What makes a company successful? Why do some companies reach the top while others remain unknown or fade away without fanfare? These are complex questions, and everyone has their own answers. Still, let’s try to use “ASA “Astra” as an example to understand the secret behind its success and its many years of leadership on the Ukrainian agricultural machinery market.
Looking back…
In July 2013, “Astra” turns 15. That’s unquestionably a long time, given how unstable the Ukrainian economy has been. As staff recall, the company’s life has seen its ups and downs – renamings and new leadership – but one thing has always remained constant: the drive to do everything at the highest level.
But let’s go back 15 years: on 10 July 1998, “Unified Agrotechnical Company” was founded, joining the “United Grain” group of companies. That was the original name of the company we all now know well as ASA “Astra”.
“Unified Agrotechnical Company” traded in used agricultural machinery, its spare parts, and servicing. At the time, the company had… two employees.
We all remember that in the late 1990s, only a few agricultural producers could afford expensive new imported machinery, banks weren’t lending, and “financial leasing” hadn’t even been heard of yet. It was in these, at first glance, unfavourable conditions that the company got its start. And the first memorable deal was the sale of a KÜHNE disc harrow.
Time passed, and the company grew rapidly: the staff gradually expanded, the range of machinery and spare parts sold widened, and branches opened in several regions of Ukraine. It’s also worth mentioning that “Unified Agrotechnical Company” provided harvesting services and gradually became first a main, then the exclusive dealer of AGCO in Ukraine.
In 2003, it received exclusive rights to sell Massey Ferguson agricultural machinery in Ukraine, and in early 2004 changed its name to “Rambours-Agrotech”.
In June 2004, “Rambours-Agrotech” merged with AXIAL, the sales leader for agricultural and construction machinery in Hungary. Alongside used agricultural machinery sales, new-machinery sales grew significantly too. What’s more, the range of products came to include the first construction machinery models. This was reflected in the new name – Astra Agricultural Construction Alliance. “Astra” became the official distributor of the Fendt (Germany) and Manitou (France) brands. A year later, exclusive agreements were signed with Bogballe and Framest. A year after that, the company became a dealer for brands such as Gregoire Besson, Berthoud, Horsch and Capello.
In 2011, “Astra” signed a distribution agreement for Challenger machinery across Ukraine. And the following year, Valley irrigation system installation was added to the company’s range of services.
Around this time, “Astra” began running agricultural machinery demonstrations. And what could be more convincing for a potential buyer than seeing machinery at work right on their own field, “feeling” its advantages firsthand? Since then, demonstration activity has been the main driver of machinery sales. During 2012, ASA “Astra” representatives held more than 100 such demonstrations in a single year.
2012 was also memorable for another unique event: for the first time in Ukraine, an olympiad for Manitou telescopic loader operators and a tractor operator competition on Challenger machinery took place – “Astra Show”. Thousands of spectators from every corner of Ukraine watched in amazement at the breathtaking stunts machinery is capable of when real professionals take charge. And the old saying about a rocky first attempt didn’t hold true here – the “first pancake” wasn’t a flop. And in 2013, “Astra” welcomed guests to the II All-Ukrainian “Astra Show”. The event turned out so bright and grand that “Astra” now consults other companies wanting to hold similar presentations.
The anniversary year, 2013
Today, “Astra” has plenty to be proud of. The company is represented in 20 regions of our country. It employs more than 200 people – regional machinery and spare parts sales representatives, service engineers, and support staff.
“Over the past year, “Astra” worked with more than two thousand farms on machinery and spare parts sales. All of this has been possible only because we don’t just sell machinery and supply spare parts on time – we provide a full range of services. If a customer comes to us with a problem or a question, we try to give them all the help we can and offer the best solution,” says ASA “Astra” general director Ihor Hubariev.
Even though he hasn’t been general director for very long, it’s immediately clear how much he values the company. He’s young, forward-thinking, and truly loves his “Astra” – he can talk about it for hours.
The bulk of the company’s sales come from new, high-tech, high-performance, energy-efficient machinery. This is clear proof that, over the past decade, Astra Agricultural Construction Alliance has made a significant contribution to raising the level of farming in Ukraine.
Hundreds of units of agricultural machinery from “Astra” work Ukrainian fields, often under heavy loads and in extreme conditions. This proves once again that the machinery “Astra” offers can meet agricultural producers’ needs and bring them profit over a long period of time. At the same time, the company notes that around 30% of the machinery it sells is sold on credit or lease.
