The Allied Advisors Podcast is designed for mid-market manufacturers looking to scale and sharpen their competitive edge. Each episode features in-depth conversations with lean manufacturing experts and top-performing manufacturing executives who share proven strategies, hard-earned lessons, and real-world success stories. Our goal is simple: every listener walks away with practical insights they can apply immediately to drive growth, improve efficiency, and lead their teams more effectively.
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Small Problems, Big Levers: Lean, AI, and Growing Pains with Jamie Flinchbaugh
Wednesday, October 14, 2026 • Duration 49:37
Episode Summary
Most big problems in a manufacturing business started out as small ones that nobody solved. In this episode, Justin sits down with Jamie Flinchbaugh, founder of JFlinch and author of People Solve Problems. They talk about why leaders keep reaching for big levers like AI, reorgs, and acquisitions, when the real momentum usually comes from breaking problems down and understanding cause and effect.
Jamie explains how to connect daily huddles to monthly KPI reviews so leaders can trust that their teams have the ball. He also explains why process metrics invite curiosity while output metrics drive accountability. The two dig into a practical approach to AI for mid-market manufacturers, what breaks first when a company doubles in size, and how to bring skeptical veterans along on standardization. They close on how operations leaders can translate lean gains into the language boards and PE owners care about.
About the Guest
Jamie Flinchbaugh is the founder of JFlinch, where he works as an advisor, coach, and board member to leaders building organizations that hold up. He started on the plant floor at Chrysler and went through MIT’s Leaders for Manufacturing program. He spent 15 years co-founding and building the Lean Learning Center into one of the top lean transformation firms in the country. More recently he served as Corporate Vice President of Qorvo’s Lean Journey.
Jamie has worked with more than 300 companies, including Harley-Davidson, Intel, Mars, Amazon, and Whirlpool. He has helped build close to 20 companies as a co-founder, board member, or investor, and he serves on the boards of Robinson Fans, York Container, S&S Cycle, and Orion Fleet Intelligence. He wrote People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem, co-wrote the lean bestseller The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean, and hosts the People Solve Problems podcast.
Key Takeaways
Big levers are often an act of desperation. Buying a company, replacing the CEO, or launching an AI program can feel like progress. Jamie sees more momentum in breaking a big problem into medium-sized pieces you can confidently move, then working out cause and effect on each one.
Structure matters more than systems. Every metric should answer three questions: how are we performing, why are we performing there, and what are we doing about it. When a red metric shows up in a monthly review with the “why” and the countermeasure already attached, leaders can trust the team instead of jumping in from the top.
Every injury started as a trip hazard. You can’t predict which small problem will become the big one, so solve them while they’re small. Smaller problems also give your people more repetitions, which builds problem-solving capability faster.
Process metrics drive curiosity, output metrics drive accountability. Measuring diet and exercise tells you far more about what to change than waiting to measure heart attacks. The same logic applies on the shop floor.
Start AI with a nagging problem. Skip the AI strategy. Pick a messy problem that has sat in the back of your mind, run a small experiment, and learn what the tools can do. Treat it like pruning a growing tree, because nobody knows where the tools will be in 18 months.
Know which kind of AI fits the job. Machine code and other work that needs consistency calls for deterministic tools. Generative AI is better suited to finding patterns in handwritten quality reports or normalizing customer specs. Jamie ranks efficiency gains last, behind making the team smarter and doing work you never had time for before.
AI always sounds confident. Challenge its output the way you would an intern’s work. And ask whether you would have spent three days helping an employee succeed the way you spent three days on the tool.
Growth breaks at the connections. Every person you add creates new handoffs, and every handoff is a chance for delay or error. Activities and flows tend to hold up as a company grows. The connections between people and departments change the most and are the hardest to get right.
You already had a standard. A great chef doesn’t measure, and they are still remarkably consistent. Small teams have standards embedded in a few experienced people. Scaling means giving that consistency tools that work across the whole enterprise.
Standardize to solve a problem. Ask why this standard, why now, and how far to take it. Standardizing scheduling across three acquired plants matters if they share a supply chain. Standardizing their food service probably doesn’t. Writing a process down is what lets you troubleshoot it when it fails.
Know your board before you pitch to it. Some PE firms are full of operators who understand cause and effect, while others are purely financial. Family-owned businesses usually care most about sustaining the company for the next generation. Interest rates are unlikely to return to zero, so operations leaders need to learn capital efficiency, return on assets, and free cash flow.
