Bruno Visit

January 14, 2020

Today was an insightful day on a company I never would of expected to have visited. A company that specializes in world class mobilization devices for those who need them… BRUNO! Products include indoor/outdoor stairlifts, vertical platform lifts, scooter and power chair lifts, and more. This was actually a special visit for me because I do have relatives that have used there products before! So this morning, I got up at 6AM (which is really hard for me) but was so worth it to hit the road by 7 and go up to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin to visit Bruno’s corporate center. I drove, along with my friend Nicole Acton, as we jammed and had some girl talk on the way up. We arrived 30 minutes early (I am one to always leave EXTREMELY early because I hate being late or “on time”. If I have to be somewhere, I will be sure to be at least 20 minutes early… I think it runs in the Wells family. Since we had time to kill, we stopped at Starbucks (way better than Dunkin, sorry Dunkin fans) and drove to the campus. Once there, we were still very early so we just hung out but as the time got closer, we realized we were the only ones from Carthage in the parking lot and everyone was sending us snapchats of them going inside. Turns out, we were in the wrong and were at the wrong building number. NICE!!!

After scrambling to get to the right place we finally got to sit down and listen to Bill Belson who has worked for the company for 30 years and is the director of engineering (how cool is that?!) He oversees production and is knowledgable on reacting to market needs and changing conditions. He makes daily improvements to be sure the production of the products are at its best. He gave us an overview of the company’s mission and values along with his experiences and personal stories. He explained to us the three different buildings on the campus including P1 which was headquarters and manufacturing, P3 which was the training center and P4 which was assembly and distribution. The company has 425 employees at the location including engineers, sales staff, and more! Bruno products are available around the globe, including in the United States, Canada, Europe, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guam, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, UK, and many more. He additionally gave us a brief overview of some of the products that they make that are pictured below. One of our students even got to test a product out!

Bruno’s Elan is a mix of stylish design, high-quality functionality and ease-of-use operation. With a narrow vertical rail design, Bruno’s Elan stairlift leaves plenty of open space on the steps for family members.

 Bruno scooter and power-chair lifts make it simple to take a mobility device with you. Bruno has made it easy with any vehicle (Vans, SUVS, Pick-up trucks, and Sudans) to transport a scooter or wheelchair inside or outside a vehicle.

Matt got to test out there indoor stairlift which functioned well! He got to the top of the staircase and bottom pretty quickly and safely!

Some quick statistics on the market share of Bruno’s products are:

• Straight lifts=30% of the market share
• Curved stair=40% of the market share
• Vertical platform lifts=25% of the market share
• Scooter and power-chairs=50% of the market share (interior)

After the presentation, we grabbed safety googles and made our way into the assembly and distribution part of Bruno. We walked in to the first building and it was LOUD. I could barely hear Bill, but he pointed out some pretty cool machines and details about how they customize and put the machines together. It was crazy to see just how much was going on inside the factory-I have never been inside a place like that before and was pretty intrigued and really glad we were wearing safety googles. Below is a picture of Bill explaining to us a technology they use on customizing products! Fun fact: when they receive an order for any product they make, they are able to ship it within 30 hours to dealers… that’s CRAZY fast! No wonder they’re world-renowned.

After going through the factory and observing all that goes into making products, we went back to grab some lunch and have a question and answer session. It was really interesting hearing from Bill, along with a few of his colleagues on their business careers and how they ended up at Bruno in the first place. One thing they all had in common: they were passionate about the mission and really knowledgable about everything production of the products. I am personally not a genius on what goes into making, distributing, and manufacturing products, but it was so neat to expand my horizons into that part of business as I know just how important it is to have a great production facility. ALSO everything was SO CLEAN. Not a speck of dirt or garbage was in sight, it was great coming from a neat freak!

Daily Reflections

• Always be sure to know EXACTLY what building/address you are suppose to be at before you go
• Jimmy Johns is the superior sub fast food place
• “Pay yourself first”-words of advice from Bill on his tips and advice after college
• Factories and distribution places are very loud
• There is a lot of math and science that goes into making products (defiantly not my thing-but props to those that do that!)