Gemba Summit 2025
Gemba Summit 2025 was held at the iconic Titanic Belfast in October 2025, bringing together lean learners, lean practitioners, manufacturing leaders, and transformation experts from across the globe for two days of powerful learning and connection.
the keynotes
Listen, read and watch every keynote from the Gemba Summit.
Transforming Sperrin Metal
Ryan Tierney shares his bold vision to transform Sperrin Metal into the world’s best lean organization and make Ireland the next Japan through his “How Can I Improve This?” mantra.
Exploding the Dogmas of Lean
Watch as the CEO of GembaDocs systematically explodes sacred lean beliefs that hold organizations back – from the myth that everyone must be a lean maniac, to the truth about what respect for people really means, complete with a story about how raising wages became the biggest cost saving ever made.
Lean Leadership: Change Yourself First
Discover why leading lean transformation feels like wearing a blindfold, and learn the three powerful rules that transformed a 20-year-old batch-and-queue business in just 14 months – including why you should never go backwards and what happened when Brian literally burned the binders in the parking lot.
The Importance of the Leader at the Gemba
Learn from years of Toyota UK experience as Alan reveals why the world’s most efficient car factories put people first, how blocking out two hours daily for Gemba walks changes everything, and the critical moment when team leaders thank operators for pulling the Andon cord.
Building Lean Depth Into Your People
Follow the remarkable journey from weekly resignations and disastrous ERP implementations to being named Lean Exemplar for the entire UK submarine program, discovering the four elements that build depth – and the unexpected fifth benefit that accelerated their AI transformation.
Lean & AI
Get brutally honest insights about integrating AI with lean from a CEO who admits his mistakes, shares exactly what’s working, what requires investment (automation showing 150 hours saved monthly), and what’s mostly snake oil (expensive platforms that are just ChatGPT with connectors).
10 Insights from Toyota Group and Japan
Discover ten light bulb moments from decades working with Japanese manufacturers, learning directly from a sensei who joined Toyota’s plant in 1964 – from why you need control before improvement, to training time travelers, to understanding that self-reliance is the highest expression of lean skill.
Lean Summit Panel Q&A - Ryan Tierney, Tom Hughes, Brian Meyers
Join three lean leaders for an extended Q&A session covering the future of Gemba Summit, scaling lean into hospitality and public sector, the ripple effects that will continue for years, and why sometimes you have to let things go to move forward and drive transformation.
breakout selection
Watch a selection of breakouts from Gemba Summit.
Total ownership: building a culture of responsibility
Alison Roddy, AR Solutions
At Gemba Summit 2025, Alison Roddy of AR Solutions delivered a powerful session on total ownership – a cultural tool inspired by the book Extreme Ownership. The concept is simple: ask every person to take ownership of something outside their immediate workspace, because roughly 80% of shared spaces fall below standard when nobody specifically owns them.
Alison emphasized that dual ownership equals no ownership, and that leaders must gauge engagement daily to maintain momentum. When something in your culture isn’t working, that’s leadership’s responsibility to fix.
Reclaim 10hrs a week by eliminating office and marketing waste
Diana Byrne, Clarity
Diana tackled head-on the misconception that lean can’t apply to knowledge work, proving that continuous improvement works just as powerfully in digital environments.
With 66% of knowledge workers reporting burnout in 2025, Diana’s message resonated: burden in office environments shows up as burnout, and it stops flow just like any factory bottleneck.
She introduced practical tools including deep work sessions, meeting audits, and PowerPoint efficiency techniques.
How AI and automation are changing our workforce
Stuart Lay & Zen Gregory, British Rototherm
Stuart Lay and Zen Gregory from British Rototherm Group brought an exciting vision to Gemba Summit 2025: the “alien dreadnought” factory that embraces AI and automation while putting people first.
Their key insight? Lean thinking and automation go hand in hand – standardized work creates the clear instructions that AI and automation need to function effectively.
The session showcased real transformation stories – their message: AI removes burden and upskills workers rather than replacing them.
Take back control of your energy
Alison McFadden, Continu
Alison McFadden delved into why and how manufacturers need to take back control of their energy. With the UK paying four times more for energy than the US and data centers straining an aging grid, businesses remain trapped in a centralized system that leaves them vulnerable to volatility.
The solution is distributed energy – creating your own power through battery storage, solar, and smart controllers.
Her core message? Don’t wait for government subsidies or hope the grid improves – the time to act is now.
Kanban: the journey to one piece flow with panel Q&A
Tom Hughes, GembaDocs
Brian Bush, Tennessee Cheesecake
Dwain Steele, Hampton Conservatories
Noel Glymond, Tranto
The panelists shared practical experiences including the importance of starting small, using color coding to manage zones, and how Kanban drives standardization – forcing you to ask whether you really need four types of screws or just one. The consensus? Kanban systems work when you commit to them, and your system should always be growing.
Gemba Summit 2025
The summit featured keynote presentations from industry pioneers who shared raw, honest insights about their lean journeys – from the terrifying uncertainty of leading transformation while wearing a metaphorical blindfold, to building depth through Toyota mentoring programs, to the practical realities of integrating AI with lean thinking.
The summit’s impact extended far beyond the content delivered from the stage. Connections were forged that will ripple outward for years – Germans determined to make Germany the next Ireland, Midwest American manufacturers committed to creating their own lean movement, hospitality leaders aiming to transform entire industries, and public sector pioneers battling political headwinds to bring lean thinking to government.
The overwhelming theme across all presentations was that lean transformation isn’t about having all the answers or following a perfect roadmap – it’s about having the courage to move forward in uncertainty, the humility to learn from those who’ve gone before, the discipline to never go backwards once improvements are made, and the wisdom to build people first before building products.
As one panelist declared, this summit marks the beginning of transformational work that will impact thousands and millions of people around the world.
360 Lean Champions
Titanic Belfast
October 2025
28 Sessions