Buckman Laboratories and its parent Bulab Holdings pioneered much of what became known as best practice in knowledge

management.Though its early successes have benn widely studied, less has been written about its activities since the retirement of obert Buckman. Here, !heldon "llis and #elisse umi$en e%plain what they&ve been up to and show us how they&ve continued to innovate and how they&ve used '# to put their business goals into practice.

THE EVOLUTION OF KM AT BUCKMAN LABORATORIES

How its KMprogram has de e!oped with the "ew !eadership
By #.!heldon "llis and #ellissie umi$en, Buckman Laboratories B#$%ma" La&oratoires is a leading manufacture of specialty chemicals for a(ueous industrial systems. The company was founded on its uni(ue ability to create and manufacture innovative solutions to control the growth of microorganisms. )ts head(uarters are in #emphis, Tennessee. The story of '# at Buckman Laboratories is well known. *ou may remember the beginning of the story+ how, under the leadership of obert ,Bob- Buckman, Buckman Laboratories pioneered a knowledge management initiative in .//0. Then visitors came from all over the world to learn about it and the story was documented in countless articles, books and presentations by our associates. 1wards were also showered on us. !ee sidebo%, for a timeline of ma2or events. However, we ruefully admit that one of the desadvantages of being a trailbla$er is that the few others come before to pave the way. Buckman Laboratories has made many mistakes along that difficult path and has the lessons learned to show for it. !uccess, however, has balanced some of the more difficult lessons. 3verall, since the inception of our knowledge sharing system, '&4eti%, we&ve e%perienced a 56 percent rise in sales from new products, which indicates a dramatic rise in profitability from innovation. !ales per associate have increased 5. percent, while operating profit per associate has gone up /7 percent. The payoff is clear. Tra"sitio"i"g o' the top But that&s not the whole story. 3ur family8owned company has e%perienced some changes in leadesrship at the very top. 1fter Bob Buckman retired in .//9, !teve Buckman became :"3 taking over the day8to8day operation of the company and in 0666, 'athy Buckman ;avis became :hairman of the Board. They have given us a new leadersip vision, emphasi$ing the establishment and standardi$ation of business processes that are simple, easy to learn and casy to do. <e also look for processes we can apply systematically across the globe, while demonstrating a clear 3) and linkage to our overall business strategy. <e do nothing unless we clearly understand kow it aligns with our strategy. This creates a deservedly high threshold for any approach to cross. )n the early .//6s, we began to re8e%amine our bussines model that heavily relied on products. By the mid 8/6s, we were rapidly moving to a customes intimacy model.This model focuses on delivering a customi$ed version of a company&s product mi% that provides the best toatal value to =age . of 5

the customer. This way of doing business places a premium on individual and corporate knowledge and the capacity to act on it. <e were able to leverage our '&4eti% knowledge > sharing system to rapidly scale up our ability to deliver customi$ed solutions to our customers around the world. Co"ti"#a!!( p#shi"g i""o atio" But let&s take a step back. ;espite our success with '&4eti%, within months of its launch we began to see the need to move past our new baseline to achieve continued innovation and growth. 3ur ne%t step was to e%plore the ability to use technology to complement our traditional training and development processes. By .//?, we had produced our first multilingual, technology8enabled courses that both replaced and supported several remedial training programs. 1s our capability and capacity to deliver e8learning grew, we continued to innovate and e%periment with new ideas and technologies. )n .//@, we established the Bulab Learning :enter to challenge our e%isting training and development paradigms. The Learning :enter represents a convergence of knowledge and learning initiatives that focuses on the ac(uisition of organi$ational capability through accelerated learning at the organi$ational and individual level. The Learning :enter also represents a continued demonstration of our belief form first days in ./?5 that our competitive advantage resides in the collective knowledge and capabilities of our associates. 1nd that in order to sustain that advantage, Buckman Laboratiores must create sustainable personal and professional development initiatives for all associates that focus on creating customer value and associate commitment. By opening associates up to learning new concepts, the company creates a culture that&s predisposed to accept and take on the accelerating rate of change in today&s knowledge8based economy. )istri&#ti"g !ear"i"g too!s 3ur initial goal with the Learning :enter was to create universal access for all associates to training, education and knowledge, no matter where they were located. The Learning :enter initially focused on delivering only technology8enabled materials. But within a year, we reali$ed that a blended approach was more effective and began to design learning e%periences that incorporated the best that technology and people could deliver. Because we were wired, global, and multi8cultural, many groups worked with us to create and enhance distributed learning products and services. Buckman and Bulab Learning :enter served as incubators for new ideas, products and processes. 1s with all corporate culture8change initiatives, management support has been critical to the success of the Learning :enter. )nitially, the Learning :enter was housed and funded by the then :hairman of the Board, obert Buckman. Today the Learning :enter reports into the :"3, !teve Buckman, and serves as the one of the pivotal mechanism for implementating key strategic initiatives and corporate culture. 1s the Learning :enter became established at Buckman, the relationship with senior management has moved from total dependence on their support to a more mature relationship based on interdependence. Keepi"g the $#stomer i" mi"d By .//A, we knew that our corporate mission statement no longer reflect our customer intimacy strategy, so we initiated an open discussion on our knowledge8sharing system. Both our =age 0 of 5

