Damian’s Enterprises scoops up safety and savings with Motive’s AI-powered platform.

Challenge

For Damian’s, the biggest challenge is keeping ice cream and other frozen treats at the right temperature from the start of the delivery journey and into the customer’s freezers. Ice cream needs to be stored at -20℉ down to -40℉, and maintaining that temperature is critical to product quality and customer service. Any break in the cold chain could result in melted products, financial losses, and unsatisfied customers. So when a rise in temperature went undetected in the back of Damian’s tractor-trailer, it resulted in an expensive loss of inventory worth $30,000.

“Our telematics company tracked what was happening at the front of the truck, but we had no control over what was happening in the back,” explains Hodson. “Without being alerted to the temperature increasing, we lost an entire tractor trailer full of ice cream.”

And that wasn’t Damian’s only challenge. “Damian’s #1 priority every year, even beyond sales growth, is safety. We care about the safety of our employees, our customers, and the communities we serve,” says Joseph Manning, president of Damian’s Enterprises. With just a few of their vehicles outfitted with dash cams from another provider, Damian’s struggled with liability issues and false claims whenever an incident occurred. It always came down to one driver’s word against another’s, leading to costly concessions. “If you rear end a vehicle in Florida, it’s automatically your fault,” says Hodson. ”Without dash cams, we didn’t have a leg to stand on.”

Damian’s was also looking for a way to manage their fuel expenditures and prevent unauthorized transactions. Their previous fuel card solution operated independently from telematics, making it difficult to track fuel use or detect potential fraud. “We’d have to physically go through each invoice line by line to see what was going on when the purchase was made,” Hodson says. “It took a lot of time.”

Fleet maintenance was reactive, leaving equipment prone to breakdowns that would hamper operations. Damian’s needed a way to be ahead of routine maintenance and see fault codes to get trucks back on the road as soon as possible when a breakdown did happen. Compliance requirements were an administrative burden that needed to be streamlined and automated too.

Damian’s fleet also includes tractor trailers and they needed a way to keep track of them when they are disconnected from their trucks. Otherwise, they could be stolen. Company cars, pickups and vans also weren’t being tracked and were at risk for unrecovered theft.

To confront these challenges, Damian’s needed an integrated platform that offered complete visibility and control to ensure that ice cream lovers got their fix of their favorite flavor. Motive was the solution.

Solution

When transporting millions of gallons of ice cream, every detail needs to be precise because slight fluctuations in temperature can spoil everything. Damian’s is a complex business that also faces other common fleet challenges: safety, fleet management, equipment monitoring, compliance, maintenance, and spend management. For Damian’s, Motive AI Dual-facing Dashcams, Vehicle Gateways, Asset Gateway Solar and Environmental Sensors help ensure safe, efficient delivery every step of the way, while the Motive Card connects fuel purchases to the rest of the fleet. 

“We tested other technology against Motive sensors and dash cams side-by-side in three different trucks,” Hodson says. “We measured each sensor’s accuracy in real time, and Motive was the closest to the actual temperature in the truck. Motive’s AI Dashcams had the highest quality video compared to the others.”

To improve their #1 priority of safety and accountability, Damian’s implemented Motive AI Dual-facing Dashcams with high-definition video quality. With road-facing and driver-facing views, Motive AI Dual-facing Dashcams capture crucial footage whenever an incident occurs. In fact, Motive Dashcams have exonerated Damian’s drivers, saving them from liability, time and costs of litigation and protecting the employee’s livelihood. Hodson illustrates, “We’ve had three instances where the Motive’s AI Dual-facing Dashcams protected our drivers and the company, proving we did nothing wrong and exonerating our employees. It’s been a major game-changer for us. Motive recognizes things that we wouldn’t recognize watching the footage 10 times.”

Hodson has found that the Motive AI Dual-facing Dashcams are remarkably precise in tracking the distance to the vehicle ahead, recognizing speeds, and detecting rapid, improper lane changes or swerving. He has seen video from Motive capturing flying debris from other vehicles, even at 70 mph. With its wide-angle lens, the Motive camera also provides visibility through both the driver and passenger windows, allowing it to detect vehicles approaching from the sides. Hodson states, “Motive’s dashcams monitor driver behavior, such as cell phone usage, smoking, looking down, or drowsiness. It’s so accurate it can identify a person just holding a lighter and it will trigger a smoking alert.”

With the collision detection system from Motive, Hodson set up alerts that notify every member of their leadership team instantly if a vehicle is involved in an incident, and it has been consistently accurate. Within seconds, everyone receives text and email alerts detailing where and what happened, along with video footage. “I don’t like seeing the alert because then I know something happened. But it’s been spot on every time,” he says. This widespread alert system ensures Damian’s leadership can respond quickly. 

Initially, employees were hesitant about the cameras, but after several instances where footage exonerated drivers, attitudes shifted. Employees now recognize the cameras as safeguards that protect rather than punish, which fostered a gradual acceptance and appreciation for their role in ensuring fairness and safety.

Motive’s Environmental Sensor and weather overlay is invaluable during Florida’s hurricane season. Damian’s uses the environmental sensor and geofencing on Motive Fleet View to track trucks during a storm. To ensure Damian’s products remain frozen even when trucks operate autonomously during power outages, Motive’s Environmental Sensor is essential. “We will load our diesel trucks with ice cream and they could be idling for 18 hours straight until power is restored. In those cases, there isn’t a driver there to check temperatures right away. We need a remote solution that can give us accurate temperature readings in real time. Motive gives us that,” Hodson elaborated.