Calm can look like a lack of urgency. Boards only see you for 30 minutes a quarter. Operations leaders need to show both how serious a problem is and that they have it under control. That judgment often gets made in the Q&A.
Quotable Moments
“I write selfishly, because writing is how I clarify my thinking.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“Every injury started off as a trip hazard.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“Think about pruning a growing tree rather than building a roadmap.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“Your next step is your next step.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“Every handoff is an opportunity for a delay or an error.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“It’s not do we want consistency or not. We want consistency. You had consistency.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“I can’t tell the difference between lack of urgency and calm if I only get to sit with you for 30 minutes every quarter.” (Jamie Flinchbaugh)
“We’ve got a lot of big problems out there on the shop floor that didn’t start off as big problems.” (Justin, quoting a client COO)
Topics Covered
Why writing clarifies thinking
Big levers versus breaking problems down
Daily leadership routines and KPI trees
Process metrics versus output metrics
Thoughtful AI adoption for mid-market manufacturers
Generative AI versus deterministic machine learning
Using AI to mine dense ERP reports
Why hiring is often the wrong reflex during growth
Allied Advisors helps mid-market manufacturers scale operations and improve the bottom line through Lean, value stream design, and fractional continuous improvement leadership.
If you enjoyed this conversation, please like, subscribe, and share the episode with a friend. It helps us get the message out to more operators.
Ops vs. the Model: Turnarounds, Lean Culture, and Automation on a PE Timeline with Otis Spencer Jr.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 • Duration 43:32
Episode Summary
What happens to a portfolio company when the operating partner's voice carries less weight than the investment thesis? Otis Spencer Jr. has seen that question from both sides of the table, first as an operating partner at GenNx360 Capital Partners and then as the CEO of a PE-backed industrial business. Justin and Otis dig into how unrealistic diligence assumptions end up on the operations team's desk, why the ops and investment sides of a firm need to speak with one voice, and what it takes to build a lean culture on a three-to-five-year hold.
Otis also walks through a turnaround he calls "a dog fight," where the company came out of a restructuring with a clean balance sheet but couldn't get the credit it needed to stock long-lead parts and shorten delivery times. He explains how he worked through lenders and critical suppliers to get the business moving again. The conversation closes with his case for automation as a quality and safety tool, and the lessons from 13 years as an Army logistics officer that he kept and the ones he had to unlearn.
About the Guest
Otis Spencer Jr. is a turnaround CEO, operating partner, and industrial executive with more than 30 years of experience leading PE-backed transformations and complex global operations. Most recently he served as President and CEO of Schramm Inc., where he navigated severe liquidity and supply chain crises, grew revenue from $29 million to $54 million, and guided the business to a successful sale. He quadrupled EBITDA for an aviation MRO platform from $16 million to $60 million, and at TAMKO Building Products he doubled division EBITDA to $80 million while growing revenue to $250 million.
Otis spent 13 years as a US Army logistics officer and earned a Bronze Star for commanding a 1,500-person task force during Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he stood up the first wartime containerized fuel pipeline and terminal distribution system in Iraq and Kuwait. He holds a BS in industrial engineering from the University of Alabama and an MBA from Saint Martin's University.
Key Takeaways
Put operations in the diligence room. When ops isn't part of valuation and diligence, the model fills up with assumptions like a new plant reaching peak output in year one or heavy price increases every year. The firm overpays, and the operating team inherits targets it was never going to hit.
Butt Ugly by Friday: How the Kaizen Ninja Makes Improvements Stick with Adam Lawrence
Wednesday, September 16, 2026 • Duration 46:15
Episode Summary
Most improvement projects die quietly after the consultant leaves. Adam Lawrence built a framework to stop that from happening.
Known across the manufacturing world as the Kaizen Ninja, Adam has facilitated more than 400 Kaizen events, driving over half a billion dollars in business impact. His events average roughly $1.2 million in annual savings apiece, and he runs them in a week or less.
In this conversation, Adam walks Justin through how he actually runs a Kaizen week: two hours of level setting, then straight to the Gemba with the people doing the work as his guides. Post-its and Sharpies instead of technical jargon. Rapid experiments instead of perfect plans. He calls the standard "butt ugly by Friday," and the point is speed of learning, not polish.
The heart of the episode is sustainability. Adam breaks down the nine elements of his Wheel of Sustainability, the framework behind his book, and then explains why he recently blew up his own assessment and rebuilt it around five observable leadership behaviors instead. His marketing team told him the wheel was too hard to see in the field. He agreed.
