Fleet digitization is entering a new phase: contractors and quarry operators no longer want separate systems for earthmoving equipment, aggregates handling, and the trucks that keep materials moving. The most important shift isn’t a new sensor—it’s integration: bringing on-highway and off-highway data into one operational view.
Recent industry announcements around tighter links between off-highway equipment platforms and established on-highway telematics ecosystems highlight a clear message from end users: mixed fleets are the norm, and mixed-fleet management has to feel native.
Why this matters now
For most fleets, the bottleneck is no longer “Do we have data?” It’s “Can we act on it across the whole operation?” A typical contractor may run:
- Off-highway assets: excavators, wheel loaders, dozers, compact equipment
- On-highway assets: service trucks, lowboys, fuel/lube trucks, pickups, light-duty vehicles
- Third-party rentals and subcontractor equipment that rotates week to week
If those groups live in separate portals, your team spends more time reconciling dashboards than preventing downtime.
The industry trend: “single pane of glass” is becoming table stakes
Across the market, we’re seeing a steady convergence:
- Unified asset visibility (location, utilization, idling, operating hours) for both jobsite and road vehicles
- Condition + maintenance workflows that trigger the same way, regardless of asset class
- Safety and compliance layers (driver behavior, camera events, inspections) that can be compared across the fleet
- Data normalization so “engine hours” and “mileage” can feed one planning model
The key insight: integration is less about features and more about trust. If the on-highway stream is incomplete—or the off-highway stream lacks context—dispatchers and maintenance managers will still fall back to spreadsheets.
Three practical implications for contractors (and what to ask your vendors)
- Mixed-fleet KPIs will replace equipment-only KPIs. Expect utilization, fuel, and downtime metrics to be tracked end-to-end—machine → haul → return—especially for aggregates and earthmoving-heavy projects.
- Maintenance planning will shift from reactive to “fleet-aware.” A service truck’s route, inventory, and compliance constraints will increasingly shape how you schedule jobsite maintenance windows.
- Data governance will matter more than hardware. Ask: Who owns the data? How portable is it? Can you export raw events and not just reports? What’s the latency? What’s the API story?
XeMach viewpoint: integration is a competitive advantage only when it reduces friction
In the next 12–24 months, we expect buyers to prioritize platforms that make mixed-fleet reality feel simple:
- One login, one map, one alerting model
- Clear device + retrofit strategy (factory-installed where possible; fast retrofit where not)
- Actionable alerts tuned to jobsite workflows (not generic “check engine” notifications)
The winners won’t be the companies with the most dashboards—they’ll be the ones that turn disparate data into fewer, better decisions for maintenance, dispatch, and operator coaching.
What to watch next
As mixed-fleet platforms mature, expect two developments: (1) tighter links between telematics and parts/service ordering, and (2) broader adoption of AI-assisted triage—prioritizing which alerts actually deserve a human’s attention.
Bottom line: mixed-fleet telematics is moving from “nice to have” to operational infrastructure. If your platform strategy still treats on-highway and off-highway as separate worlds, you’ll feel the drag in uptime, safety, and cost control.
