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