Interview | Fives Drives the Future of Industrial Maintenance
With a solid international track record and a strategy focused on digitalization and sustainability, Fives Maintenance continues to expand its industrial maintenance capabilities worldwide.
In this interview, Javier Luckie, Business Development Manager at Fives Maintenance Mexico, discusses the company’s international expansion strategy, its approach to innovation, and the value proposition that differentiates Fives in the global industrial sector.
Could you tell us a little about the history of Fives Maintenance and what the company does?
Fives Maintenance is part of Fives Group, a French company with over 200 years of history and a presence in more than 25 countries. The group has approximately 9,000 employees and operates in various industrial sectors, with annual sales exceeding 2.2 billion euros.
The Fives Maintenance division has more than 25 years of experience and approximately 700 employees, primarily in France. It specializes in providing industrial maintenance solutions for sectors such as aerospace, defense, rail, logistics, and automotive. Currently, the company operates in nearly 70 industrial plants and continues its international expansion.
At the core of this initiative is the collaboration with Fives CortX, the group’s digital subsidiary, which has developed its own digital solution dedicated to industrial performance. With a presence spanning multiple regions and a diversified portfolio of industrial expertise, Fives continues to strengthen its global network through specialized business units that support customers across key industries.
Why did you choose Mexico—and, specifically, Querétaro—to launch this expansion?**
The decision was based on several factors. Mexico has established itself as a strategic destination for foreign investment and, in recent years, has seen the arrival and expansion of hundreds of industrial companies. Additionally, the country is undergoing a transition toward Industry 4.0, driving the digitization of production processes.
Querétaro, for its part, offers ideal conditions thanks to its geographic location, infrastructure, and the diversity of industries established there, including the automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, and food sectors. All of this made the state the ideal location to establish Fives Maintenance’s first office outside of France.
What specific conditions did you find in Querétaro that made it suitable for establishing your new headquarters?
In addition to the strong industrial ecosystem, one of the key factors was the opportunity to develop a training model similar to the one Fives has in France.
The company is working to establish a partnership with the Aeronautical University of Querétaro (UNAQ), with the goal of replicating the Fives Academy, a center specializing in technical training where thousands of hours of training are provided each year.
This collaboration will enable the company to offer specialized training programs in industrial maintenance, starting with courses focused on CNC machine tools and subsequently expanding the offerings over the coming years.
Querétaro is also promoting industrial decarbonization. What opportunities does this environment present for the company?
Sustainability is part of Fives’ global strategy. The group remains committed to reducing its CO₂ emissions by 30% by 2030 and seeks to support its customers in achieving the same goal.
From Fives Maintenance’s perspective, an effective way to contribute to decarbonization is to optimize machine performance, reduce energy consumption, and extend the service life of equipment through specialized maintenance and digital tools that improve the efficiency of production processes.
How prepared do you think the Mexican industry is to accelerate its transition toward more sustainable processes?
The company believes that Mexico is already in the midst of this transformation process. Many companies are already implementing real-time monitoring solutions and digital tools to optimize their production lines.
Rather than replacing the human factor, digitalization seeks to strengthen it through information, data analysis, and systems that reduce errors, waste, and downtime, thereby improving both productivity and environmental impact.
What are your short- and medium-term expectations for this new operation in Querétaro?
In the short term, the priority will be to consolidate the group’s presence in Mexico by establishing a company with a fully Mexican identity and operations.
Immediate objectives include opening offices, hiring the first technical team, and formally launching operations before the end of the year. Subsequently, the company plans to expand its workforce, establish a workshop with its own warehouse, and strengthen integration with the other Fives Group divisions already operating in the country.
Finally, what sets Fives Maintenance apart from other companies in the sector?
Fives Maintenance’s value proposition combines specialized maintenance services with digital solutions developed by Fives Cortex, a division focused on the intelligent analysis of industrial data.
The company uses its own tools, such as the Omega platform, which brings together thousands of technical procedures accessible to its specialists anywhere in the world. It also offers performance-based contracts, under which it assumes responsibility for maintaining specific equipment availability and productivity metrics, including penalty clauses if targets are not met.
Furthermore, its digital solutions enable the monitoring of machine performance, the anticipation of failures through predictive maintenance, and a significant reduction in downtime.
Thanks to this combination of technical expertise, digitalization, and ongoing training, Fives Maintenance aims to position itself as a strategic partner for Mexican industries, driving more efficient, sustainable, and competitive processes.
