About this episode

Andrew interviews Russell Watkins about lean manufacturing principles and insights from his experience with Toyota.

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. They explore: 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 to actually observe work on the Gemba, and why empty workstations don’t tell the full story The danger of “putting lipstick on a pig” by optimizing rework instead of eliminating the need for it Why “Fix What Bugs You” works and where it falls short without strategic direction A practical introduction to Hoshin Kanri (policy deployment) for small manufacturers How to connect shop-floor improvements to real business needs The power of visual defect analysis—even without formal data systems Four simple questions that reveal the strength (or weakness) of your SOPs How to handle the 20-70-10 dynamic when…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew

Guest: Russell Watkins

Topics covered

• lean manufacturing
• Gemba
• Hoshin Kanri
• Toyota Production System
• small manufacturers
• continuous improvement

Keywords

• lean
• manufacturing
• Gemba
• Hoshin Kanri
• Toyota
• small manufacturers
• continuous improvement
• visual defect analysis
• SOPs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sempai, Toyota

Books & works: 10 Lightbulb Moments from Working with Toyota Japan and UK

Places: Belfast

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