Let's Talk Supply Chain™

Explore Supply Chain Insights at your Fingertips

557: Maintenance Reimagined, with Samsara

557: Maintenance Reimagined, with Samsara

Aug 03, 2026

Sean McGee is the VP of Product and Engineering for connected maintenance at Samsara, where he has worked for eight years. He champions a deeply customer-centric approach, emphasizing fieldwork to understand and solve real-world operational challenges. McGee explains that by combining a foundational layer of IoT data with AI, Samsara helps customers shift from reactive to proactive maintenance. He believes this transformation provides a significant competitive advantage and envisions a future where AI offers decision support across the entire asset lifecycle.

557: Maintenance Reimagined, with Samsara

Today I’m joined by Samsara, a company that is on a mission to improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy.

Samsara is the pioneer of the Connected Operations® Platform, which enables organizations that depend on physical operations to harness IoT data to develop actionable insights and improve their operations.

Today Sean McGee, VP of Product and Engineering at Samsara, joins me to talk all about maintenance. We’ll be exploring why it’s historically been one of the most underserved areas in fleet operations, and the biggest pain points teams see day-to-day. We’ll be sharing why Samsara is taking a different approach, and the impact of agentic AI. And we’ll be turning our attention to the future to take a closer look at their vision beyond maintenance.

Guest bio:

Sean McGee has spent eight years at Samsara building products that solve real operational problems—first in telematics, then on Samsara’s platform layer, and now as the leader of Samsara Connected Maintenance.

 

02:15

An introduction to Sean, his role at Samsara, and why their conference, Samsara Beyond , is the highlight of the year.

03:31

What the landscape of maintenance has typically looked like, and why Samsara have learned to pay attention to post-it notes.

A lot of operators are trying to figure out how to go from reactive and chaotic to proactive and planned.
05:52

Why Samsara has gone all-in on maintenance.

What caused us to take the next step was… getting out into the field, talking to the shop managers, and hearing the pain of how hard it is to close the loop. And AI accelerated that. A lot of the pain points we can automate now.
07:29

The biggest pain points maintenance teams see day-to-day.

08:37

How Samsara puts a focus on realistic adoption and usage to meet people where they are.

We had this idea, we went out into the field and tried it… and it was an immediate fit… but we had to run the feedback loop to understand that.
10:24

How Samsara’s ‘Day In The Life’ process helps drive successful change management.

We map out the process and then work into the technology piece. It’s not about: ‘Here’s the demo – good luck!’… We co-create.” “Flexibility is so important, and what a lot of the legacy systems got wrong was they’re very rigid, they’re very opinionated… You almost have to fit the tool instead of the tool fitting you.
13:14

How seeing maintenance differently is a competitive advantage for both Samsara and their customers.

If you can tell us: What does this fault code mean, what does it tell us, and how fast is that going to happen – that is operational advantage.
16:59

A real-life example exploring how post-it notes on a customer’s shop floor led to the development of a custom Samsara solution to fit their workflows.

20:00

The future for maintenance and asset management, and where Samsara are focusing next. “Everything is possible – science fiction is becoming reality right in front of our eyes.”

Resources & Links Mentioned

More on this topic

How artificial intelligence and automation are actually showing up in supply chain operations — beyond the hype.

See all AI & Automation

Connect With Us

Sarah's Social Media
Follow LTSC for More Updates
YouTube

Partner With Us

Explore exclusive opportunities to collaborate and showcase your brand.

  • Sponsor opportunities & brand exposure
  • Community partnerships & events
  • Content collaboration & thought leadership