
Lean Built: Manufacturing Freedom
by Henry Holsters and Pierson Workholding
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Est. listeners per new episode within ~30 days
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25,001 - 75,000 - Active Followers
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15,001 - 40,000
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From 10 epsHosts
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Recent episodes
Why “Too Big to Fail” Is a Lie (and What Actually Keeps You Alive)| Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E145
May 4, 2026
43m 00s
When Your Shop Fix Doesn't Solve the Problem | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E144
Apr 27, 2026
40m 42s
What Actually Made The Machining Summit Worth It | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E143
Apr 20, 2026
48m 03s
The Factory Caught Fire—Here’s What Saved the Business (w/ Brian Meyers) | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E142
Apr 13, 2026
1h 07m 51s
When Selling Through a Dealer Backfires | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E141
Apr 6, 2026
47m 51s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/4/26 | ![]() Why “Too Big to Fail” Is a Lie (and What Actually Keeps You Alive)| Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E145 | Is anybody too big to fail? (Answer: no.) What actually keeps a business alive when everything around it starts shifting?In this ep, Andrew and Jay talk the quiet reality behind “too big to fail,” looking at why companies collapse, how bad assumptions creep in, and what it takes to stay standing when conditions change fast. From supply chain headaches and rising material costs to vendor missteps and risky investments, they look at the everyday decisions that shape whether a shop survives or struggles.Along the way, they dig into why you can’t afford to coast, how small operational choices add up, and what it really means to adapt in a changing market. The conversation even takes a turn into brain performance and decision-making, exploring how the way you’re wired affects how you lead. | 43m 00s | ||||||
| 4/27/26 | When Your Shop Fix Doesn't Solve the Problem | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E144✨ | work systemsefficiency principles+5 | — | — | — | work systemsefficiency+6 | — | 40m 42s | |
| 4/20/26 | What Actually Made The Machining Summit Worth It | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E143✨ | Machining Summitcollaboration+3 | AndrewJay | — | Mammoth Lakes | Machining Summitcollaboration+3 | — | 48m 03s | |
| 4/13/26 | The Factory Caught Fire—Here’s What Saved the Business (w/ Brian Meyers) | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E142✨ | leadershiplean manufacturing+3 | Brian Meyers | Fat American MfgLean by Doing podcast | — | factory firelean thinking+5 | — | 1h 07m 51s | |
| 4/6/26 | When Selling Through a Dealer Backfires | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E141✨ | selling machinesdealer vs direct sales+4 | JayAndrew | Lean BuiltManufacturing Freedom | — | dealer salesdirect sales+5 | — | 47m 51s | |
| 3/30/26 | The Hidden Labor Cost That’s Killing Your Margins | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E140✨ | lean manufacturinglabor tracking+4 | Andrew | — | — | leanmanufacturing+5 | — | 47m 39s | |
| 3/23/26 | You’re Making Parts Too Fast (And It’s Hurting Your Shop) | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E139✨ | lean manufacturingbatch processing+5 | Andrew | Lean Built | — | lean manufacturingtakt time+5 | — | 45m 31s | |
| 3/16/26 | Why Some Operators See Problems And Others Don’t | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E138✨ | problem perceptionsensory personalities+4 | Andrew | ClaudeAndon status light+1 | — | problem perceptionsensory personalities+5 | — | 51m 41s | |
| 3/9/26 | The Best Meeting Is No Meeting | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E137✨ | meeting structurelean manufacturing+4 | AndrewJay | SonosAI+1 | — | Sonoslean manufacturing+5 | — | 43m 10s | |
| 3/2/26 | Safety Over Throughput: The Leadership Test Shop Owners Fail | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E136✨ | leadership during emergenciesmanufacturing automation+4 | — | Okuma’s compact MU-600V five-axis machineClaude | — | leadershipmanufacturing+5 | — | 52m 35s | |
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| 2/23/26 | Beyond ‘Fix What Bugs You’ w/ Russell Watkins | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E135✨ | lean manufacturingGemba+4 | Russell Watkins | SempaiToyota+1 | Belfast | leanmanufacturing+7 | — | 55m 07s | |
