Hardware Podcasts

Bringing Lean Manufacturing to Life Through Visual Workspaces w/ Steve Riley

The Manufacturing Executive · 30 Dec 2025 · 30m · Episode 290

What this episode covers

Steve Riley, COO of Bespoke Tool Traces, explains why 70% of lean initiatives fail due to a lack of sustaining steps and production pressure, advocating for visual workspaces as a solution. He details how Bespoke uses digital workflows to create professional shadowboards, moving beyond manual tracing to CNC-manufactured pockets for tool control. Riley emphasizes that visual systems, like parking lot stripes, reduce waste by making status immediately apparent, and argues that leadership engagement and regular audits are critical to preventing regression to old habits.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Bespoke Tool Traces, Gorilla 76, Fast Cap, GE
Also
Jack Welch Management Institute, Central Missouri State University

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • Being an Engineer · 36m

    S7E30 Steve Riley | Small Improvements, Big ROI: Lessons from the Factory Floor

    Steve Riley, Chief Organization Officer at Bespoke, discusses how to sustain continuous improvement (CI) and 5S practices in manufacturing environments. He explains Bespoke’s digital process for creating custom shadow boards from photos and shares practical tips for tool organization, such as using masking tape to track usage frequency. Riley emphasizes that leadership support and visual standards are critical to preventing CI initiatives from fading after their initial launch.

    Leadership, teams & cultureFactory operations & automation
    6 chapters

  • Lights Out · 41m

    The Automation Trap: Saving a Shop with Systems, Not Spindles, Ep #21

    Hosts Nick Golner, Caleb Mertz, and David Buick narrate the second part of Iron Clunk’s lean transformation, where investor Klaus invests in the shop and brings in Tim Woods and Sarah from Lean Stream to diagnose operational chaos. The team uses value stream mapping to identify that automating cobots without in-process inspection created a quality bottleneck, leading to overproduction and lost travelers. They implement 5S, daily standups, and a vision for palletized automation with probing to align spindle utilization with actual throughput and OEE.

    Scaling productionQuality & yield
    5 chapters

  • Lights Out · 52m

    The $5 Automation Project Hiding in Your Shop | Ep. 50

    Uriel Eisen, founder of Arda and Austere Manufacturing, explains how he doubled throughput in his 325-square-foot shop by implementing Kanban and lean principles rather than buying robots. He details the transition from index cards to his software platform, Arda, to solve inventory stockouts that were derailing production. Eisen discusses the hidden costs of micro-interruptions, the importance of reliability over cycle time, and how reducing friction in processes like tooling and ordering yields faster ROI than expensive automation.

    Scaling productionSourcing & supply chain
    8 chapters

  • Being an Engineer · 39m

    S7E29 Heylands Lowry| Building an Engineering Culture of Continuous Improvement

    Heylands Lowry, a Lean Master Black Belt who has held leadership roles at Intuitive, Edwards Lifesciences, and Panasonic Avionics, discusses building engineering cultures of continuous improvement. He explains how Lean principles remove waste while Six Sigma reduces variation, using DMAIC as a framework, and emphasizes that cultural buy-in and morale are more critical than tools. Lowry shares specific examples, such as improving yield in heart valve manufacturing at a Singapore plant and reducing a surgeon payment cycle at Intuitive, to illustrate how embedding these practices into daily work drives sustainable results.

    Leadership, teams & cultureFactory operations & automation
    8 chapters

  • Lights Out · 42m

    The Automation Trap: One Shop's Hard Lesson in Lean Thinking, Ep #19

    In this episode of the audio drama 'The Automation Trap,' hosts Nick Golner, Caleb Murth, and David Buick narrate the story of Gary, owner of Iron Clunk Machining, who fails by automating without lean principles. Gary purchases a used cobot and a 'dinosaur vice' from an online auction, leading to massive overproduction, quality failures, and the resignation of his quality manager, Earl. The hosts analyze the eight wastes of lean, highlighting how Gary's lack of value stream mapping and exclusion of his team resulted in unused talent and operational chaos, ultimately forcing his rival Klaus to offer a partnership to save the business.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringScaling production
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Manufacturing Executive. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.