the day, it comes down to something as simple as clicking that refresh button and getting an updated location reliably, when you need it.

— Robert Higdon, Product Director, Motive

Overcoming limited GPS with multi-layered technology

Traditional GPS tracking can struggle in urban environments and remote areas. Motive overcomes these limitations by layering multiple technologies into its gps asset tracking:

  • Assisted GPS: Uses internet data to help GPS receivers identify the best satellites.
  • Cellular tower triangulation: Provides a backup when GPS is weak.
  • Bluetooth: Locates assets even in obscured environments.

This multi-layered approach ensures a seamless user experience with accurate and reliable location data.

Tracking small equipment with Motive Beacon

Locating small equipment on the job site can be a major headache. The Motive Beacon (coming soon) is designed to solve this problem. This small, cost-effective Bluetooth tracker allows you to track portable generators, air compressors, toolboxes, and other small items at scale, reducing loss and misplacement.

Mitigating theft and loss 

Equipment theft is a significant problem, but Motive provides solutions to mitigate this risk:

  • Platform integration: Track all assets in one place.
  • Geofence alerts: Receive alerts when assets leave designated areas.
  • Asset movement tracking: Identify unusual activity.
  • Vehicle and asset data connection: See which vehicle is transporting which asset.

These features provide proactive control, helping you prevent loss and misuse before they happen.

Optimizing asset utilization

Knowing where your assets are is only part of the equation. You also need to know how they’re being used. Motive’s platform provides visibility into asset utilization, helping you make informed decisions about resource allocation and avoid unnecessary costs.

Panel discussion with Christian Zuniga from Staker Parson

Christian Zuniga, Transportation Telematics Site Champion from Staker Parson, shared how the company built a business case for equipment monitoring with Motive by focusing on:

  • Utilization of equipment: Demonstrating effective equipment usage.
  • Reduction of downtime: Preventing loss and improving maintenance.
  • Cost savings: Avoiding unnecessary purchases and rentals.
  • Reporting and visibility: Providing clear data to management.
  • Future potential: Anticipating AI capabilities for deeper insights.

Zuniga highlighted the value of having everything on a single dashboard and shared an anecdote about how Motive eliminated those dreaded late-night calls about equipment locations. Rather than phone calls to an equipment manager at two in the morning to locate equipment, now paving crews use the Fleet App. “Those phone calls have gone away,” Zuniga said. Now their paving cres get directions to the equipment location and load it up without waking anyone up.

Ultimately, Motive helps businesses keep their equipment, the very lifeblood of their operations, in optimal condition and readily available, ensuring uninterrupted productivity and profitability.

Ready to check out Motive Equipment Monitoring solutions for yourself? Learn more.