Talking Trade Ep. 57 - Buckley Brinkman, Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity

Talking Trade

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity CEO Buckley Brinkman discusses how the center prepares businesses for exporting.

He says the center’s ExporTech program helps manufacturers develop an exporting plan in 90 days that can be implemented immediately.

“It’s really a strategic submersion, where you really get to the point where you understand, here’s my product portfolio, here are the likely targets in the world where this can be sold, and then connecting into the other resources that are available through the state or the federal government,” he said.

According to Brinkman, companies that have gone through the program gain about $1 million in additional sales on average.

“This isn’t as risky as most people think, because you have a lot of people helping you,” he said. “Then you have an opportunity for a huge upside when you’re talking about exporting.”

He also shares his thoughts on some of the top trends impacting manufacturers, including supply chain uncertainty, the effort to get “critical manufacturing” out of China and the outlook for the North American market.