# S6E52 Rob Donley | Kaizen, Communication, & the Design Squiggle

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2025-12-26
- Length: 52m
- Episode: 52
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle

## Summary

Rob Donley, a project manager at Terumo with extensive experience in medical device engineering, discusses the importance of practical education, Kaizen process improvement, and effective communication. He details how his background at the Colorado School of Mines and early tinkering with RC cars and model rockets prepared him for complex engineering challenges. Donley explains how Kaizen can streamline non-manufacturing processes, citing a case where customer response time was reduced from two weeks to 48 hours. He also shares a root cause analysis of a field failure involving frozen plastic in anesthesia tube sets and emphasizes the 'design squiggle' methodology for managing concept convergence.

## Chapters

- [0:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=14) Introduction: Rob Donley and Terumo
- [0:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=49) Early Engineering: Legos, RC Cars, and Model Rockets
- [7:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=428) Colorado School of Mines: Practical Education and Fuel Cells
- [14:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=875) Kaizen: Streamlining Sales and Engineering Processes
- [22:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=1329) Mentoring and the Importance of Communication
- [25:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=1511) Case Study: Anesthesia Tube Set Field Failure
- [33:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=1985) Cost of Goods Sold: Wire Harnesses and Serviceability
- [39:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=2370) Genetic Diagnostics Machine and Market Fit
- [45:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2025-12-26-s6e52-rob-donley-kaizen-communication-the-design-squiggle#t=2729) Supply Chain Unpredictability and the Design Squiggle

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Factory operations & automation](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/factory-operations)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Design for manufacturing & NPI](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/design-for-manufacturing)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Terumo (company)
- Colorado School of Mines (other)
- Coke Freestyle (product)
- KSI (company)
- Noodles and Company (company)
- Pipeline Design & Engineering (company)
- Estes (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [004 - “Until They Know How Much You Care” with Andy Robertson](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2021-10-27-004-until-they-know-how-much-you-care-with-andy-robertson) (Let's Combinate)
- [053 - "Duct Tape and Bubble Gum" with Chris Tsai](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/lets-combinate/2022-10-05-053-duct-tape-and-bubble-gum-with-chris-tsai) (Let's Combinate)
- [Foundation First: Products, Systems, Process & People w/ Bill Kaewert](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2023-07-25-foundation-first-products-systems-process-people-w-bill-kaewert) (The Manufacturing Executive)
- [Meet a GURU: Jesseca Lyons](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2020-07-15-meet-a-guru-jesseca-lyons) (Global Medical Device Podcast)
- [Meet a Guru: Etienne Nichols](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/global-medical-device-podcast/2021-05-24-meet-a-guru-etienne-nichols) (Global Medical Device Podcast)

## Citing this page

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