The difference easy-to-use tech makes for ECA.

Embracing new technology

While the construction industry is expected to be one of the fastest-growing industries by 2020, it’s also the one that is on the cusp of a digital transformation. Successful construction companies, such as the Equipment Corporation of America (ECA), like to embrace technology to power its businesses.

ECA’s Service Administrator Chad Goodrich says the company chose to work with Motive because “the system is easy to use and Motive’s training for our techs/drivers is great.”

With over nine locations in the U.S. and Canada, ECA has 16 technicians on the road required to log hours of service and 45 assets to manage and track. ECA formed a partnership with Motive in 2017, which gave it an opportunity to become more productive, and safer.

Dave Schell, Corporate Director of Parts and Service at ECA, says, “I thrive on finding solutions that help ECA and our customers to achieve success. Elevating our Service and Parts Departments to set the benchmark for the industry is my number one priority, and Motive helps get us there.”

Finding reliable tech that’s easy to use

According to a McKinsey report on construction’s digital future, large construction projects are often up to 80 percent over budget and take 20 percent longer than planned. To remain an industry leader, ECA needed reliable technology solutions that keep productivity up.

The employees who drive ECA’s trucks are primarily technicians, so learning how to use fleet technology is new to them. Because of this, it was important for ECA to implement technology that makes it easy for its technicians to accurately and efficiently manage driver logs.

Motive helps construction companies with this unique challenge by offering 24/7 live support and educational resources that customers can use to learn how to use products and services.

According to Chad Goodrich, “Motive enhances our technicians’ ability to get their logs entered correctly, and the driver resources really help.”

Freeing up time to focus on the customer

ECA has earned a reputation for having dedicated, hard-working employees. This extends to the service that these employees give their customers.

Because Motive is so easy to use, ECA technicians can spend less time learning the fleet technology and more time focusing on the customer.

“Technicians show up to a job site where a four-million-dollar piece of equipment is not working, costing the job $5,000 an hour if that machine’s not working,” says Schell. “The last thing the customer wants is to see their tech recording his time instead of being on that site to fix their problems. The customer perception of what our employees are doing is important.”

Digitizing construction with GPS tracking

As the construction industry remains healthy, project sites become denser with more and more equipment. One of McKinsey’s ‘big five ideas’ for disrupting construction is the internet of things (IoT). The report describes how construction project sites generate rich data, but most of that data is not even captured, much less used.

Still relatively new technology, GPS tracking can help construction companies gain visibility into their vehicles, equipment, and drivers and teams. Data from GPS tracking can help construction companies improve productivity and inform business decisions.

“I thrive on finding solutions that help ECA and our customers to achieve success,” says Schell. “I could see GPS tracking play a role in that success if our guys are driving back having to swing through a job site. We’d have a quick visual of what that is rather than having to go through rental files or equipment notes to see what the area of operation is for the guy and where our equipment is sitting.”

Learn more

See the features ECA loves for yourself: Asset tracking and AI Dashcam.