27 JULY 2018
On the 27 July 2018, Bill Buckley attended the awards ceremony for his induction into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame to acknowledge his contribution to New Zealand business.
With over 50 years manufacturing components for the silicon wafer, scientific and medical industries, Bill has built Buckley Systems Limited from a small engineering workshop to a world-leading manufacturer of accelerator components. Now employing over 350 staff and worldwide exports that have exceeded one billion dollars, Bill’s pathway to success was his unwavering commitment to investing in the right people and machinery to make sure customers’ expectations were fully met.
Things have not always been easy in such a specialised industry. Volatility in demand has proved challenging at times with Bill personally propping up the company in quiet times, not wanting to shed his skilled and loyal staff, knowing that new orders were on their way.
Not a natural salesman or self-promoter, Bill established his reputation in the physics community as someone who understood exactly what was required to not only bring theoretical designs to reality but to refine and optimise the design to improve manufacturing accuracy and repeatability. Bill’s inquiring mind picked up the sort of properties physicists were looking for in a magnet and he became the “go to” man in the early days of the commercial production of particle physics electromagnets.
Having established Buckley Systems Limited as a world leader in magnet manufacture and by putting in place a strong manufacturing and physics design facility, Bill’s focus has turned to the future by funding research and the design of groundbreaking technology.
In conjunction with Hilton Glavish, Bill has funded the Buckley Glavish Chair in Theoretical Climate Physics at the University of Auckland. The ion source test facility (ISTF) manufactured in association with partner company D-Pace, is conducting experiments in plasma physics and ion source development. Another partnership with US based Neutron Therapeutics will see its first BNCT cancer treatment facility installed at Helsinki University Hospital late 2018.