FleetGuru.ai at the IPWEA International Asset Management Summit 2026
FleetGuru.ai attended the IPWEA International Asset Management Summit in Melbourne, where Michael Mills, our General Manager of Heavy Vehicle Innovation and Advocacy, took the stage with an unusual co-presenter: an AI.
The Summit ran from 22 to 23 October 2026 at Rydges Melbourne. It brought together asset managers, engineers, councils, government departments and contractors from across Australasia under the theme "Advancing Asset Management: From Practice to Performance". Michael's session went straight to the practice part of that theme. Instead of slides about what AI might do one day, he showed what it looks like to work alongside one today.
A Live Conversation with MIC
Michael's session was a live, unscripted conversation with MIC, an AI maintenance intelligence co-worker purpose-built for fleet and asset maintenance operations. There was no rehearsed script and no pre-recorded demo. Delegates saw how Mic reasoned, responded and handled follow-up questions in real time.
"We didn't want to show slides or talk about what AI might do in the future; we wanted practising asset managers to see and experience in real time what it looks like to collaborate with an AI co-worker. Asset management in Fleets and Public Works is complex, and putting MIC on stage unscripted proved how AI can instantly surface key asset management insights to help teams make better, faster decisions on the ground." — Michael Mills
Together, Michael and MIC worked through the challenges asset managers deal with every day:
- Maintenance decision-making: what to service, repair or replace, and when, based on the data at hand.
- Operational coordination: keeping workshops, suppliers, schedules and people aligned so assets stay productive.
- Everyday asset questions: the practical, often messy problems that rarely fit neatly into a system.
AI as a co-worker, not just a tool.
The idea at the heart of the session is simple: AI works best when it is embedded in the everyday work of asset management, not bolted on as another dashboard. A co-worker understands the context of the job, answers questions in plain language and helps people make better calls faster.
That is the thinking behind FleetGuru.ai. Fleet and asset teams already hold a huge amount of knowledge in service histories, work orders and the heads of experienced staff. An AI co-worker helps surface that knowledge at the moment a decision is being made, so teams spend less time chasing information and more time keeping assets on the road and in service.
By putting Mic on stage unscripted, Michael gave delegates a tangible, forward-looking view of that future, and an honest look at how it performs today.
About Michael Mills
Michael Mills is General Manager of Heavy Vehicle Innovation and Advocacy at FleetGuru.ai. He is an experienced asset manager whose career spans maintenance, leadership and strategy roles.
That hands-on background shapes his approach to AI. Michael knows the pressure of a breakdown, the trade-offs in a maintenance budget and the coordination it takes to keep a fleet running. His focus is on technology that helps the people doing that work, not technology for its own sake.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.
About the Summit
Hosted by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA), the International Asset Management Summit is a two-day event focused on building sustainable, resilient and technology-driven infrastructure for communities. This year's program covered digital transformation and data-driven decision-making, capability and workforce development, and technology, AI, and asset intelligence.
Keep The Conversation Going
Thank you to IPWEA for hosting, and to everyone who joined the session and stopped to chat with Michael in Melbourne. The conversations about the decisions that eat up an asset manager's week, and where an AI co-worker could take some of that load, were a highlight.
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