If youre wondering what information logistics is, its one of those vague business-speak terms that few people understand, even though they may pretend to. It covers a multitude of print-connected services that bear precious little relation to the Astron of five years ago when CEO David Mitchell led a management buy-out. Back then it was a struggling company made up of two printers allied to a bookbinders.
Now Astron is a group rather than a single company vastly bigger, much more profitable and its focus has changed dramatically. Printing and binding are childs play compared to the design support, direct-mail campaign and response management, web design, procurement, document life-cycle control, inventory management and worldwide distribution that Astron now specialises in. Its also a much happier place to work.
There has been a massive transformation and much of the credit must go to group HR and operations director Kathy Woodward, as much as to Mitchell, for the way their HR-based management has reaped dividends. But it is all work in progress there seems little danger of things standing still in the near future. Astron is in constant flux, and thats how they like it. The latest upheavals have seen the company bought by the Prudentials venture capitalist arm, PPMV; Astron has merged with another company, Tactica; and it has developed what it terms a trading relationship with Siemens Business Systems.
Woodward recounts that there was no shortage of bids for Astron from admiring suitors before Mitchell accepted Prudentials offer. The original backers of the buy-out, Gresham and 3i, had always insisted on having an exit strategy after three to five years. The reason Woodward gives for most bids being turned down was because they could not fulfil one of the main conditions that the Astron management team insisted upon that we have to be allowed to run the company in our own management style.
Woodward openly admits that she cried the night Astron was sold. Wed created this beautiful thing that could only be sustained in a certain way, wed put in all the infrastructure and we would have hated to see it removed, thats what wed escaped from.
This beautiful thing the Astron way of management has clear parallels to that of Semcos MD, Ricardo Semler (see HR, January), but Woodward confesses that she hadnt even read his book, Maverick!, until recently and finds it a little hard to relate to Semlers claim to be able to manage his time and delegate most of his work to others. Typically, she is up by four in the morning, in work by six and at work until sevenish in the evening and not surprisingly is in bed by 10.30pm. My husband and family are used to it, she says, by way of explanation.
Its a schedule that most would find punishing in the extreme, but since she loves her job so much, she cheerfully admits, I come to work for fun. Its so exciting.
When asked to give an example of how Astron makes work exciting, Woodward first cites one of the companys young employees, Russell Brooks, who was recruited to the Astron warehouse some five years ago he is now one of their most talented software writers. At my old workplace, says Woodward without naming names you needed 15 years experience before you could move to another job. Its barmy. In five years you can learn to do brain surgery.
Another nugget of wisdom is that,Everyone is a coach; at Astron were all responsible for passing knowledge around. With this in mind, the senior management try to spend the occasional day working on the shop floor. Woodward recalls her last stint in the warehouse. Its a really good atmosphere and everyone was taking the mickey out of me for being all fingers and thumbs. But it brought home to her the value of having team-mates she could talk to, because as she says, Id been doing the job for a while, when suddenly this horrible thought struck me I think Im doing this wrong.
There is a definite and perceptibly friendly atmosphere at Astron, which is fuelled by the trust that the workforce has in the management (and vice versa). Talking to the likes of Duncan MacDonald confirms this. Hes been with Astron for five years and as father of the chapel is the print union leader. It is a genuine partnership at Astron, he says. He reveals how he heard on the grapevine prior to joining Astron that David Mitchell never breaks his word, and since hes been at Astron, MacDonald is delighted to report that Mitchell has lived up to his reputation.
Woodward then interrupts a meeting to introduce me to Dave Smith, a manager who joined the group through its acquisition of Tactica. There is a major difference in culture between Tactica and Astron, he says, and its in terms of empowerment now we have the freedom to make decisions.
And it is some freedom. Following the merger, Woodward complains that she was sent millions of emails by employees new to Astron. And she wasnt interested at all in the majority of them. Her reaction was, Yes, yes, very nice. But why are you telling me? Youre the manager, get on with it.
It seems that while some people thrive on this attitude, some never get used to the Astron hands-off way of working. It takes three months on average, estimates Woodward. Why does it take so long? We have to teach people to make mistakes, she says, which is something you dont hear every day in business. Most find it liberating eventually, she says, but are like rabbits caught in the headlights at first.
But isnt there the danger that managers will make mistakes if theres no one to look over their shoulder? Thats why the 8.30am process [Astrons morning meeting] is so important. People sit in on them and all the screw-ups are mentioned and go into a database. The only sins at Astron are not to mention something important at these meetings and not to take responsibility for them.