The two also dig into safety as a lean principle, not a compliance program. Adam shares how Armstrong World Industries drove its global OSHA recordable rate from 4.5 to 0.28, and why he now requires every team member in a Kaizen event to make two personal safety improvements before Friday.
If you have ever watched a good improvement quietly disappear six months later, this one is for you.
About the Guest
Adam Lawrence is the founder of Process Improvement Partners and the author of The Wheel of Sustainability. An industrial engineer by training, he spent nearly 30 years at Armstrong World Industries, starting on the floor at Thomasville Furniture and working across multiple continents to become Global Lean Champion for the Building Products Technology Group.
He struck out on his own in 2018 and has since facilitated more than 400 Kaizen events worldwide. His work has been featured in Industry Week, Aerospace America, and Artisan Spirit. He operates out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His core belief is simple. The real solutions to business problems do not come from conference rooms. They come from the people doing the work.
The $2 Million Answer to a $200,000 Problem: Building the AI Business Case Before You Buy with Lisa Moses and Priya Ponmudi, Veritas Growth Consulting
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 • Duration 34:03
Episode Summary
Eighty-five percent of companies are investing in AI. Fewer than six percent see a return in year one. In this episode, Justin sits down with Lisa Moses and Priya Ponmudi, partners at Veritas Growth Consulting, to unpack why the gap is that wide and what mid-market manufacturers should do about it.
Between them they have run supply chain and operations at Kids2, HelloFresh, Amazon, Tech Data, and across European manufacturers. Their answer starts with a question most leaders skip: what are you actually trying to solve? Cost, service, or people. If the honest answer is a broken process, dirty data, or a discipline problem, AI will not fix it. It will just make it look pretty.
They cover where AI already pays for itself in supply chain, where it is flatly the wrong tool, how to build a financial model that survives contact with a CFO, and the cost curve nobody is pricing in yet. If you are an owner or ops leader feeling the pressure to "do something about AI," this is the conversation to hear first.
About the Guests
Lisa Moses has spent 25 years on the side of the loading dock most manufacturers only think about when something goes wrong. She is Managing Director of Veritas Growth Consulting, the global supply chain practice she launched this January with Priya, following 14 years at SIBA Logistics, where she grew an account portfolio from $3 million to $24 million. Most recently she was VP of Warehousing and Logistics at Kids2, running seven 3PL operations across six countries on a distribution spend north of $25 million a year. She holds an MBA in international business from the University of Miami and is based in Tampa. Her argument is simple: your logistics network is not a call center you inherited. It is a design decision you are either making on purpose or making by accident.
Priya Ponmudi is an industrial engineer who has spent 30 years making distribution networks move faster, and she got there by way of the floor. She spent 16 years at Tech Data running the North America Engineering Division across six logistics centers on a $65 million budget, then moved to Amazon as a senior manager, where her team optimized truck utilization across 75 sortation centers against a $1.4 billion spend and booked $136 million in projected savings. As a director at HelloFresh she led a network-wide labor initiative that delivered $11 million a year. She holds a master's in industrial engineering from Florida International University and is based in Atlanta. Her current focus is where AI and machine learning meet the warehouse floor.
Quotable MomentsTopics CoveredResources & LinksConnect With Allied Advisors
Building Operations That Run Without You — with Dr. Huri Mendoza
Wednesday, August 19, 2026 • Duration 47:22
Episode: Building Operations That Run Without You — with Dr. Huri Mendoza
Guest: Dr. Huri Mendoza — Global Operations Executive & Project Manager
Episode Summary
Dr. Huri Mendoza has spent more than two decades turning around and scaling manufacturing organizations across the automotive and nutrition sectors — on the ground in Germany, the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Romania, China, India, and Lithuania. In this episode, he sits down with Justin to unpack the operational playbook behind worldwide programs that saved more than $500 million and drove double-digit annual productivity gains.
The conversation is a masterclass in fundamentals: why turnarounds start with hours of silent observation on the shop floor, where mid-market manufacturers should actually deploy AI (and where they shouldn't), how to build a continuous-improvement culture that survives after the champion leaves, and why the most important question in operations isn't what or why — it's how do we make this happen?
