“I’m dangerous,” smiles Geoff Hill, sitting back in his chair, looking anything but. The founder and CEO of Astute Group is describing his aggressive approach to pursuing any new business opportunity in the supply of components to the market.
Decisions are made fast, and progress relentlessly pursued. No to-ing and fro-ing on countless meetings, no power point presentations and no fretting about nervous investors.
As an exemplar, look no farther than the upcoming electronica exhibition in Munich where Astute will be present on a 300 square metre stand with mezzanine floor, and staffed by 60+ members of the Astute team.
Astute has exhibited at electronica in the past, but on a smaller scale. Says Hill: “We made our debut just before COVID as a show of support for our Munich-based German GmbH company. It was a way of announcing ourselves on the European stage, it was very much advertising ourselves as a component broker. The last time was on the back of supply chain solutions because the market was really challenged with all the shortages.
“This year is about ambition. We have our stand of 300 square metres, reinforcing our commitment to Europe. It displays our ambitions in demand creation distribution and all the other services that support demand creation which give the focus to attract new customers and new lines. We are showing our ambition to go against the big distributors with a real can-do attitude on niche products.
“Our philosophy is about embedding customer relationships with value proposition solutions which they value and pay for. Design is part and parcel of that relationship because it gives us influence. It also gives some design protection where we have invested some very clever, but expensive engineering time, but also it gives us an opportunity to get insights into future technologies, an insight into our customers thinking – where they’re going – so we can get ahead of the curve. That is important when I continually have to invest first and get decisions correct.”
Value propositions
Astute sees the European electronics industry as a good fit with its value propositions.
“The continent is very much into innovation, there are lots and lots of designs, and Europe has a quick time to market ethos which is something we can aid and abet to provide solutions,” says Hill.
The Stevenage, UK-based distributor is basing its advance around some strong pillars. One is the acquisition of ISMOsys, the pan-European semiconductor representative company brought in-house a strong technical and design presence.
Industry veteran Nigel Watts joined Astute as Global Business Development Director at the beginning of this year. He is enthusiastic about Astute’s potential.
He argues: “Part of Astute’s capability that excites me is that we have got true salespeople who can meet and elicit information from a customer and go back to the supplier with that information who then gives you a solution for the customer.
“I would say that is immensely strong and I would pit any one of our team here against any franchised distribution salesperson. And they are a great complement to our ISMOsys people who are demand creators who work with system oriented high-level engineers. Put them together with the sales team and you have solution providers from top to bottom.”
Just as important is the adhesive that glues the teams together. “Most of my senior managers have been with the company for over 20 years,” interjects Hill. “That gives our customers consistency, stability, and years of experience.”
Proper engineering support
Mulling potential supplier signings, Hill is planning a realistic strategy. “The big semiconductor companies have the big global distributors, and obviously I don’t disagree with that philosophy,” he remarks. “But then you have 60-70% of the rest of the semiconductor manufacturers who aren’t going to get the airtime at the big distributors, and they don’t have a lot of resource at their disposal, especially in trying to make an impact in different European countries where just employing people brings its own challenges.
“And even if they put their products in the catalogue distributors, where are the feet on the street to explain technologies to customers and identify the opportunity?” asks Hill. He answers his own question: “You have to have an army of people who are totally capable, and you have to have a brand to support what you are trying to do. That’s our goal, that’s what we are trying to achieve.”
Hill recognises European ambitions will not be achieved by a big splash at electronica. “It is part of a journey, and the culture within Astute will drive it.
“The customers, and it’s the OEMS I’m talking about, need proper engineering support. It needs two-way communications, so the component manufacturers have to understand what the customer likes about its product, what the application is, and what are the likely volumes. What we are offering is value demand creation.
“I’ve grown this business from day one, and it’s the customers who allowed me to get to where I am today. So, I’m customer led, and customers come first, second, third. They pay all of our salaries and provide us with opportunities to grow the business.”
Baking up this strategy Hill plans two investments – one in an ecommerce platform where Astute will populate the board with all the devices needed for a project in front of an engineer’s eyes. Then, it leaves generic gaps which Astute captures, so it knows if a customer needs, say, a multiplexer – it has ways of supplying that component.
Astute also plans a distribution centre to supply Europe, most likely in Poland, while the Munich facility continues to support the German customers. “Moreover, we will be hiring the very best technical people in Europe that Nigel can recruit,” notes Hill.
While Astute has had a solid supplier line up for many years, the focus has been on emech, interconnect, passives, and power. Semiconductor lines are already arriving to bolster the line up, including XMOS and Alif Semiconductor, giving Astute a brace of microcontroller and AI processor products. Quicklogic has landed with its FPGA line, and Innophase brings low power wireless radio devices. More to come? “Yes,” asserts Watts, both imminently and in the longer term because “you never stop looking.”
For Hill, the Astute ingredients – top class salespeople, savvy design specialists, and a strong product portfolio – offer a potent mix to upset the established order in component distribution.
This article originally appeared in the November issue of Procurement Pro.
