Lean Built: Manufacturing Freedom

If you’re heading to IMTS 2026, don’t spend three days wandering around looking at machines you could have watched on YouTube.

In this episode, Andrew and Jay share their best advice for machine shop owners who want to get real value out of IMTS, from crafting a better elevator pitch and making the right connections to finding hidden capacity gains in the tooling,...

Change is inevitable, but how do you get through it without losing your culture? From improving systems and giving honest feedback to hiring the right people and knowing when someone is no longer the right fit, Andrew and Jay share lessons they’ve learned from change over the years. They also dive into why continual improvement matters, how to create a team that’s willing to ...

This week, Andrew and Jay dive into one of the most overlooked competitive advantages in business: simplicity.

Inspired by Stuart Brand’s The Maintenance of Everything, the...

This week, Andrew and Jay are back from vacation and comparing notes on what it takes to unplug without losing momentum. They talk about the transition back into work, why deleting emails can be more productive than answering them, and the systems they rely on to keep their businesses running while they’re away.

They then shift into leadership and communication through ...

This week, Jay and Andrew treating vendors like partners, and why that pays off. They also dive into the evolution of their daily morning meetings, sharing how they’re constantly tweaking the format to make those few minutes more meaningful for their teams.

Finally, they tackle AI in manufacturing. Where does it actually save time? Where does it make people worse at thi...