Oliver Conger of British Rototherm delivered a powerful transformation story at Gemba Summit 2025, sharing his journey from near-failure to lean excellence. After buying a 150-year-old manufacturing business and making things worse for five years through bad acquisitions and disastrous systems, Oliver discovered two second lean and created a culture of improvement. But they hit a plateau - culture without depth wasn't enough. Four years ago, he reluctantly sent three people to a Toyota mentoring program, and everything changed. Those people transformed, inspiring others and creating demand for the same learning. British Rototherm went all in, sending 70% of their people through the program, and was recently named Lean Exemplar for the entire UK submarine program.
Oliver shared four critical elements that built depth into their journey: clarity of leadership and team member roles, facts and data-driven decisions (including a comprehensive Andon system), coaching and challenging people to achieve the incredible, and creating structure that happens to the day rather than reacting defensively. The unexpected fifth benefit? Their lean depth accelerated their AI and automation journey, as both require the same fundamentals: continuous improvement mindset, quality data, challenging thinking, and structure. With AI employees now on their org chart and products designed for zero human touch manufacturing, Oliver asked: how many times more super can you be if you build depth into your lean journey?
Key Takeaways:
- Top management commitment is the first, second, and third most important requirement for lean success
- Absolute clarity on roles and expectations for both leaders and team members eliminates ambiguity and drives ownership
- Transform from opinion-based to fact-based decisions - without data, you're just another person with an opinion
- Implement systems like Andon that capture problems as treasures and create data for effective problem-solving
- Coach and challenge people with a full day's work - the biggest gains are locked up in your people
- Make the structure happen to the day - be offensive, not defensive in how you manage time and priorities
- Lean depth accelerates AI readiness - both require continuous improvement mindsets, quality data, and structured thinking
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