“We understand that buying machinery is a costly undertaking. Thanks to our agreements with leading banks, our company actively takes part in this process and helps customers find the most beneficial financing option. As a rule, this helps our partners significantly reduce their financial burden,” says commercial director Roman Kovalchuk.
But what if you need machinery but don’t have the funds to buy it? “Astra” has thought this through too: for customers with a more limited budget, the company also supplies used machinery. This includes combine harvesters, corn headers and telescopic loaders. Machinery listed for sale can be inspected and tested. It undergoes mandatory servicing and, if the customer wishes, repair.
What’s more, “Astra” supplies spare parts for practically all imported machinery used in Ukrainian agriculture. Spare parts from foreign suppliers always go through incoming inspection, which guarantees their quality and a high level of service.
Over the course of a year, an average of 19–20 thousand different product items pass through the company’s warehouses, of which about 8 thousand are kept in stock at all times.
Every day, the company supplies its branches (stores) with spare parts, which are delivered to customers anywhere in Ukraine within 24 hours. This is made possible by regular spare parts deliveries from various warehouses across Europe. Thanks to a modern information system, “Astra” staff can give a customer an instant lookup for 1.1 million different spare parts. Impressive, isn’t it?
Service as an unshakeable rule
At “Astra”, it’s been understood for a long time that machinery range and quality matter a great deal, but they’re far from the most important thing. Many companies, even ones with a wider range, lose their customers year after year – poached by competitors. “Astra” staff take pride in the fact that they’ve been working with some farmers for ten years already. We asked executive director Dmytro Parkhomenko about the secret behind these long-lasting relationships.
“The machinery market is highly competitive, with hundreds of companies operating in it. And if a customer doesn’t get a high level of service, they’ll definitely go to a company that provides it. That’s why quality service has long been the core rule of our work. As soon as we start working with someone, we try to understand their needs as fully as possible and offer them the machinery option that best suits them – in price, fuel consumption and other important parameters. We always meet our customer halfway, because we don’t just want to sell them machinery, we’re focused on building a lasting, mutually beneficial partnership,” he states.
Every machinery sale comes with mandatory free operator training (combine operators, tractor operators), which lets them quickly master high-tech machines and avoid operating problems. After all, today few farmers would agree to buy a piece of equipment without this service. Just how deeply the company understood the importance of service from the start is shown by the fact that, in 1998, when the company had only two employees, those two were the general director and a service engineer. Time has proven that priority right.
“Over recent years, we’ve significantly grown the number of service teams – now more than 60 people keep agricultural machinery running on our customers’ fields. “Astra”‘s service vehicle fleet numbers 50 units, and this year we plan to expand it by at least 10%,” says Ihor Hubariev. “At first, all customer requests were serviced directly from the central base in Chabany settlement (Kyiv region), but today our service engineers are ready to head out to machinery from practically any regional centre in Ukraine.”
As the amount of machinery sold grows, “Astra” keeps opening new mobile service teams, and in some regions there are already several teams working at once. All of them are equipped with modern service vehicles, special diagnostic tools for identifying problems, and tools for repairing machinery.
Not just customers, but friends
“Our successes are successes achieved together with our customers. We intend to keep walking the company’s path forward together with them,” notes company general director Ihor Hubariev.
Attentiveness, professionalism, the ability to listen and understand the customer, and completing tasks on a clear timeline – these are the principles that guide every “Astra” employee in their daily work. Many of them spend nearly all their time – especially during sowing and harvest seasons – out in the fields alongside farmers. Staff in the service department say they sometimes essentially switch to round-the-clock operation. After all, a needed part not delivered on time, or help not provided as quickly as possible, means machinery downtime – and that means enormous losses.
This is how they work side by side, for months and even years. They become not just seller and buyer, but real partners, friends. Here’s what Mykhailo Shevchenko of PAE “Koniukivske” (Buzovka village, Zhashkiv district, Cherkasy region) has to say about it: “”Astra” has, over 12 years of fruitful cooperation, become not just one of the companies I deal with, but a second family to me. Whenever I’m in Kyiv, I always stop by their office or visit their stand at exhibitions. They, in turn, often come to visit me. You know the saying: “don’t change horses in midstream,” so for me, giving up this company’s services is unthinkable. It was from “Astra” that I bought my first Fendt 930 tractor, and then, this winter, I became the owner of the first Fendt 936 tractor in Ukraine. I can only say one thing: just as bacon is bacon, Fendt is Fendt. The first you absolutely must eat, and the second you absolutely must work with. I’ve also bought plenty of other equipment necessary for field work — and I’m quite happy with its quality. I recently worked out that, over 12 years, we’ve done a total of UAH 12 million in business together, and I’ve got plans for many more good, necessary purchases from “Astra”.”
