GembaTalk

About GembaTalk

Dive into the world of the GembaDocs Community with expert guests who share their stories, challenges and top tips for optimizing operations, lean culture adoption, and reducing waste. You’ll travel around the globe to learn how all types of organizations are setting new standards in process excellence.

Publisher

GembaDocs

Category

business · business · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Feb 2025

Latest episode

3 Dec 2025

Latest episodes

14 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Dec 2025

   Lean Q&A at Gemba Summit with Ryan Tierney, Tom Hughes and Brian Meyers

   Ryan Tierney, Tom Hughes, and Brian Meyers answer questions at Gemba Summit 2025, sharing insights on scaling lean principles across industries and maintaining connections, in this interview episode.

2. 

   2 Dec 2025

   10 insights from Toyota Group and Japan / Russell Watkins, Sempai at Gemba Summit

   Russell Watkins, Sempai at Gemba Summit, shares ten insights from Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers, emphasizing continuous improvement, operator empowerment, and self-reliance in lean practices.

3. 

   1 Dec 2025

   Lean & AI / Paul Vallely, Kukoon at Gemba Summit

   Paul Vallely of Kukoon shares Kukoon's lean journey and AI integration strategies, emphasizing ChatGPT use, automation investment, and skepticism towards expensive platforms, at Gemba Summit 2025 in this interview.

4. 

   28 Nov 2025

   Building lean depth into your people / Oliver Conger, British Rototherm at Gemba Summit

   Oliver Conger of British Rototherm shares how building lean depth through Toyota mentoring transformed his company, emphasizing clarity, data-driven decisions, coaching, and structured thinking, ultimately accelerating their AI journey in this interview.

5. 

   27 Nov 2025

   The importance of the leader at the Gemba / Alan Weir, Retired, Toyota UK at Gemba Summit

   Alan Weir, retired from Toyota UK, emphasizes the critical role of leadership in lean manufacturing, highlighting Toyota's people-centric approach to problem-solving and continuous improvement in this interview.

6. 

   26 Nov 2025

   Lean leadership: change yourself first / Brian Meyers, Fat American Manufacturing at Gemba Summit

   Brian Meyers of Fat American Manufacturing discusses his lean transformation journey, emphasizing commitment and flow, in this Gemba Summit 2025 keynote interview.

7. 

   25 Nov 2025

   Exploding the dogmas of lean / Tom Hughes, GembaDocs at Gemba Summit

   GembaDocs CEO Tom Hughes explodes common lean dogmas, including overemphasizing culture and misunderstanding respect, during his Gemba Summit 2025 keynote address, revealing how organizations can overcome these limitations in this interview.

8. 

   10 Nov 2025

   Bonus Episode: How to Build a Culture Around Standards with SOPs with Brian Meyers

   Brian Meyers of FAT American Manufacturing shares with Tom Hughes how his team created and uses over 2,000 SOPs to transform standard work into a cornerstone of their company culture in this interview.

9. 