What You'll Learn
Where to start when you walk into an underperforming operation — and how to tell a quick win from a six-month project
Why "expensive chaos" is what you get when you automate a process that isn't standardized first
What AI realistically costs a $50–200M manufacturer, and why execution — not the tool — creates the value
How to build a lean academy and CI culture that sustains itself (10,000+ people trained, 2,000 projects a year)
The "rolling 100 days" — a simple cadence for deciding not just what to do, but what not to do
How to de-risk a big CapEx line launch by front-loading the questions a simulation would force you to answer
Why relationships and the "how do we make this happen?" mindset separate leaders who execute from those who stall
Episode Highlights & Timestamps
[00:02] Welcome & guest introduction — Huri's background across automotive, nutrition, and global operations
[02:30] Walking into a turnaround — silent observation, going to the Gemba, and finding your own information instead of accepting "this is the problem"
"The tools have been there since 1950, and still not everybody's successful. But why? Because they don't think ." — Dr. Huri Mendoza
Playing Like a Battleship at Speedboat Scale: PE Value Creation with Rick Brawn
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 • Duration 43:41
Here you go — plain text you can copy straight into your podcast host, YouTube, or Substack:
THE ALLIED ADVISORS PODCAST Playing Like a Battleship at Speedboat Scale: PE Value Creation with Rick Brawn
Guest: Rick Brawn, Operating Partner, MiddleGround Capital Host: Justin Goethe
EPISODE OVERVIEW
Rick Brawn has a manufacturing dream resume: he came up through the most disciplined corners of aerospace at Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, then carried that operational rigor into private equity — first at LFM Capital, and today as an operating partner at MiddleGround Capital. In this conversation, Rick and Justin dig into what actually transfers from large-cap OEMs down to the mid-market, how value-creation plans get built and bought into after a deal closes, and why the biggest wins often live across a portfolio rather than inside any single plant.
Along the way: a $130M portfolio-wide freight play, a masterclass in change management that boils down to "people are people," and a candid look at how MiddleGround is putting Claude and AI to work — while double-checking every answer.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Which aerospace best practices copy-and-paste into the mid-market — and where they break down
Why founders skip process documentation (hint: it's a values gap, not a cost gap)
How MiddleGround builds a Value Creation Plan (VCP) and earns management buy-in from day one
The portfolio-scale freight play: finding $26M in savings no single plant could reach
How to run league tables, Kaizen boot camps, and cross-selling to force best-practice adoption
A practical, no-hype way for a standalone manufacturer to use AI for spend and cost visibility
TOPICS & TIMESTAMPS
00:00 — Introduction: Rick's path from Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce to LFM and MiddleGround Capital 02:00 — Aerospace to the mid-market: what copies down from large-cap OEMs, and where resources and documentation break down 03:30 — Cost vs. values: why small and mid-market firms under-invest in process creation05:30 — The PE stigma: why the "they just bring money" perception is unearned in industrials08:00 — The Value Creation Plan (VCP): sharing the plan post-close and opening the canvas to build buy-in10:30 — Culture integration: PE-owned vs. first-time founder companies; the Lindsay Precast success story13:30 — People are people: change management from the shop floor to the boardroom, and the red hose lesson17:00 — Portfolio-wide value creation: the $130M freight spend across 200+ factories and a 20% / $26M target20:00 — Hidden leaks beyond freight: insurance, tax, tariff recovery, and consolidating renewal dates24:00 — AI & Claude in the real world: plugging into ERP/AP data for spend visibility — and double-checking the work29:00 — Capturing tribal knowledge: the 30-year toolmaker's drawings fed into an LLM for the next generation31:00 — League tables & conferences: OpEx, Sales & Purchasing, and CEO/CFO conferences that drive healthy competition35:00 — Kaizen boot camps & cross-selling: quarterly week-long events with tracked takeaways; keeping business "in the family"38:00 — Strategy deployment: portfolio- and fund-level planning, three-to-five years out42:00 — Closing thoughts: "MiddleGround is Bosch" — delivering value at scale
The Systemic Improvement Cycle: Turning Strategy Into Sustainable Improvement
Season 1 · Episode 25
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • Duration 34:11
Format: Solocast with host Justin Goethe Best experienced on: YouTube (this episode references on-screen slides)
Episode Summary
Episode 25 marks a milestone, and to celebrate it Justin comes back to the heart of what Allied Advisors does: the Systemic Improvement Cycle (System CIP) — the framework for turning strategy into structured, sustainable improvement that outlasts any one person.