leadership and rank and file associates debated > at times fiercely > what our mission should be in light of our customer intimacy strategy. The resultB 1 new mission that spells out what we want to provide customers+ We, the associates of Buckman laboratoires, will excel in providing and quality for our customers by delivering customer-specific services and products, and the creative application of knowledge. B#$%ma"*s KM +rogram )e e!opme"t Mi!esto"es ./96&s > ;istribution of )dea Trap, a notebook for 2otting down creative ideas ./A? > Cirst attempt at e8mail ./A5 > Cirst remote access to our mainframe ./A9 > )ntroduction of laptops ./A@ > !uccessful implementation of global e8mail ./A/ > :reation of knowledge Transfer Taskforce .//. > !tart of effort to use :ompu!erve for commercial use .//0 > )mplementation of '&4eti%, our knowledge8sharing system .//9 > 4ew :"3, !teve Buckman, takes over leadership .//@ > "stablishment of the Learning :enter .//A > 1doption of new mission and development of key business processes ./// > )nstalation of new information technology infrastructure 0666 > ;evelopment of teamingDfacilitation processes 1daptation of 1fter81ction eview 066. > )mplementation of Buckman 1fter81ction eview ,B11 :ustomer engagements around knowledge and learning The creative application of knowledge re(uires skilled, knowledgeable people. <e continually train all of our associates in the new chemical technolgies and business processes that enhance our programs in customer facilities. This re(uires lifetime learning for long8time associates and e%tensive training for new hires, no matter where they are on the globe. Through our global distance8learning initiatives in the Lerning :enter, we&reable to supplement our traditional blended training with 2ust8in8time and on8the82ob learning, 2ob aids and knowledge. This assures our people are fully capable at every customer location in the world. Creati"g smarter pro$esses The creative application of knowledge also led us to pursue knowledgeable business processes. These processes go beyond the actual physical product and are designed to help a customer in the application of our products. "ach process we design a repeatable8not a one >time8use process. This way, once out people and customers understand the process, they can take knowledge forward and share that knowledge with others. !ee sidebo%, below, for an e%ample of one suchsmart process. )n .//A, we began developing a comprehensive suite of processes, which continues today. 3ur primary developer was a key associate with over 76 years of sales e%perience in our industries. He distilled this e%peetise, identified critical processes for sales and customer service and created the simple processes re(uired. 1bout half of our workforce is in sales, and no sales associate has the time to waste on cumbersome processes. The simpler the process is, the more likely it is to be adopted. This is a true for our customers as it is for our associates. 3ne serendipitous outcome was that we reali$ed the enormous returns from even the simplest processes.