   18 Mar 2025

   How "What's in it for me" revolutionized IOTAFLOW's culture with Pankaj Malik

   In this episode, Tom Hughes talks with Pankaj Malik, founder of IOTAFLOW, about how finding Lean principles 20years into business revolutionized his company. From quality issues to a world-class system with 1,000 SOPs, Pankaj shares how small changes created a massive culture shift in his organization. This shift has not only improved efficiency but has also enhanced employee well-being, with increased trust, better working conditions, and even company-funded medical care and dividends for staff. "...it's completely mistake proof, they have that drawing to which work, one, and second they don't have to hunt for SOP or drawing anymore" - Pankaj Malik Key Topics: How Pankaj discovered 2 Second Lean and overcame skepticism in his team The cultural shift that helped employees see the value in SOPs Integrating SOPs into an ERP system for real-time access on the shop floor How Lean principles improved not just productivity, but employee well-being The financial benefits of Lean - how IOTAFLOW reinvests cost savings into staff medical care and bonuses "I'm doing business for 25 years now. And 21, 22 years, I was struggling so much with quality and timely delivery. And when I read about 2 Second Lean and you know it's a panacea [cure] for all these problems, I wanted to jump right into it, do everything, whatever I could. So including the SOPs and the Kanban. So we really started all together, asked my people to make SOPs. There is a struggle. There is a communication gap. If there is a quality problem, let's have a look at what is the SOP. If it is not there, let's make SOP." - Pankaj Malik Takeaways: SOPs are about freedom, not restriction – Employees now work without disruption, even when someone is on leave. Integration is key – SOPs must be accessible at the point of work to be truly useful. Lean culture goes beyond processes – Standardization improved trust, teamwork, and employee benefits. Visibility pays off – By showing his staff progress and setting targets, IOTAFLOW now provides better salaries and healthcare for its workers. Links and Resources: Find out more (https://www.fatamericanmfg.com/)IOTAFLOW (https://iotaflow.com (https://iotaflow.com)) Explore GembaDocs (https://gembadocs.com (https://gembadocs.com/)) for your SOP, skills training and lean needs. Connect with Us: GembaDocs LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/gembadocs) Tom’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/tom-hughes-gembadocs/) Pankaj’s LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pankaj-malik-3b269050/) IOTAFLOW LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/iotaflow/) 🎙️ Subscribe to GembaTalk podcast for more insights on Lean culture, SOPs, and manufacturing excellence.

10. 

    11 Mar 2025

    “Just Start!” to overcome perfection and implement lean, with Brian Meyers from Fat American Manufacturing

    Tom talks with Brian Meyers, founder of Fat American Manufacturing (FAM) and multiple off-road manufacturing brands to find out how traveling to Japan and Europe gave Brian a new perspective on Lean - and how his company has rapidly implemented standardized work to improve efficiency. By embracing standard work, giving employees ownership, and integrating SOPs into daily operations, Fat American Manufacturing (FAM) has made incredible progress in just five months. If you’re struggling to get started with Lean, Brian’s advice is simple: “Just start.” "When I got to Japan I saw everything and I was like this is crazy and then I came home and I was really frustrated and I was like we suck but I had no idea how to do it and I didn't know what I was looking at [...] And then all of a sudden everything was like click, click, click, click, click, and I was like, it's lean, I saw lean!" - Brian Meyers" - Brian Meyers Key Topics: Brian discovered Lean backwards - by visiting Japan before knowing what it was The culture shift needed to make standardization work Why Brian gave every employee the power to create SOPs instead of restricting it to managers The challenges of balancing production vs. documentation How FAM integrates SOPs directly into their ERP system for real-time learning Using QR codes to make SOPs accessible at the point of work "Yesterday alone, we made 35 SOPs. If you have 10 people doing SOPs, you won’t get far. If you have 40, you’ll get there fast.." - Brian Meyers Takeaways: Exposure changes everything – Seeing Lean firsthand in Japan made Brian realize what was possible. SOPs aren’t just for the shop floor – Documenting office processes helps eliminate waste in administration, too. Ownership is key – When employees create their own SOPs, they buy in and continuously improve them. Just start – Perfection isn't the goal; documenting current processes leads to immediate improvements. Links and Resources: Find out more Fat American Manufacturing (https://www.fatamericanmfg.com/) (fatamericanmfg.com) Explore GembaDocs (gembadocs.com (https://gembadocs.com/)) for your SOP, skills training and lean needs. Connect with Us: GembaDocs LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/gembadocs) Tom’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/tom-hughes-gembadocs/) Brian's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-meyers-256833a3/) Lean By Doing on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@LeanbyDoing) 🎙️ Subscribe to GembaTalk podcast for more insights on Lean culture, SOPs, and manufacturing excellence.

11. 

