1st-YEAR WINNER
Milwaukee
Industry: Manufacturing
Founded: 1978
vulcangms.com
Vulcan Global Manufacturing Solutions provides radiation shielding solutions for medical, security and NDT industries. There are four business units within Vulcan GMS: Vulcan Lead, Vulcan Machining, Vulcan Fabrication and Vulcan China. Vulcan GMS has different production options including casting, extrusion, CNC machining, 3D printing, metal spinning, among others.
Vulcan GMS measures its growth by looking at its financial success, growth of the organization and the improvement of the lives of its customers.
With the large growth Vulcan GMS has experienced comes one of its larger obstacles: maintaining the culture of the company. However, Paul Yanke, chief executive officer, says that Vulcan’s employees “bleed Vulcan blue.”
Moving forward, Vulcan is advancing into the field of medicine and innovative consumer products.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
“The best advice I ever received came from my dad, Chuck Yanke, when he told me to ‘fail faster.’ He encouraged me to develop a culture of experimentation; to be willing to try new things, but do so quickly. And if something’s not working, fail fast and pivot.”
– Paul Yanke, chief executive officer
