The History of Buckman Company Essay -- Laboratories Water Treatment P

The History of Buckman Company Founded in 1945 by Dr. Stanley Buckman Buckman started the company in Memphis, Tennessee, with five employees in a small building located on land that was once a lumberyard. Offices and laboratories were located on the first floor of the building, and a 50-gallon black iron chemical reactor and a steam boiler were placed in the basement. The 50-gallon black iron chemical reactor was sufficient to supply the initial order for 20 gallons of a microbicide, trade name BSM-11, to the company’s first customer – Whiting Paper Company. Three years later, BSM-11 and its derivatives had become the industry standard for microorganism control. Soon a new production facility was built next door and Buckman Laboratories of Canada was formed. During the 1950s, the company’s customer base expanded to include the leather, paint, sugar processing, agriculture, paint, coatings and plastics industries. During the 1960s, new manufacturing and sales companies were formed in Mexico and Belgium. The expansion during the 1970s followed with the opening of sales and manufacturing companies in South Africa and Brazil and a sales company in Australia. New products were introduced for water treatment, ranging from swimming pools to fresh water, and a new international headquarters housing all corporate activities, including Research and Development, were built in Memphis. In 1978, Dr. Stanley Buckman died of a heart attack in his office His son, Robert (Bob), became the new chairman and CEO. In 1945, Buckman Laboratories started with one product, a 50-gallon process vessel and four employees in a small house in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, Buckman is a global business producing over 500 different products and employing over 1,300 people in over 70 countries. The company was originally founded on its unique ability to create and manufacture innovative solutions for controlling the growth of microorganisms. Ever since its inception, Buckman believes that a specialty chemical supplier should listen to and anticipate customer needs and then respond with innovative and unique solutions. Buckman will continue in the future as it has in the past providing value-added services and products to improve the efficiencies and products. 2. PROVIDE A SHORT DISCUSSION OF THE KEY MANAGEMENT OF THE COMPANY. DIS... ...y for all customer information and forums should be developed to include customers. Buckman’s idea was to bring knowledge to the learner rather than bring the learner to the knowledge. Since Buckman employees or â€Å"learners† speak nearly a dozen languages, the frontier issue of instantaneous translation is immanent. The idea of when someone posts a note in English, people in Japan will be able to read it and respond in Japanese, which in turn people can read and respond in Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, French, etc. Therefore, creating a â€Å"universal† culture within the organization will ensure employee buy-in into the K’Netix system. In the end, the system’s success rests on the people and not the tools. It is 90 percent culture change and 10 percent technology. Driving these changes solely based on technology and technology budgets will not be successful. The employees are who bring about the change. Therefore, by implementing focus groups that include different levels of employees will bring about the change in a successful manner. Additionally, by revamping the mission statement to reflect the culture of the company will give the employees and management a sense of direction.