    4 Mar 2025

    How a bang on the head sparked a Lean business with Pablo Scarpatti of Scarpatti Amoblamientos

    Pablo Scarpatti, co-owner of Scarpati Amoblamientos, chats with Tom about how Lean principles have helped scale his custom woodworking business. Pablo shares insights on the birth of his lean business starting with an accident, how he developed workforce understanding of processes with QR codes, the process standardization, and the role of a strong skills matrix (and how it inspired GembaDocs Skills Module!) in driving growth. "Knowledge alone is not enough—if it's not documented and shared, it doesn’t exist." - Pablo Scarpatti Key Topics: How an accident led Pablo to discover Lean The challenge of standardizing a business with no fixed products Using QR codes to make SOPs accessible on the shop floor Implementing a massive skills matrix for team development Why creating opportunities for employees to grow, even if they leave, is key to success "So teach them everything and releasing from them the fear. It's a roof that many people have. They don't want to do things because they're frightened. And sometimes in the production culture, the owners, like myself, have the fear of holding people because you don't want them to go because who else is going to do that task that only he can do. So yeah with the skills matrix, everybody can do it because everybody can learn. So you don't have a specialist. Everybody can be a specialist." - Pablo Scarpatti Takeaways: Identifying repeatable steps in unique processes creates consistency. Training everyone in multiple tasks eliminates bottlenecks. Developing employees, even if they leave, strengthens the business. When employees own processes, efficiency skyrockets. “If a 10-year-old can follow our SOPs, then we know we’ve done it right” - Pablo Scarpatti [talking with pride about his daughter knowing how to start and use their machines, and even get the factory up and running with the electricity generator!] Links and Resources: Find out more about Scarpatti (https://scarpatti.com/) Explore GembaDocs (https://gembadocs.com (https://gembadocs.com)) for your SOP, skills training and lean needs. Connect with Us: GembaDocs LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/gembadocs) Tom’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/tom-hughes-gembadocs/) Pablo Scarpatti’s LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablo-scarpatti-154060264/) 🎙️ Subscribe to GembaTalk podcast for more insights on Lean culture, SOPs, and manufacturing excellence.

12. 

    25 Feb 2025

    Why "Knowledge is Bad" - The Power of Standard Work in Manufacturing with Stephan Hilmer of Tridelta Meidensha

    Tom Hughes sits down with Stephan Hilmer, COO of Tridelta Meidensha, to discuss how standard processes revolutionized their approach to efficiency and training. Stephan reveals how Lean methodologies helped their company navigate the challenges of the pandemic and optimize production. "Knowledge is really, really bad. Knowledge is bad until you put it on paper. You are the expert when you get everybody able to do whatever you are doing right now." - Stephan Hilmer Key Topics: Why undocumented knowledge is a risk to organizations Tridelta Meidensha’s journey with SOPs and GembaDocs Training strategies for implementing and sustaining Lean principles How they utilize CEOs and flow managers of each department for continuous improvements. The role of daily Kaizen time and critical thinking for SOP development "Trust your people, train your people, and then you will explode. The sky is the limit." - Stephan Hilmer Takeaways: Expertise only benefits an organization when it’s accessible to everyone. The best SOPs are those that frontline workers use and improve daily. Investing in employee learning creates a sustainable culture of excellence. Standardization isn’t a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process of improvement. Links and Resources: Full GembaDocs Tour of Tridelta Meidensha (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWm7SPUWmNY&list=PLiN3NzbH0xrma4EJyh_6xrj00ds9vhGV1), in UK and German Lean Made Simple tour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lFKPMolntQ) of Tridelta Meidensha Find out more about Tridelta Meidensha (https://www.tridelta-meidensha.de/) (tridelta-meidensha.de) Explore GembaDocs (https://gembadocs.com) (gembadocs.com) for your lean needs. Connect with Us: GembaDocs LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/gembadocs) Tom’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/tom-hughes-gembadocs/) Stephan Hilmer's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-hilmer-930268bb/) Tridelta Meidensha LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/tridelta-meidensha/) 🎙️ Subscribe to GembaTalk podcast for more insights on Lean culture, SOPs, and manufacturing excellence.

