Beyond ‘Fix What Bugs You’ w/ Russell Watkins | Lean Built - Manufacturing Freedom E135

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 rolling out lean initiatives
Why humility and “opening the kimono” as a leader builds trust and cultural momentum

This conversation bridges the gap between the Two Second Lean community and traditional Toyota Production System thinking, offering practical insight for small and mid-sized manufacturers who want to move beyond local optimization and align improvement with long-term business survival.

Links:
The explainer on Hoshin Kanri/policy deployment that Russell mentioned

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