How to get the expertise you need without the full-time price tag
In short: the shared services model is when several companies share the same engineer and technician. Each one gets full technical expertise without carrying the cost of a full-time hire on its own.
In 2008, when the economic crisis hit, many Saguenay plants had to cut their technical teams. The need for expertise had not disappeared, but the budgets had.
That is when the shared services model came into its own at Préven-Tech. The idea is simple: instead of each company hiring its own full-time maintenance engineer, several companies share the same specialist. You get the expertise without bearing the cost alone. Our first shared services client was an 85-employee sawmill that had just lost its only maintenance engineer. Rather than replacing a $95,000/year position plus benefits, we proposed a share with two other companies in the region. Three years later, all three clients had reduced their maintenance costs and none wanted to go back to the previous model.
This is not a consultant who visits once a month. This is an engineer and a technician who know your equipment, your files and your reality, but who split their time between your facilities and those of other companies in the region.
This is a model that goes well beyond the Saguenay. The world's largest organizations use it. We apply it at the scale of Quebec and Canadian industrial SMEs.
Over 75% of Fortune 500 companies have established shared services models aimed at superior performance through cost reduction and service improvement.
Source: Industry research / Deloitte
In 2020, 70% of organizations cited cost reduction as the primary reason for adoption. By 2024, that figure dropped to 34%. Strategic value creation became the dominant motivation.
Source: Deloitte 2024 Global Shared Services Survey
The data shows a direct effect of shared services on profitability and a mediating effect on working capital efficiency.
Source: PMC/Springer, How finance shared services affect profitability (2023)
Every company has its own reality. An 800-employee aluminum smelter does not have the same needs as a 50-person sawmill. That is why we offer four ways to work together:
Full range of on-demand services for optimizing your assets.
One-time needs or specific projects
Professional guidance tailored to your project delivery.
When a project's scope feels overwhelming
Full-time expertise from a specialized firm embedded in your company.
Continuous needs without an in-house team
Multiple companies share the same engineer and technician.
Specific technical needs, limited resources
We will not claim that shared services are the answer to everything. Here's an honest picture, with the strengths and the trade-offs:
When Denis Drolet founded Préven-Tech in 1989, it was to offer vibration analysis to the region's plants. Quickly, clients asked for more: project management, site supervision, inventory, procurement. Because in the field, these needs are interconnected. You cannot separate maintenance from parts, or parts from procurement.
Today, our engineers and technicians split their time among several industrial companies in Saguenay, the Cote-Nord and elsewhere in Quebec and Canada. They know your equipment, your files, your context. The difference from an outside consultant is continuity: we do not start from scratch on every visit.
Shared services are not for everyone. If you need a continuous 24/7 presence, you need full-time outsourcing. But if your needs are real without justifying a permanent hire, this is exactly the right model for you.
The model is flexible. Typically, an engineer and a technician are shared among a few companies in the same region, allowing each one to access the expertise without bearing the full cost of a full-time hire alone.
The model is particularly suited to companies with specific technical needs but limited resources. Large companies with continuous needs benefit more from a full-time outsourcing model.
The expertise covers vibration analysis, maintenance management, preventive maintenance planning, project management, site supervision, inventory and procurement: the six services offered by Préven-Tech since 1989.
Let us discuss your technical needs to determine the delivery model best suited to your reality.
Contact us+1 (418) 699-7070 · [email protected]