Vanderlande and Smart Robotics: an alliance is sometimes better than a takeover
Established companies would do well not to take over start-ups but to form an alliance with them. That’s the view of Annemieke Hoekstra, merger and acquisitions specialist at PwC: “Taking over a start-up is often not a success. All too often, the smaller party gets submerged in the culture and processes of the new owner. And that means that the acquiring company quickly loses out on the unique features that it thought it would be gaining.” According to Ms Hoekstra, forming an alliance is a better way of getting the best of both worlds. One of her prime examples is the alliance between Vanderlande, a provider of logistics solutions, and the much smaller start-up Smart Robotics.
Samenwerking Vanderlande en Smart Robotics
Samenwerking Vanderlande en Smart Robotics laat zien dat alliantie soms beter is dan overname.
Global player Vanderlande and start-up Smart Robotics
Vanderlande – a global player in logistics process automation for airports, distribution centres, and parcel services – employs almost 6000 people. It operates in 105 countries and has a turnover of 1.4 billion euros. Smart Robotics (currently) has a staff of 32 and a turnover of 3 million euros. The startup, which has been operating for just under three years, develops smart robots that help Vanderlande further automate its order picking, i.e. collecting together the products for an order.
With hindsight, “delighted” that takeover couldn’t take place
Vanderlande initially wanted to take over Smart Robotics, but the much smaller party was totally against it. Herman Molenaar, Vanderlande’s CFO, says that his company is now in fact “delighted” that the takeover didn’t happen. “We’re a big and powerful company, and we tend to think we know better. We take over a business and then we tell them how good we are and how they should do their work our way. But the arrangement with Smart Robotics has taught us that an alliance is a much better approach. Smart Robotics is small, acts intuitively, and has a can-do mentality. It’s great to see how this small group of young people can achieve rapid results by thinking differently and – you might say – not being hindered by prior knowledge. It’s their baby, their adventure, and their product.”
Balance between speed and stability
Heico Sandee, one of the founders and managing directors of Smart Robotics, is equally enthusiastic. “We can cut all the various corners very quickly so as to achieve a rapid result. At the same time, we’ve noticed that Vanderlande’s processes and systems are so solid and well thought-out that they can carry out development and delivery very predictably. Both are a really big advantage. You need to strike a balance between the speed of a small start-up and the stability of a big company.”
Too small to enter the market alone
Smart Robotics wants to move onto the logistics market, but it’s too small to do that on its own, so it’s essential to have a partner. “Vanderlande can roll out the systems that we develop on a global scale,” says Heico Sandee. “What’s also extremely valuable is their experience in running a business. We’ve now been operating for a few years and we’re learning from the mistakes that we make every day. But the tips and advice we get from Vanderlande also prevent us from making mistakes.”
”A takeover would have deprived our company of its soul”
Vanderlande has a minority stake in Smart Robotics and the two parties have an R&D agreement. An advisory board has also been set up. Heico Sandee explains: “I set up Smart Robotics together with my business partner and our team, which has grown over the past few years. We’re proud of the company and we want to maintain control of it. When you get taken over, you go back to being employees, and you have to do what you’re told. To a great extent, that would remove our motivation, and I think we would then decide to go off and do something else. A takeover would have deprived our company of its soul.”
Proactively looking for other technology partners
Entering into an alliance was a first for both Vanderlande and Smart Robotics. It’s been very satisfactory, indeed to such an extent that Vanderlande has developed a protocol to proactively go in search of technology partners so as to enter into similar alliances. “Our conclusion is now that that’s a much better approach,” says CFO Herman Molenaar.
“Both of us work where our strengths lie”
For the time being, the Vanderlande/Smart Robotics alliance is focusing on automating order picking, but going forward they both want to work on jointly developing solutions for other logistics issues too. “I envisage more intensive collaboration,” says Heico Sandee. “Looking to the future, I don’t really see a change in our division of roles. We develop systems and Vanderlande rolls them out. Both of us work where our strengths lie.”
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