‘Being from Yorkshire gives us an advantage’

Bradford-based Advanced Dynamics, which makes automated filling and packaging machinery has been on a growth journey.

Malcolm Little

Recently it underwent a change of leadership as part of a £5.5m MBO, with founder and former managing director Malcolm Little becoming the executive chairman, while the day to day running of the business will be handled by Tom Smith who becomes MD.

So, TheBusinessDesk.com sat down with Little to talk about the journey and swiftly moved on to why the businesses has been successful.

As you can imagine it was not a short list of reasons; from the drive and culture of the business and the people who work there, through to hard graft. But what stood out was when Little said “Being based in Yorkshire”.

So how has the business’s geographic position supported its success.

“Two answers”, smiles Little. “First of all there’s a practical advantage to being based in West Yorkshire and I’ve said this throughout my career since I was 23, we couldn’t be in a better place than we are – and I specifically mean West Yorkshire. Birmingham isn’t the Midlands, it’s the midlands of England. West Yorkshire is the middle of the United Kingdom and we’re slap bang on the motorway network so our logistics have always been brilliant.

“So geographically you couldn’t be in a better place” he added “It’s also an industrial heartland that yes had some shocks in the 70s and 80s but it’s grown massively certainly over the last 20 years. Just look at Leeds and now Bradford coming through, I believe that with continued investment West Yorkshire can absolutely be a business hub.”

However, Little isn’t afraid to highlight that there are improvements to be made as he puts it the region “really needs its trains sorting out” and if you can get “trans-Pennine [ rail travel] working better” then why wouldn’t you, connect Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and Liverpool.

However away from the geography and the transport troubles Little says there’s something else about Yorkshire and it’s the personality.

“There’s a genuine affinity in Yorkshire to get on with folk.”

It’s at this point smiling Little lets me into the secret.

“We’ve got two purposes here. There’s the business purpose and there’s the Yorkshire business purpose.

“I’ll give you the Yorkshire purpose first, ‘Be right with folk’, it’s as simple as that. When you make a decision, do the right thing.”

He explains if you do the right thing and your staff do the right thing and “you’re right with people it comes back around.”

Highlighting that Yorkshire people know about being “right with folk”.

It’s here he also lets me (N.B. for transparency I am a proud Lancastrian) in on a “Yorkshire secret”.

“This is a slight aside”, he grins, “we can also get away with a casual f**k.”

Explaining this while laughing he states that a Londoner using the same ‘French’ term could easily come across as offensive, but that in his experience it’s not viewed the same way coming from a Yorkshireman or woman.

But as we return to the business purposes he shares what he calls the “professional purpose” or “the one we can take below Sheffield and Doncaster” of Advanced Dynamics.

This purpose is, “To make a tangible worthwhile and meaningful contribution to all our partners with style grace and good humour.”

He adds that to him this feels a really Yorkshire phrase.

“So, I think our position, our people and our Yorkshire-ness, has helped us massively arriving at where we are.”

The conversation then turns to the future and what Little hopes will come from the new ownership structure?

“I think what I want is that the business becomes a bigger more stable business, because we’ve done this [growth] at 100mph.”

He explains how for many years the business “bumped along” with a turnover of about £2m and then over the last four it’s gone from £2m to £5m, which has meant things changing rapidly and everyone “almost racing to catch up with ourselves”.

He adds that now the business has the infrastructure right and the culture right he thinks the focus will now be on the “day job” of expanding the product range and moving forward.

L-R Tom Smith the new managing director of Advanced Dynamics and Malcolm Little who moves to being executive chairman

But what of Little now his role has changed, well he says “It’s both great and worrying – when you’ve been the head of the business for 23 years to find that you’re redundant and no longer a critical part of the engine is new. I can come along for the ride but if I fall out on the way, you know the business will keep on going quite nicely – which is and that’s what I think a leader ought to do, develop the business to a point where is redundant.”

He adds that in terms of life outside of Advanced Dynamics “I shall still need business in my life” smiling as he tells me he doesn’t have the patience for golf but he’d like to find a way to give back to the business community by supporting start-ups and growing businesses through non-executive roles.

“If I can pass on some of the things I’ve learned to younger people that might short cut things by five or 10 years, what a great legacy to help people with.”

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