| 2/16/26 | ![]() Make Defects to Eliminate Defects | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E134 | Jay and Andrew unpack a provocative quote from Shigeo Shingo: “If you don’t know why defects are occurring, make some defects.”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?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 in lean culture, and practical Fusion CAM workflows for maintaining standards across machines. | 39m 20s | ||||||
| 2/9/26 | ![]() Why Goodwill Beats Winning in Business | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E133 | 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.Before that they catch up on what’s happening in their shops, covering recent machine work, air and power challenges, and small automation ideas to reduce wasted effort. They talk through using AI for internal software, quoting, and understanding business data; they also talk through websites, first-mover advantage, practical 3D printing workflows, and more. | 50m 18s | ||||||
| 2/2/26 | ![]() The Quiet Way Lean Improvements Fail | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E132 | 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?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 more. | 51m 33s | ||||||
| 1/26/26 | ![]() Just Because You Can Cut It Doesn’t Mean You Should Quote It | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E131 | 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.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.Andrew and Jay dig into that and a lot more, from CMM alignment war stories to probing macros, SMED, automation vs. operator error, and why a shop full of green lights doesn’t always mean things are healthy. The thread running through all of it is simple: speed, precision, and profit are decided long before the spindle starts turning. | 49m 11s | ||||||
| 1/19/26 | ![]() When Simple Systems Beat Smart Ones | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E130 | Jay and Andrew talk through everyday shop systems that seem simple until they aren’t: HVAC, shutdown routines, checklists, timers, and light automation. They compare notes on where “smart” solutions help and where they quietly create new problems, especially when reliability, safety, and human behavior matter more than elegance. | 34m 10s | ||||||
| 1/12/26 | ![]() Business Growth Isn’t a Solo Game | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E129 | Andrew and Jay talk about why relationships matter a lot in business. Sometime more than products, systems, or raw talent. They dig into the practical value of local relationships for staying informed and connected as decisions get made around you. From there, the conversation ranges across manufacturing, housing, leadership, parenting, and team dynamics. They also discuss when a product is finished enough to release, why over-tinkering stalls progress, and the role of people who know when to stop refining and move things forward. The episode closes with a clear-eyed look at AI in business: where it’s useful, where it falls short, and why responsibility still sits with the owner. | 47m 49s | ||||||
| 1/5/26 | ![]() Andrew Is Fired: Letting Go of the Owner-Hero Trap | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E128 | As 2026 begins, Andrew and Jay take a look at one of the most dangerous traps for founders and small shop owners: becoming the hero who always steps in to save the day.Andrew introduces a personal document he titled “Andrew Is Fired,” a deliberate decision to remove himself from roles that feel productive but quietly limit growth. The conversation explores why constantly “going above and beyond” can actually be a form of selfishness, how undocumented processes turn leaders into bottlenecks, why clarity around ownership matters more than raw effort, and more. | 33m 11s | ||||||
| 12/29/25 | ![]() The Point of Lean is People | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E127 | In this end-of-year episode, Jay and Andrew unpack all kinds of things:Why business owners are wired to over-promise at the buzzerThe difference between employee thinking and owner thinkingCalendars, automation, and why “the best calendar is sometimes no calendar”Paying people well, shutting down between Christmas and New Year’s, and using PTO wiselyNet terms, cash flow, and refusing to be a bank for bigger companiesWhy some founders need to sign checks or take tech support calls to stay groundedThe danger of over-optimizing leadership—and losing the human sideTracking improvement with marbles instead of spreadsheets | 1h 14m 36s | ||||||
| 12/22/25 | ![]() When Shipping Fails, You Fly | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E126 | What happens when a rush job collides with holiday shipping chaos and failure isn’t an option?In this episode, Andrew walks us through a real-world manufacturing crisis involving last-minute customer demands, specialty tooling delays, weather-related shipping failures, and nonstop overtime.Along the way, Jay and Andrew cover: the true cost of rush orders (beyond the invoice), why duplication and redundancy matter in high-stakes work, when it makes sense to say yes and when it’s wiser to walk away, managing time and expectations, customer communication under stress, and more. | 1h 00m 02s | ||||||
