GembaTalk Podcast
GembaTalk, hosted by Tom Hughes, is the podcast for people who make things happen on the factory floor. Each episode brings real conversations with manufacturing lean champions, sharing practical lessons on standard work, process improvement, and lean culture in action.
Season 2 - Gemba Summit
Episode #7 Lean Q&A at Gemba Summit
The panel shared their key takeaways from the two-day event – Tom emphasized the value of informal conversations between sessions, Ryan highlighted the bold visions people are taking home (making Germany the next Ireland, transforming the hospitality industry), and Brian reflected on Russell Watkins’ insight about learning to see and appreciate progress before becoming critical.
Episode #6 10 insights from Toyota Group and Japan / Russell Watkins, Sempai
Russell Watkins of Sempai delivered an entertaining and wisdom-filled keynote at Gemba Summit 2025, sharing ten light bulb moments from decades working with Japanese manufacturers including Toyota and Denso. Starting his journey in 1999 at age 29 with sensei Toshiyuki Muraoka (who joined Toyota’s Kamigo plant in 1964 and learned directly from Ohno’s era of pull systems development), Russell candidly acknowledged that Japanese manufacturing isn’t all sunshine – the teaching was harsh, including eight months of being shouted at.
Episode #5 Lean & AI / Paul Vallely, Kukoon
Paul Vallely of Kukoon delivered one of the most practical and honest presentations at Gemba Summit 2025 about integrating AI with lean thinking. Seven years into their lean journey after visiting Seating Matters in 2018, Paul openly shared what Kukoon still needs to improve – including bringing back a second morning meeting in January because reducing to one weekly meeting had failed to transfer lean knowledge to new team members, creating an embarrassingly large gap between experienced and new people.
Episode #4 Building lean depth into your people / Oliver Conger, British Rototherm
Oliver Conger of British Rototherm delivered a powerful transformation story at Gemba Summit 2025, sharing his journey from near-failure to lean excellence. After buying a 150-year-old manufacturing business and making things worse for five years through bad acquisitions and disastrous systems, Oliver discovered two second lean and created a culture of improvement. But they hit a plateau – culture without depth wasn’t enough. Four years ago, he reluctantly sent three people to a Toyota mentoring program, and everything changed. Those people transformed, inspiring others and creating demand for the same learning. British Rototherm went all in, sending 70% of their people through the program, and was recently named Lean Exemplar for the entire UK submarine program.
Episode #3 The importance of the leader at the Gemba / Alan Weir, Retired, Toyota UK
Alan Weir, recently retired from Toyota UK after nearly 34 years, delivered a moving keynote at Gemba Summit 2025 about what truly drives excellence in lean manufacturing. Speaking in Belfast where he grew up, Alan shared insights from his time as Deputy Managing Director at one of Toyota’s most efficient plants globally. His message was clear: it’s not about automation or technology – it’s about people.
Episode #3 The importance of the leader at the Gemba / Alan Weir, Retired, Toyota UK
Meyers shared three powerful rules from his 14-month transformation journey: never go backwards when you make an improvement, show total and unwavering commitment (even if it means burning the old binders), and focus on burden and flow rather than chasing individual wastes. His message was direct and honest-lean transformation is uncomfortable, there are no guarantees, but with courage and commitment, you can navigate the path forward.
Episode #1 Exploding the dogmas of lean / Tom Hughes
Tom Hughes, CEO of GembaDocs and author of “Improvement Starts with I,” delivered a thought-provoking keynote at Gemba Summit 2025 that challenged widely accepted lean beliefs. Hughes systematically “exploded” lean dogmas that hold organizations back: the overemphasis on culture without technical knowledge, unrealistic expectations that everyone becomes a “lean maniac,” the narrow internal focus that ignores supply chain opportunities, and the misunderstanding of what respect for people truly means.
Season 1
BONUS EPISODE #1
Brian Meyers from FAT American Manufacturing joins Tom Hughes to share how his team made standards part of everyday work. From empowering every employee to create SOPs to embedding them into morning meetings, Brian explains how “making it matter” drives consistency, respect, and growth.
Episode 6
From daily struggles to Lean success, find out how IOTAFLOW created 1,000 SOPs, boosted efficiency, and transformed employee engagement and earnings with ‘what’s in it for me’ mindset.
Episode 5
After a trip to Japan, Brian Meyers realized his factory needed a Lean overhaul – he just didn’t realize it was Lean he needed! Find out how they adopted SOPs, transformed efficiency and discover his no-nonsense approach to implementation.
Episode 4
Pablo Scarpatti discusses how they’ve created a lean culture, grew their business rapidly, released fear from their team to learn, and built a skills matrix to rival them all – all because of a bike accident.
Episode 3
Stephan takes us through how someone is only an expert when they’re able to train someone else, how they utilize critical thinking approaches with Kaizen time and how they have CEOs of each department for continuous improvements.
Episode 2
Tom speaks with Dwain Steele of Hampton Conservatories as he shares how they transitioned from having the struggle of no standardized processes to implementing GembaDocs, which transformed their operations. He explains the challenges of getting staff engaged, developing ownership of processes, and the empowerment staff gain by being able to score a process goal, daily.
Episode 1
Ryan Tierney from Seating Matters discusses how they implemented GembaDocs to standardize their processes – sharing key insights, lessons learned, and actionable advice for organizations aiming to adopt SOPs effectively. And find out what Ryan marks as his biggest mistake with his journey so far.