Lean Built: Manufacturing Freedom
Two successful entrepreneurs talk about manufacturing, lean principles, and the freedom they are pursuing in life and business.
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The Hidden Labor Cost That’s Killing Your Margins | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E139
<p>Jay and Andrew begin with a deceptively simple question: what actually makes a company “lean”? Starting with a quote from Shigeo Shingo, they challenge the common misconception that lean is just Kanban, and explore the deeper reality that lean is less about specific tools and more about principles, tradeoffs, and context.</p><p><br></p><p>From there, Andrew shares a deep dive into labor tracking and ERP data, uncovering how much work was happening that never made it into cost calculations, and why “door-to-door” time matters more than overly segmented tracking. Jay pushes back with the tension every shop fee...
You’re Making Parts Too Fast (And It’s Hurting Your Shop) | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E138
<p>Andrew shares insights with Jay from a recent lean-focused shop tour with Paul Akers. The conversation goes to the hidden dangers of batch processing vs. one-piece flow, why takt time can matter more than cycle time, how to identify and eliminate waste at the micro-task level, and why “don’t solve problems until they exist” is often the best strategy They also explore practical challenges like line balancing, inspection differences (CMM vs. vision systems), and the surprising complexity of measuring quality in manufacturing. </p><p>Plus, a candid discussion on whether shop tours actually scale, charging for tours vs. giving...
Why Some Operators See Problems And Others Don’t | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E137
<p>Why do some people naturally notice problems while others don’t? Andrew introduces ideas from the book Living Sensationally, exploring how different sensory personalities affect how workers perceive disorder and opportunities for improvement.</p><p>Andrew also shares the results of his shop’s first full week of 8 a.m. morning meetings followed by shop-wide 3S, complete with funky music and a noticeable surge in improvement activity. Jay and Andrew discuss how creating space for small improvements can build momentum, and why the real goal of cleaning isn’t cleanliness, but exposing hidden problems. </p><p><br></p><p>They al...
The Best Meeting Is No Meeting | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E136
<p>Andrew shares a recent experiment in his shop: installing a full Sonos sound system and changing the structure of morning meetings and 3S time to give employees more room to pursue real improvements. Meanwhile, Jay discusses several new internal tools he has built, including an AI-powered quoting system and digital production boards designed to replace traditional analog shop boards.</p><p><br></p><p>The conversation also includes the difference between Two Second Lean and traditional TPS-style lean, how AI is changing the speed of experimentation inside businesses, the hidden problems with too many meetings in manufacturing organizations, and...
Safety Over Throughput: The Leadership Test Shop Owners Fail | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E135
<p>A tornado tears through Bloomington, leading Andrew and Jay to discuss practical leadership during real-world emergencies. From there, the conversation shifts back to the shop floor: chip conveyors on Brother machines, production layout tradeoffs, palletized workholding vs. one-piece flow, and the realities of automation. They explore the pros and cons of high-density fixturing, robot-fed cells, and Okuma’s compact MU-600V five-axis machine with part handoff capability.</p><p><br></p><p>The second half moves into the accelerating world of AI in manufacturing. Jay shares how he’s using Claude to rapidly build internal software tools, while Andrew talk...
Bonus: Beyond ‘Fix What Bugs You’ w/ Russell Watkins | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom
<p>In this special guest episode, Andrew sits down with Russell Watkins, co-founder of Sempai. Andrew first met Russell at the Gemba Summit in Belfast, where Russell delivered a keynote titled “10 Lightbulb Moments from Working with Toyota Japan and UK.” After cornering him at lunch with a notebook full of questions, Andrew knew this had to become a podcast conversation.</p><p>They explore:</p>What Russell learned apprenticing under a direct student of Taiichi Ohno and why he was told to “stop reading and start doing”Why you don’t learn lean from books alone (but why books still matter)How...
Make Defects to Eliminate Defects | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E134
<p>Jay and Andrew unpack a provocative quote from Shigeo Shingo: “If you don’t know why defects are occurring, make some defects.”</p><p><br>It sounds like lean heresy at first. But they explore why some defects are treasures and others are just carelessness. The real question: are you reacting to problems under pressure or deliberately creating space to uncover them before they cost you?</p><p><br></p><p>Along the way, they talk about a cantaloupe-sized rat’s nest choking a dust collector, moving machines and uncovering years of accumulated waste, the power (and danger) of acronyms...
Why Goodwill Beats Winning in Business | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E133
<p>The way you treat people in business often matters more than the deal itself. Andrew and Jay talk about what happens when something breaks, an emergency hits, or you need a favor...and why companies that build goodwill get help while others get ignored. Drawing on real shop experience, customer behavior, game theory, and a Godfather analogy, they challenge the idea that business is a zero-sum game and argue that collaboration, trust, and shared wins quietly determine who survives and who doesn’t.</p><p>Before that they catch up on what’s happening in their shops, covering recent mach...
The Quiet Way Lean Improvements Fail | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E132
<p>What does a good lean elevator pitch sound like? Why do small, well-intentioned improvements end up causing problems later (hint: it helps to document things)? And how do owners listen closely to customers without losing sight of the long-term direction they’re trying to steer the business toward?</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode of Lean Built, Jay and Andrew talk through those questions. Along the way, they discuss why intermittent problems are usually the result of stacked variables, not single root causes, why experience and judgment still matter even as systems and data improve, and much mo...
Just Because You Can Cut It Doesn’t Mean You Should Quote It | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E131
<p>Andrew and Jay walk through a situation a lot of shop owners have faced: a brutally tight print that can be machined but can’t be verified with confidence. At least not without the right metrology, systems, and alignment with the customer.</p><p><br></p><p>Instead of rushing a quote or ghosting the RFQ, this is the kind of situation you have to handle like an owner. In other words, slow down, ask uncomfortable questions, protect the relationship, refuse to roll the dice on quality.</p><p><br></p><p>Andrew and Jay dig into that and a...
