Focused decision-maker brews positive results

When Alf Smiddy was training to be a chartered accountant, the fashion was to get out and get a job in manufacturing as soon as you qualified. He did just that, and 10 years after qualifying he is the managing director of Beamish & Crawford in Cork at the age of 35.

His curriculum vitae reads like a fast track up the organisation. He joined Beamish in 1988, one year after qualifying as an accountant with Price Waterhouse. He joined on secondment as financial controller when Foster's Brewing Group took over the ailing, but long-established brewery.

He was appointed financial director and company secretary three years later, at the age of 28. In 1992, aged just 30, he was appointed general manager. Then in 1995 he was appointed managing director.

The first member of his family to go to college, he opted to do a commerce degree at University College Cork, which he felt would serve him well in business. He also knew that becoming an accountant would open various opportunities to him.

"I would see myself as quite strong in marketing and commerce," he says.

Marketing and branding are very important elements of the highly competitive beer business.

The Beamish portfolio includes Fosters, Miller, Carling and Kronenbourg which it brews under licence. It also brews Beamish Red, an ale which is aimed primarily at the British market. It distributes bottled Miller and Fosters Ice and it bottles Holsten on behalf of the German brewing group.

For Beamish, and indeed other brewers, competing against the sheer weight of Guinness means you have to be innovative and tough. Mr Smiddy says Guinness controls 75 per cent of the beer market. "My job is to fragment the market," he says, "to do everything possible to break up the Guinness stranglehold."

The brewing business is highly competitive and brewing groups are good at quoting statistics, such as market share, but they say little about what volume they are selling. Smiddy says Beamish stout is now the No. 2 selling stout in Ireland and has almost 8 per cent of the Dublin market.

He says it is acknowledged by everyone in the trade that the Dublin market is crucially important. "If your product is successful in Dublin, it will be successful everywhere else."

Miller Genuine Draft, he says, is the fastest growing bottled lager in Ireland and has recently overtaken Heineken as the No. 2 selling premium bottle beer in the Dublin market.

Such statistics give Mr Smiddy immense pleasure. He says 10 years ago 5 per cent of Beamish products were exported, now that figure is 50 per cent.

His aim is to double the company's existing business by 2000.

Beamish & Crawford is owned by Scottish & Newcastle, the fourth largest brewery in Britain. Smiddy says the company makes "several million pounds profit" every year, but declines to say exactly how much.

The company has undergone some painful restructuring since Smiddy's arrival. It was owned by Fosters, the Australian brewing company, but was sold to Scottish & Newcastle two years ago. The current workforce is 180, a sharp reduction from around 320 people 10 years ago.

Like other operators in the industry, Beamish had a lot of "fat" and parts of it featured very restrictive work practices. The unprofitable parts of the business were contracted out, the company was restructured, and new technologies introduced.

The brewing business is all about building relationships, according to Smiddy. Being owned by Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) means Beamish has considerable marketing muscle for its battle in the British market. It is the biggest beer market in the world and one which Beamish pursues aggressively.

The company also brews and distributes the products of Miller's US group. Part of Smiddy's time is spent working with the US group and the British parent. He says S&N is good to work for and is very customer and profit focused.

Smiddy mentions the word "focus" a lot. He describes himself as very focused, decisive, someone who makes a decision and gets the job done.

He says a problem with Irish business is that quite often people spend a lot of time talking about things, rather than doing them.

"I like people who make decisions and then move on things," he says. "If it doesn't work out, then you move onto something else."

Smiddy spends much of his time walking about, whether it's on the factory floor or meeting clients and customers outside. "You have to get out of the office, business doesn't come to you while you are sitting in the office, you have to chase after it."

He says that by spending time with people in the business, from the operators on the kegging line, to the sales staff, you get to know your business very quickly and can therefore remain on top of it. He puts great store on talking to staff. "Sometimes your best ideas come from the floor."

An example of this was when Miller was being launched on draft. A Beamish staff member said why not market it as the coldest draft beer. The technology needed was relatively simple. The company invested money in a new dispensing technique. The beer is poured at 3-4 degrees, rather than 6-10 degrees centigrade. "We have developed it and made it into a unique selling point," Smiddy says.

Beamish operates a staff suggestion scheme and a team of three or four examines each one. "No department or person has a monopoly on ideas," he says.

Smiddy says he is a very fair person to work for, but is also very firm.

"I'm a great believer in what gets measured gets done. We have to have targets and by measuring ourselves against them, we know whether we are moving forward."

However, he says he is also a great believer in recognising and rewarding success. "It is important to have a little bit of fun in the business and celebrate success."

He says business in Ireland can be too serious and very often does not reward staff who contribute to a business's success. "A business cannot be successful with a detached and unmotivated workforce."

He says his whole approach is to have a highly energised and motivated workforce and "to have people who look forward to coming to work every day".

He says he is probably the most positive guy in the world and treats every problem as an opportunity. "Be confident, be positive, and by doing that you can create a very positive operation which will bring success and success breeds success."

For example, he says, Guinness has 75 per cent of the market. "What a problem, but also what an opportunity!"

He is critical of Guinness and others for launching products which he believes the market didn't want. "You have to ask will it add value for the client [licensee] and does the customer [consumer] really want it?"

He concedes that all brewers, including Beamish have made mistakes in introducing new products, but argues that Beamish keeps the customer at the very centre of its focus. Being in charge of Beamish entails long working hours. He is normally at his desk by 88.30 a.m. and finishes work by 8 p.m. each evening. On Fridays, he finishes at around 5 p.m.

There is also quite a lot of social/business functions to attend because of the nature of the business. "You never really switch off, because if you are in the supermarket or the pub, you are always comparing your brands and your competitors' brands, seeing where they are positioned, how they are selling."

Married with three young children, he makes it a golden rule not to work weekends. "My family comes before my business," he says.

He is very firm on this point. He has often heard accomplished business people say they did not spend enough time with their families. It is a trap he is determined not to fall into.

That is probably partly why, he says, he doesn't play golf, because it would eat into his weekends. To keep fit he swims three times a week.

He doesn't get stressed out. "I don't get stressed, because I tend not to worry about the things I can do nothing about."

His favourite pint is of course, a pint of Beamish. If that wasn't available, he would drink Miller. "Luckily enough I like drinking beer," he says.

He also occasionally tries out the competition's brands. "I'd be a fool not to," he says.