13. 

    18 Feb 2025

    Scoring Goals through process with Dwain Steele of Hampton Conservatories

    Hampton Conservatories are one of the original GembaDocs customers, so Tom got Dwain Steele, Production Manager, to dive into how standard processes with GembaDocs took the chaos and burden out of their workflow in the last three years to create a book of knowledge. "The power it gives my team - ’I did a process today’ - this is fantastic, they went home, they feel great, because they've created this process that never existed at Hampton Conservatories, they've scored the goal.' - Dwain Steele Key Topics: Why standardized processes are essential for continuous improvement. The struggle of creating SOPs manually with excel —and how GembaDocs solved it in 90mins. How to engage employees in process documentation and Lean culture. The impact of morning meetings on driving accountability and improvement. How Hampton Conservatories retains 40 years of company knowledge in a digital, accessible way. "It took me 22 years to become a production manager, I could have done that in half the time I reckon, because GembaDocs was there. Would have made life so much easier." - Dwain Steele And find out how every GembaDoc at Hamptons follows their own set standard, with clear start, finish and pencil to paper plan first before the app is even open. "you're training them on how to create the SOP to the standard you're expecting" - Tom Hughes Takeaways: Apprentices using GembaDocs to train themselves, but also create processes from their learning. Creating a positive feedback loop from SOP to shop-floor Find out how Hampton Conservatories have developed a standard for their standards, including a GembaDoc on how to do a GembaDoc to their standards! Grandfathering products into GembaDocs to avoid the 8 lean waste areas the next time the order comes through How they developed process engineers who had ownership over their documented processes Links and Resources: Learn more about Hampton Conservatories (hamptonconservatories.co.uk (https://hamptonconservatories.co.uk)). Explore GembaDocs (gembadocs.com (https://gembadocs.com)) for your process needs. Connect with Us: GembaDocs LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/gembadocs) Tom’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/tom-hughes-gembadocs/) Hampton Conservatories LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/hampton-conservatories-ltd) 🎙️ Subscribe to GembaTalk podcast for more insights on Lean culture, SOPs, and manufacturing excellence.

14. 

    11 Feb 2025

    How Seating Matters Achieved Process Excellence with Ryan Tierney

    In this episode, Tom Hughes, founder of GembaDocs, sits down with Ryan Tierney from Seating Matters to explore the transformative power of standardized operating procedures (SOPs). Discover how Seating Matters became a world-class Lean organization, the challenges they faced during implementation, and practical tips for success. “We wasted so much money, so much time with systems that weren't up to scratch.” - Ryan Tierney Key Topics: The surprising complexities of creating effective SOPs. Common pitfalls, like neglected SOPs "stuffed in a drawer." How GembaDocs helped transform Seating Matters’ process. Actionable advice for rolling out SOPs in your organization. “..it wasn't until we documented the process we saw how much waste there was. So there was probably 45 or 46 steps in this before. But the physical act of going through the documenting process forced us to improve it and see the waste.” - Ryan Tierney Takeaways: SOPs are a cornerstone of efficiency and quality but require proper adoption and visibility. Avoid overcomplicating your rollout; simplicity and accessibility are key. Learning from failures is part of the journey toward excellence. Links and Resources: Learn more about Seating Matters (seatingmatters.com (https://seatingmatters.com)). Explore GembaDocs (gembadocs.com (https://gembadocs.com)) for your SOP needs. Connect with Us: GembaDocs LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/gembadocs) Tom’s LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/tom-hughes-gembadocs/) Seating Matters LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/company/seating-matters/) Ryan’s LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-tierney-6237a8199/) 🎙️ Subscribe to GembaTalk podcast for more insights on Lean culture, SOPs, and manufacturing excellence.

Who has been a guest on GembaTalk

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Ryan Tierney
• Tom Hughes
• Brian Meyers
• Russell Watkins
• Paul Vallely

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

377,439

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

38

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

0

Contact GembaTalk

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.