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E,amp!e o' a repeata&!e- $#stomer.'o$#sed pro$ess )n .//A, Bukman initiated a Transition <orkshop to help who were switching suppliers from another company to Buckman. 3ften, a great deal of disruption and cost results from a switch. !o Buckman designed a process to keep disruption to a minimum and manage the natural fear of change. 1dditionally, it helps the company transform change from disruptive to a constructive process. Buckman wants to use the potential power of change to try new deas, set new goals and develop new approaches. By participating in a clearly defined process, customers feel a sense of ownership and stability that makes trying new things safe. This customer intimate approach to doing business allows Buckman to more rapidly reali$e profits from new business, while ensuring that the customer benefits from a smooth, focused transition. Buckman&s capability to meet customer re(uirements in this way e%emplifies how it creates competitive advantage. 4othing has to be comple% to generate a paybackEhowever, it must meet a business need. Vis#a!i/i"g s#$$ess 1nother key success factor for processes is the ability to visuali$e them. 3ur sales associates tend to be visual thinkers. )f we can&t display a process visually, the chances of adoption drop drastically. )t&s also harder for a sales associate to demonstrate the process to a customer. <e also applied these principles to a process from the Fnited !tates 1rmy+ The 1fter81ction eview. This simple process enables reflective learning. <e benchmarked with British =etroleum and !print. <e also tapped the e%tensive work dome by 4ancy ;i%on and documented in her book Common nowledge, as well as the book !earning "o #ly by :hris :ollison and Geoff =arcell. <e also tapped many others. The 1fter81ction eview ,11 - met most of our standards for business processes. 1dditionally, it was a natural companion to another business process for planning. However, it failed to meet our re(uirement for a visual representation. !o we created our own, one that in the words of our #anager of )nstructional design, :atherine <alker, can be drawn in the dust on the hood of a sales associate&s pick8up truck. This ties into another key success factor we have learned along the way+ internal marketing. <e treat our processes as new products, launching them with much fantare and promotion. Cor e%ample, with our adaption of the 11 , we Buckmani$ed it by naming it the Buckman 1fter 1ction eview ,B11 -. <e also developed a logo of a 2umper vaulung over a high bar. The bar symboli$es our need to always raise the bar an our performance.<e produced a :; and a glossy tri8fold brochure that included coaching materials and presentationsE the form was available electronically and also as a pad. 1dditionally, we reduced the B11 and the directions to a small card, printed in color,which we then laminated. 1nd, as we always do, we translated the entire launch package into !panish and =ortuguese, and later into Crench. <e began our launch by sending copies of the :;, a coaching guide and a flyer to all managers, including our critical middle management. Two weeks later associates received a flyer telling them about the new product and what materials were available to them, but before we sent anything else, we gave out the laminated card. 1t first, we put small piles of the cards on a few desks, like the desk of the H= of #arketing. <e hoped people would see and take them. 3ne surprise taker was our :"3, !teve Buckman, who held up the B11 card at a meeting and told everyone, This is a perfect e%ample of the type of process we want. <e also gave out do$ens to associates who were visiting operating companies across the world, who then distributed them at the operating companies. The card became the hottest ticket in town.

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3ur most striking une%pected benefit of the B11 was its versatility. <e use it for many activities+ benchmarking, meetings, training, orientation processes, end8of8pro2ect reviews, our yearly review of our financial report preparation and even our yearly summary reports to our senior management and Board of directors. <e constantly learn of new uses. Meeti"gs $#stomer "eeds 1nother serendipitous outcome of our overall program involves our customers, who have heard of our success too. !ome considering of implementing '# or learning efforts have contacted us and asked for help. This has given us a new way to implement our overall strategy of customer intimacy by deepending relationship. ;iscussing an organi$ation&s needs invariably leads to discussing business strategy and drivers. <e become part of that conversation. The deeper relationship also give us avenues to increasing our business with e%isting customers. Better yet, this advantage isn&t limited to current customers. 3ur '# and learning processes and reputation have created opportunities to develop relationship with potential customers. 3ur e%perience and e%pertise is a competitive advantage for us, opening doors that migh otherwise remaine closed. !teve Buckman decided to ma%imi$e the value we could receive and gave a charge to develop a capacity for sharing e%ternally with three goals+ .. work with customersE 0. bring learning into Buckman laboratoiresE 7. generate revenue. 3f these three, working with our customers > current and potential > is our priority. 1t the same time, however, while we work with others, we see how what we&re learning can be applied internally. Last, we are a business for profit. <e will work with those who are not our customers, if our other priorities allow. Co"ti"#i"g the 0o#r"e( 1n overriding lesson of the past .6 years is our need to continually improve our '# and learning efforts. 4o matter what our success in these areas have been, we must continue to learn, improve and create. There&s no end to this path. <e also know that our '# program may someday become inade(uate due to the demands of new strategies, changes in our markets, adoption of new technology and changes in the world situation. This may sound discouraging, but it&s easier to build on a foundation of success over the years, while honoring the lessons of the past. 1t least we know we can shorten our learning curve. <e&re not sure what turns the path may take ne%t, but so far the trip has been well worth it.

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