Looking to track their fuel purchases in real time, Damian’s implemented the Motive Card. The card is linked directly to Damian’s vehicles, notifying the company instantly whenever the spending location and vehicle location don’t match. Motive Card also provides fuel and other discounts from partners and brings fuel spend, safety, fleet management and equipment monitoring into a single platform. 

Hodson states, “Our old card provider didn’t protect us from fraud or buddy-fueling, which prompted the move to the Motive Card for more visibility and more control. We haven’t had fraud since the Motive Card was put in place. It has helped us identify issues so we can address them and given us the data we need to optimize fuel spend.” Switching to the Motive Card has streamlined fuel management processes, significantly reducing time spent on tracking and fraud detection. This has allowed Damian’s to better allocate resources and focus on their core operations, while reducing fuel and costs.

The Motive Card gives Hodson peace of mind for automatic IFTA reporting, tracking fuel purchases and emergency purchases on the road. Because it’s a Mastercard, Hodson can control spending however he likes. “If a vehicle needs service or breaks down, we can pay for anything the driver might need right on the spot,” he says. “We can get vehicles moving quicker and help out drivers if there’s an issue.” And if the card is lost, Hodson can freeze it instantly right from the Motive App or from the Fleet View dashboard. 

Using Motive’s maintenance features, Damian’s has optimized their vehicle maintenance schedules, minimizing downtime and ensuring consistent performance. “The pre-trip and post-trip inspections look for defects and every defect is noted. The whole maintenance department here at Damian’s gets an alert immediately on their phone when a truck has a problem,” explained Hodson. Immediate alerts are essential to ensure that the ice cream isn’t at risk of melting due to faulty sensors or broken down vehicles. 

By proactively addressing maintenance issues and scheduling preventive maintenance, Damian’s has seen a reduction in unexpected breakdowns and improved overall fleet efficiency, further enhancing their ability to deliver high-quality products reliably and on time. 

Results

With Motive’s all-in-one platform, Damian’s has achieved a new level of efficiency, safety, productivity and customer service. Together, Motive’s Environmental Sensor, Safety and Fleet Management solutions monitor temperatures with incredible accuracy, ensuring safety and quality from warehouse to delivery. Damian’s has reduced losses and improved customer satisfaction. “Motive’s environmental sensors keep our ice cream at the correct temperature every time,” Hodson says.

Motive’s AI Dual-facing Dashcams, meanwhile, have improved fleet safety at Damian’s, strengthening the safety culture. For Damian’s drivers, Motive Safety Scores have improved dramatically over time. When the business first implemented AI Dashcams, drivers’ safety performance earned them scores in the mid-70s, on average. As performance has improved, the average safety score has risen to the mid-80s. One of their safest drivers, Paul Murray, averages a score of 96 over nearly 15,000 miles. Motive’s Safety Score is customizable and the safety team at Damian’s appreciates the ability to change the weighting and thresholds of alerts. They also appreciate the ability to dismiss incidents right from the dashboard so scores aren’t impacted for an action, such as harsh braking, that actually prevented an accident.

“A lot of drivers are scoring in the 80s and 90s now,” Hodson says. “I got an alert today from a driver who finally hit a perfect score of 100. Our team is competitive and trying to be safer, and it’s having a huge impact on performance, insurance rates, and our reputation. Priority #1 is safety, safety, safety! Motive helps us in pursuing that goal.”

Not only did their safety scores improve with Motive’s AI Dual-facing Dashcams, but all operations have benefitted from the combined spend management and fleet management platform. “Motive is more of an all-in-one platform than the company’s previous technology provider. You’re going to get the best dash cam with Motive. You get the environmental sensors with Motive. You get the solar powered asset gateways that can track without even having power. And, we have the Motive Card to track fuel purchases. The whole package came together for us with Motive,” says Hodson. 

With Motive’s technology, Damian’s saved thousands from a stolen passenger vehicle incident on their property. “We have had one unit stolen with Motive equipment in it, and Motive, fortunately, had a good clip of the person stealing the car. We turned that over to the police and a warrant was put out for the arrest. We did get the car back a few weeks later,” says Hodson. Without Motive’s Dashcam footage, Damian’s would have had no chance of recovering the vehicle, and the real culprit for the theft would have gone free. Motive also helped protect the driver’s job. “In cases like this, the employee may have been held responsible for the stolen car. With Motive, we knew it wasn’t his fault,” Hodson explained. 

The sweet partnership between Damian’s Enterprises and Motive has provided continuous improvement in safety, operations and efficiency for the ice cream distribution company. The company is setting a new standard in operational excellence, but it’s the ice cream they truly love. “There’s something truly magical about ice cream – it’s a treat that sparks joy in people of all ages! From the nostalgia of a beloved childhood favorite to the thrill of discovering a new flavor, or the simple comfort of a classic cone, ice cream has a way of making every moment a little sweeter. Here at Damian’s, we are incredibly fortunate and proud to be the providers of this delightful joy!” says Hodson. Just as savoring ice cream melts away worries, Motive’s seamless platform churns out happiness for Damian’s, serving satisfaction to millions with every scoop of efficiency and innovation.

The testimonials, statements, and opinions presented on this webpage reflect the real-life experiences of individuals and/or companies who have used our products and/or services. Individual results may vary and past performance is not a guarantee of future results. The testimonials presented on this webpage were voluntarily provided and not paid.