Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Alumni
  • Login
  • Volunteer
  • Clubs
  • Reunions
  • Magazine
  • Class Notes
  • Help
  • Give Now
  • Stories
  • Alumni Directory
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Careers
  • Programs & Events
  • Giving
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Alumni→
  • Stories→

Stories

Stories

02 Feb 2017

Growing and Competing at the Local Level

Re: Bucky Brinkman (MBA 1986)
Topics: Operations-ProductionGovernment and Politics-Government LegislationRelationships-Networks
ShareBar

Buckley Brinkman (MBA 1986) is executive director/CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, which provides consulting services and programs to help manufacturers grow their businesses and become more profitable. In this video interview, he talks about how his organization helps small businesses in his state contribute to America’s competitiveness and economic health.

“In running manufacturing facilities, I’ve been an operations turnaround person for my entire career—except for the last five years. I would go into operations that were struggling, put them back on their feet, and move on to the next one.

“With the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, we are one of the 51 manufacturing extension partnership centers across the country to help small and medium manufacturers. We do a little bit of advocacy, just reminding decision makers how important manufacturing is to the economy in general. We do some outreach. There, we look a lot like a trade association, putting on networking and educational events to keep our manufacturers connected and up-to-date.

“And the third thing that we do is we’re arguably the best small and medium manufacturing consultant in the state. We’ve had over $3.5 billion worth of impact for our manufacturers and also saved—or created—more than 16,000 jobs.

“We generally work with manufacturers that are less than $100 million in sales. When we go into work with them, say on a project of reducing their cycle time, we’ll on average reduce that by 44 percent.

“I think what’s critical right now is understanding that 98 percent of the manufacturers in the United States are really small and medium sized. It’s that metal bender down the street, that plastic injection molder around the corner that are really providing the backbone services to places like GE, Ford, and GM.

“The impact that I’m hoping to have is to start aligning the resources that are focused on the economy, both within our state and nationally. Things are changing so quickly, and the folks on the front line really don’t have the time or the resources to identify what’s going to affect their particular business the quickest. And I want to be able to help them get on their feet. Also help national policy makers and state policy makers to say, ‘here’s how these resources really line up and we can quit duplicating our efforts across multiple fields.’ That’s how I hope to make a difference.”

(Published February 2017)

Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift now
ShareBar

Featured Alumni

Bucky Brinkman
MBA 1986
Login to send a message

Post a Comment

Featured Alumni

Bucky Brinkman
MBA 1986
Login to send a message

Related Stories

    • 01 Mar 2024
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    Come Sail Away

    Re: Michael Sard (MBA 2018); By: Julia Hanna
    • 01 Jun 2023
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    Elevator Pitch: Block by Block

    Re: Curtis Wong (MBA 2019); Timothy Connors (MBA 1999)
    • 19 May 2023
    • Wall Street Journal

    Quiet Acceleration

    Re: Zachary Kirkhorn (MBA 2013)
    • 01 Mar 2023
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    Case Study: Power Nappy

    Re: Dawn Dobras (MBA 1995); Amrita Saigal (MBA 2014); Ayelet Israeli (Marvin Bower Associate Professor); By: Jen McFarland Flint

More Related Stories

Stories Featuring Bucky Brinkman

    • 01 Dec 2017
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    Ink: Alumni Book Recommendations

    Re: Vivek Ravishanker (MBA 2012); Eileen Rudden (MBA 1976); Dan Bowles (MBA 2015); Bucky Brinkman (MBA 1986); Nanette Fondas (DBA 1987); Kathleen Harrington Clark (MBA 1990); Yong Kim (MBA 2007); Justin Mayer (MBA 2005)
    • 23 Nov 2011
    • Alumni Stories

    Manufacturing a Recovery

    Re: Bucky Brinkman (MBA 1986)
 
 
 
ǁ
Campus Map
External Relations
Harvard Business School
Teele Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6890
Email: alumni+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.