If you search Google for “Bill Buckley” you will find a lot of references to William Buckley, the architect of modern US conservatism, and very few to Kiwi tech entrepreneur, engineering genius, and speedway enthusiast Bill Buckley. What’s ironic is that Buckley’s first name isn’t William. It’s Stewart.
Buckley came to New Zealand as a young child from the US, and was put to work early for “live and keep”.
Bored at school and with a desire to “build big things” Buckley went to work at a shipyard at 16. However, he nursed his interest in nuclear physics by spending time with his elder brother, who was studying engineering at university.
After leaving the shipyard and working other similar engineering jobs, that interest in physics led him to spend eight years at Hurst Precision, where he was persuaded to work with large magnets. Excited by the potential of microchips, Buckley looked to strike out on his own. He started Buckley Engineering in 1978, but the company worked on simple engineering jobs for most of its life, although Buckley tried to break into the US computer chip market. From 1983 to 1986 Buckley Engineering attempted to build coil electromagnets, rather than just the components for them.
Buckley left Buckley Engineering in 1986 to start Buckley Systems. Buckley wanted to focus more on his desire to create microchips, while his business partner preferred to concentrate on more reliable engineering jobs.
Buckley Systems started with a factory and eight staff, and Buckle himself worked 12 hour days for years to get the company off the ground.
Unlike most others, the 1987 stock market crash was a boon for Buckley Systems. The NZ Dollar was low and US companies turned to Buckley Systems for cheaper components involved in the manufacture of computer chips.
Breaking the US market was the making of Buckley Systems. Although there were challenges, by as early as 1988 it had a hold on Silicon Valley. Part of this was due to the high quality of the product, but also the simple fact that they got in first.
Buckley Systems kept innovating, and in 1996 produced the world’s first machine capable of insulating circuitry in silicon. Making the non-conductive material capable of carrying an electric charge.
Buckley Systems creates, essentially, very big magnets and some of the machinery that houses them. When combines with other parts, the resulting machine fires lasers at silicon wafers to turn them into computer chips. This is a process which must be calibrated wo within a millionth of a centimetre. Silicon wafers can cost up to $250,000 and when a faulty machine can ruin 10 before the fault is notices, customers want reliability – which Buckley Systems provides.
Through the early 1990s Buckley Systems almost doubled production, and in 1996 Buckley himself was named NZ Trade Exporter of the year.
In 1998 Buckley was able to indulge his passion for motorsport by buying Western Springs Speedway. On race days it’s Buckley himself who drives the grader to prepare the track.
Buckley Systems went international in 2001, opening offices in Rowling, Massachusetts.
However, the company was hit hard by the Global Financial Crisis and almost went under. Only a hefty sum of Buckley’s own money and a letter of credit from long-time supplier Fletcher Building helped secure a $26 million contract to stop the company going bust.
And then came the iPhone – and the need for smaller, lighter chips meant huge orders coming in for Buckley Systems.
Still, Buckley had learned not to put all his eggs in one basket. Buckley Systems diversified into the medical industry, producing components for machines which provide non-invasive cancer treatments through proton therapy – which fires lasers through the skin to target cancer cells.
Famously gruff and plain-speaking, Buckley is happy being the pioneering entrepreneur that no-one’s heard of. Still he was named NZ Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011, and became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013, for services to technology, business, and motorsport.
In 2015 Buckley Systems supplied 90% of the world’s silicon chip implanters. In 2016 it moved to double the number of apprentices it hired, pushing the company to 300 staff, with Buckley laying down a challenge to other manufacturers to hire more young people.