Providing the equipment and logistics for large-scale international tours on the one hand and ensuring the audiovisual production for clients in the entertainment sector on the other hand does not bother Solotech. The Montreal company, which saw its revenues increase from 100 million in 2017 to 650 million this year, is banking on this duality to reach a billion dollars, or even more.
Solotech is an example of a Quebec company that has brilliantly surfed the emergence of digital technologies, despite two years of turbulence caused by a global pandemic. Tough sanitary restrictions have forced the almost complete and prolonged closure of performance halls all over the planet, which could have hurt the company specializing in the rental of stage equipment. As its president and CEO, Martin Tremblay, reminds us, managing $400 million in stage equipment, when the stages are not in use, can hurt.
Not for Solotech, which took advantage of the general slowdown in activities in the entertainment sector to make a few strategic acquisitions – a dozen in all since the arrival at its head of Martin Tremblay.
“Today, we see ourselves as a consolidator of the global audiovisual entertainment and stage logistics industry. We are active in ten of the biggest tours on the planet — we are among those who systematically work on the biggest projects in our industry,” says Martin Tremblay at Duty.
The Amazon of Stage Equipment
Two weeks ago, Martin Tremblay welcomed Martin Carrier as president of its live events division. The former head of MELS studios at Quebecor and before that ex-head of video game studios is a friend of Mr. Tremblay. The two men worked together at the beginning of the past decade, when Martin Carrier piloted the establishment in Montreal of a studio of the Californian publisher Warner Games, the subsidiary of the Hollywood giant Warner Bros., which was directed by Martin Tremblay.
Producing video games and managing stage gear aren’t quite the same thing, but there seems to be a lesson learned from the gaming industry that the two executives want to apply to steer Solotech into its next wave of growth: ensuring the elasticity of its activities to generate new income without multiplying its expenses.
“We see our turnover which will soon reach 1 billion. Our company is made to be scalable says Martin Tremblay, who uses an evocative Anglicism in the business world for what it implies in terms of operational flexibility and sales growth.
This flexibility has been made possible by a major digital shift in terms of inventory management and logistics within the company. Solotech has to deal with some two million pieces of equipment of all kinds, distributed in warehouses in Canada, the United States and Europe. Automation tools inspired by artificial intelligence have been implemented to maximize their use and to determine the right time to resell and replace them.
“In the audiovisual sector, there isn’t really a secondary market for used equipment, so the equipment we have, we normally keep it until the end of its useful life. Our digital tools have allowed us to update our equipment more quickly, which is important for our customers,” says Martin Tremblay, who compares himself in this strategy to e-commerce giants. “When you are a giant, an Amazon or a FedEx, it all depends on your logistics. »
Sport and e-paper
The giants also have activities that are often diversified. Something that Solotech does not hesitate to do. The Hochelaga Street company recently entered into a partnership with the electronic paper specialist Papercast, which will allow it to install dynamic displays in the temporary or permanent performance venues it takes care of.
After all, Solotech is approached by real estate developers who want to build gathering places of all kinds. The Bell Center in Montreal and the Videotron Center in Quebec City have custom-designed sound and lighting systems.
Strange coincidence, it is precisely in the arenas that Solotech wants to strengthen a new kind of expertise, and allow its big boss to reconnect with his past, given that electronic sport is now in his sights. “We acquired an electronic sports specialist during the pandemic which will allow us to produce everything for this type of event. Yes, I go back to my first love, but there is everything in there: stage equipment, audiovisual production, and even virtual environments. »
To use a modified version of the adage, you can take the businessman out of the video game, but it is difficult to take the video game out of the businessman… especially if it is to take his business to the next stage of its growth.