Smith then recounts how he was rewarded by Mitchell for winning a major NHS contract for Astron. Mitchell rang him up to congratulate him and told him to take his wife out to a nice restaurant and to send him the bill. Smith clearly appreciated the gesture. Susan has to put up with my late nights, so it was good for her to get some kind of thanks too.
Astron is especially strong on feel-good factors. Another Woodward anecdote involves the Astron toilets. Apparently a cleaner, a body-builder with innumerable tattoos whod been married about eight times, approached Woodward one evening and grunted, I wanna talk to you about the ladies toilets.
Woodward steeled herself, not knowing quite what to expect him to say. But it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I know women, he said, and Ive noticed that most of your customers are women. My wives tell me that its a nightmare, the number of times you ladder tights, or lose a button...
So Astron provides these things and more in its toilets. Its not an expense, says Woodward, compared to flying someone to Dubai for a meeting, for example. And they certainly do smell fragrant as you walk past them. Even the mens toilets are stocked with such grooming essentials as mouthwash, shaving foam and razors.
But, as Woodward says, there is a very good business case for doing what might to some seem like fluffy nonsense. There is a link to customer value and it improves team spirit and sends out a message of a supportive culture.
But Woodward confesses that when her daughter Rachel spent a day at Astron, she went home telling everyone that her mother has her own toilet and all they do all day is sit around eating chocolate eclairs its not true by the way, as it was chocolate croissants on my visit. But its not all sitting around chatting. Despite Woodwards protestations to the contrary, it is hard work too. The Tactica merger resulted in three months of real drama. Woodward read all the books on mergers. They all say project teams dont work, this doesnt work, that doesnt work. They never tell you what does work, she complains. So she took the Astron way, and contacted people who had been through the experience and survived she cites Scott Wright at ScottishPower as a prime example to take soundings from people in the know.
Of the Tactica merger itself, she says, We decided to do it our way, to be honest with everyone from day one, she says, We eventually signed the deal at 7am in the morning. She ponders at this point, Why do all deals get signed at that time?
At 9am we were out and about saying, This is what were going to do, and we laid it all out. There was no time for speculation and we were meeting the trade union leaders within 48 hours. We lost about 30 people from the Tactica plant at Norwich but there were no compulsory redundancies and most people were placed.
Woodwards passion for Astron is infectious, which is just as well, because if you look back, in the mid-1990s the company was operating in a print equivalent of the dark ages. Woodward portrays it in simple terms. We felt that we were all going to die, she says, it was just a matter of time.
Five years on, the undertakers have taken their business elsewhere and the prognosis is much more robust. Even when you ask Woodward whether a recession would knock the stuffing out of this Astron revival, shes remarkably upbeat. I shouldnt really be saying this, she whispers conspiratorially, but to a degree I think were recession-proof. This is dangerous talk. But she has got a point.
In their drive for greater efficiency, many firms are looking to outsource the very things Astron does so well. When a recession hits, people look for the things we can offer, explains Woodward, and her explanation is backed up by the workers Astron has already taken on under TUPE legislation from the likes of Docusystems and Save & Prosper. The Astron cause against recession is also helped by some 20 long-term contracts which are underwritten for four or five years. Theyre fabulous, she says.
The company has an impressive client list British Airways, ScottishPower, BUPA, the BSM and the RAC, to name just a few. For BA, for example, it will design, print and deliver thousands of items, anything from luggage labels to information leaflets in numerous languages explaining how DVT (or economy class syndrome) can be avoided. For the BSM, it will manage its website and online shop, dispatching items as emailed orders are received. Astron is now the largest print management group in Europe. And the only sign you find of Astron is in the tiniest of small print on the back of an item. We know our place, says Woodward in a corporate video, its in the background.
If Woodward and Mitchell are in the background with their products, theyre not shy and retiring with clients, employees or journalists. They want to evangelise how theyve turned round a company which was at deaths door and they want to prove that their model will work just as well for a company with a 110 million turnover as it will for one with a 10 million turnover.
Six months on, there has been a 400% improvement in profit across the two businesses. The day before we meet, Woodward has had her six-monthly review meeting with PPMV. It went well, but shes under no illusions. If profits were to decrease theyd be crawling all over us. Profit gives you the freedom to manage the way we do...
The last time this magazine looked at the work being done by Astron, the headline was Smile youre at Astron. Six months on, its still a happy place to work. Were still smiling, says Woodward, were still bright, still shiny, still entrepreneurial. Were a little battle-weary, but were still smiling.