| 12/15/25 | ![]() Running Your Shop at 100% Capacity Is a Mistake | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E125 | Jay and Andrew discuss real-world shop challenges like air quality, ventilation, coolant selection, and bandsaw blade performance. The conversation expands into capacity planning, why running at 100% utilization is a hidden liability, and how maintaining margin and flexibility allows shops to respond quickly when customers need help.Along the way, they touch on safety systems that fail when alerts are too distant from the problem, lessons from catastrophic industrial accidents, and why local, thoughtful gestures like good donuts or quality coffee build stronger vendor and customer relationships than generic (or just plain bad) corporate gifts. | 38m 41s | ||||||
| 12/8/25 | ![]() Majoring On The Majors | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E124 | Tiny improvements won’t move the company forward unless leaders also make the big decisions. Lean is life-changing, but you can’t lean your way into a clear vision. You have to choose it. That means looking honestly at customers, pricing, equipment, automation, space, and your team, and fixing what really bugs you at the highest level. That lesson is at the crux of this jam-packed episode which also covers: visual controls that save mental energy, smarter checklists that stop cultural drift, and a simple light-curtain jig that turns a tedious sewing task into an effortless one. | 49m 54s | ||||||
| 12/1/25 | ![]() Lean Saved Their Factory: Fire Prevention, Inventory Wins & Q4 Strategy | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E123 | It's Cyber Monday, and Andrew and Jay dive into year-end strategy, the real cost of Black Friday sales, and why deep discounts often hurt more than they help. They also discuss how lean manufacturing practices literally saved an entire 60,000 sq ft facility after a major fire. Elsewhere, Andrew shares the importance of using LinkedIn with intention, how handwritten notes beat (or should be combined with) AI transcription for capturing insights, and why business owners must prioritize end-of-year tasks before the December panic hits. Jay breaks down inventory strategy, shop-floor safety improvements, and the hard truth about tax planning, CPAs, and executing (not just dreaming) your business vision.Books mentioned: Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits!: 4 Keys to Unlock Your Business Potential by Greg CrabtreeTax-Free Wealth by Tom Wheelwright | 44m 59s | ||||||
| 11/24/25 | ![]() Building a Company That Can Survive Without You | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E122 | Andrew opens with a simple shop-floor idea that changed how their teams celebrate progress: a six-inch clear tube filled with colored marbles. That playful visual turns into a deeper conversation between Jay and Andrew about the power of collective improvement, the limits of mental capacity as organizations grow, and the art of estimating through Fermi numbers. They move from marbles to antennas, from CNC stencils to parabolic reflectors, and from daily shop habits to long-term business planning.The episode also takes a serious turn as they take a blunt look at succession planning, wills, and preparing your company and family for emergencies. Jay adds insights from Pico La, including the lessons of shared leadership, clear org charts, and building resilient systems that survive beyond any one person. | 54m 53s | ||||||
| 11/17/25 | ![]() The Best First CNC Machine | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E121 | When Jay asks what machine someone should buy to start a small job shop, Andrew gives a direct answer: without committed, repeatable work, he wouldn’t buy anything. But both Jay and Andrew do offer their recommendations, and that opens a broader conversation about the unstable economics of prototypes, customers who send sketches instead of CAD, and why certain jobs are better routed to services like Xometry or Upwork.From there, Jay and Andrew compare Haas and Brother machines—control systems, tool changers, rigidity, multi-axis capability, and real reliability differences. Andrew explains why he favors the Brother S700 for multi-sided work and describes the problems he’s seen with chain-style ATCs, including misloads that can send tools straight into the table.Around that, Andrew talks about his experience at Boombastic, the new generation of talent showing up there, and who else might benefit from attending. | 1h 14m 09s | ||||||
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