Another proof of customers’ loyalty to and love for “Astra” is the story from Mykola Melnyk of the “Svitanok” farm (Nepedivka village, Kozyatyn district, Vinnytsia region).
He not only uses the company’s services himself, but actively recommends it to his neighbours: “I’ve been working with “Astra” for about 6 years. In that time, I’ve bought more than 10 pieces of equipment, including 2 tractors. “Astra” has proven itself an honest, serious company with an excellent level of service. This company’s staff have held machinery demonstrations on my fields several times, and afterward, the managers of two neighbouring farms said they were ready to start working with them too. I’m very glad my neighbours followed my example – they’ve already bought 2 combines and soil-cultivation equipment.”
Explaining why he chose “Astra” specifically, Mykola Melnyk noted: “Finding a proper level of service together with a wide selection of machinery in one company isn’t an easy task. What’s more, I was won over by their flexible way of working – discounts, instalment plans and credit. As you can imagine, that matters a great deal for seasonal work like ours, in agriculture.”
Oleh Vasetskyi, director of “Urozhai” (part of “Myronivsky Khliboprodukt”), stressed that his company has been working with “Astra” for more than 10 years already: “Believe me, we’ve never once regretted that choice. They’re honest people, real professionals in their field. In 2005, we bought a Fendt tractor for our branch. Despite 17 thousand engine hours of work, it’s still “in service”. That shows that all the machinery “Astra” sells is of exceptionally good quality. And as for us, we plan to add five more brand-new Fendt tractors to our existing fleet of 39 by the end of 2013.”
Success is people
Looking at “Astra”‘s staff, you immediately understand that they love their company. And they don’t hide the fact that they consider their team the best around.
According to Ihor Hubariev, the primary task for the company and for any manager is to build an effective team. After all, a company’s success is inseparable from its people. “Everyone who works at our company is a professional, someone who’s been in the market for a long time, who knows and loves what they do. For our part, we try to guide them, help them, and give them the chance to develop as they achieve the goals set for them,” he says.
HR director Natalia Huk agrees with Mr Hubariev: “We have highly qualified staff. We put a lot of effort and time into both internal and external training.”
Internal training is aimed at newly hired employees during their onboarding period and probation, at upskilling current employees, and at mastering new areas of knowledge as part of career and professional growth. For the external training system, the company brings in outside providers. Service department staff constantly upgrade their professional skills through special manufacturer courses, so if problems come up with Fendt, Challenger, Berthoud, Manitou, Horsch, Gregoire Besson, Kühne, Framest or Valley machinery, you can confidently call in “Astra”‘s specialists.
“What’s more, in the near future we plan to bring in managers from related departments to run various training sessions – so they can share their professional experience and exchange ideas,” adds Natalia Huk.
“Astra” has a special microclimate, its staff say. “Even though I’ve only been at the company for three months, I feel my colleagues’ support. We’re all like one family. This company, without exaggeration, is the best on the Ukrainian market. Even before I came here, I’d heard about “Astra” as a worthy company. It’s stable, it has a European approach – and for me, those were the main criteria when choosing a place to work. That’s why I was determined to get a job here and sent in my CV. And I immediately understood I’d feel good here,” says Chernihiv region sales representative Oleksandr Yuzkov.
“We’ve created every condition not just for comfortable work, but for spending time together too. On Tuesdays we play football, on Wednesdays – volleyball. Once a year we organise an internal football championship, which already brings together 5 teams, made up of both regular staff and managers. It’s fun, and good for your health,” says transport department head Vitalii Lytveniuk. Having worked at the company since 1996 (back when it was still “Rambours”), he’s gone from an ordinary driver to head of the transport department, and makes sure all the company’s vehicles – 138 of them at “Astra” – stay on the road.
Roman Melnychuk, lead service engineer for Manitou machinery, who’s been at the company for 7 years now, agrees with his colleagues: “We have wonderful corporate events, company birthday celebrations, and team trips around Ukraine have already become a tradition. Not long ago our team completed one of the toughest mountain routes and conquered Hoverla. And this July we visited castles in Chernihiv region. It’s really interesting for our staff and brings a lot of vivid memories.”
There’s a lot more to say about “Astra”‘s success story. But let’s save some of it for the next anniversaries. For now, we’ll simply wish “Astra” prosperity and wisdom – because with every new day, its experience and its drive to keep moving forward keep growing. And to every employee – job satisfaction, determination and great results.
Iryna Hlotova, national agricultural portal Latifundist.com
