Knock off the moss
While so much of the beginning of an acquisition is about being
hands-off and easing the new company into your family,
Suriyakumar knows changes must be made.
“These are small companies, they all come with a certain amount
of baggage, and it’s our job to go and clean those companies up,”
he says. “Even when you’re a well-managed company, you’re still
always going to have situations when you grow fast, where it’s only
natural you start gathering some moss, some inefficiencies.”
Like everything else American Reprographics does, it has an
approach that encourages an entrepreneurial spirit from every unit.
Overall, the company has 300 locations broken up into 45 divisions.
Suriyakumar has a vice president and a team at headquarters
assigned to watching over the daily numbers for each and every division to see where soft spots develop. In addition to that, those numbers are posted for everyone to see to encourage competition and
recognition.
Suriyakumar checks in on any area that’s weak without taking
over the business. He instead focuses on the assets that
American Reprographics has to help and offers support from
anywhere in the company.
“It’s very important for them to know that I know their successes and failures and I’m there to celebrate or help,” he says. “So on
the one hand, if they had a phenomenal quarter or month or got a
great billion-dollar project, I will be the first one to call and congratulate them on their tremendous success and thank them for the effort. At the same time, if certain divisions are not operating
up to par, then it is my job to call and point out specific issues and
say, ‘Look at this and come back to me — what should we do, what
could we do, where do you need help from the corporate office?’ So
once you do that, and communicate that on a regular basis, then
their confidence goes up significantly because everybody feels like
the boss knows where we are.”
Instead of micromanaging divisions, Suriyakumar learns where
the company is strongest and explains how those areas can help
any groups that hit bumps.
“The important thing is for a leader to identify and be able to justify his position as to why we should do better than others,” he
says. “Obviously, you can look at somebody and say, ‘You should
do better, go do better,’ but that would be demotivating sometimes.
It’s really important for a leader to be able to identify the strengths
of the company and be able to communicate those strengths and
make your team believe you are absolutely right. I’m able to
explain to them and say, ‘OK, we understand your market is soft
but look at the opportunities we have in front of us.’
In allowing each segment of the business to operate individually while keeping it under one umbrella, Suriyakumar hasn’t just
seen American Reprographics grow, he’s seen the inside knowledge of the company increase because it retains about 95 percent
of the business owners that it acquires.
“One would expect that (the owners) would take the money —
whether it’s $3 million or $5 million or whatever it is — and then
they’ll go about doing their things, go fishing or whatever, but that
really doesn’t happen in our case,” he says. “We inspire and motivate
them to stay with us. That’s what helps grow the company.”
HOW TO REACH: American Reprographics Co., (954) 949-5100 or www.earc.com