Most continuous improvement efforts quietly drift. Companies launch a lean initiative or a Six Sigma rollout, see early wins, and then watch the gains evaporate within a year or two. As Justin lays out, that's not a people problem or a culture problem — it's a systems problem. Drawing on frameworks used inside world-class manufacturers, he walks through the four must-haves every CI program needs, the 90-day cadence that keeps teams accountable, and the practical tools that make improvement real on the shop floor: value stream mapping, the KPI tree, the project A3, and the plan-do-check-act discipline that ties it all together.
Whether you're just starting your lean journey or fighting to make hard-won gains stick, this episode gives you a clear, repeatable path forward.
In This Episode
(00:00) Welcome and the 25th-episode milestone
(01:30) PDCA at the core — running improvement cycles at ever-tightening frequencies, from the 30,000-foot view down to the shift level
(02:30) Why everything runs on 90-day cycles (and why a one-year deadline gets you nothing)
(03:30) Setting the vision: the three focus topics — business requirements, market requirements, and vision
(05:00) Choosing your timeline and designing a future-state value stream (aim for a 12-month look)
(05:45) Current-state value stream mapping — and why you walk it backwards, from shipping to receiving
(08:00) The weekly roadmap cadence: where real accountability is built
(09:30) Process validation — proving the new standard actually holds
(10:30) Daily management — monitoring, reacting, and feeding learnings into the next cycle
(11:00) Why CI programs fail: the four must-haves of any CI system
Resistance Is Just Fear in Disguise — Kathy Miller on Lean, Culture & People
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 • Duration 33:10
From the shop floor to the boardroom — Kathy Miller has spent 30+ years leading operations at Rolls-Royce, GM, Delphi Delco, and Parker Hannifin, where she ran a $3B+ business with full P&L responsibility and toured 200+ plants across 24 countries. A 2021 Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame inductee and co-author of Steel Toes and Stilettos, she went back to school at Penn for a master's in Applied Positive Psychology to put language and science behind what she'd witnessed on the plant floor.
In this episode, Kathy unpacks her MORE framework — Meaning, Optimism, Relationships, and Excellence — and makes the case that so-called "soft skills" are actually hard-metric performance enhancers. We talk about why frontline supervisors get "thrown to the wolves," how to connect repetitive work to real purpose, and why investing in people is the single biggest opportunity for mid-market manufacturers.
What We Cover
The note from "Jimmy" that changed how Kathy leads: "Before you came, the little people would have remained the little people."
Why resistance to lean and continuous improvement is really fear in disguise — and how psychological safety unlocks it
Meaning as the starting point: connecting airbag electronics, rubber parts, and hydration packs to the lives they touch
The colleague-to-boss transition no one trains for — and how to bridge it
Leading "on concrete, not carpet," and treating workforce development as an investment, not a cost
MORE Mentor: a "Coach Kathy in your pocket" AI tool grounded in her research
Memorable Quotes "Those things people call soft skills are really not soft at all — they're performance enhancers to get hard metrics." "I'm writing books for people who lead on concrete, not just carpet." "Resistance is just really fear in disguise." "There's literally a place for everybody in operations — from a high school diploma to a PhD."
Timestamps 00:00 — Intro & Kathy's background 01:30 — The plant-floor moment behind the MORE model 04:30 — Why "soft skills" drive hard metrics 07:30 — Having a shared language for leadership 10:30 — The MORE framework explained10:45 — Supervisors thrown to the wolves: the colleague-to-boss gap13:00 — Starting with Meaning: connecting work to purpose17:00 — Lean transformation, BHAGs & overcoming resistance21:30 — More Is Better: an overview of the new book23:30 — Under-investing in frontline leaders24:15 — MORE Mentor: Coach Kathy in your pocket27:30 — The biggest people opportunity for mid-market manufacturers31:00 — Respect for people & securing the future
Manufacturing's Best-Kept Secret: How the MEP Network Helps Mid-Market Manufacturers Scale with Keith Gammill
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 • Duration 42:05
In this episode, host Justin sits down with Keith Gammill, Director of Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions (AMS), the state's affiliate of the National MEP Network. Drawing on nearly 30 years in operations, quality, HR, and continuous improvement, Keith makes the case that the MEP is one of the rare government programs that "got it right" — and walks through how mid-market manufacturers can actually put it to work. The conversation ranges from the origins of lean and where it still gets misapplied, to the central role of vision in leadership, the real impact of AI on the office (not just the shop floor), and what a first engagement with your state's MEP center looks like.
About the guest
Keith Gammill leads transformational support for manufacturers across Arkansas as Director of AMS, part of Arkansas Workforce Connections and the National MEP Network. Before joining AMS in 2014, he spent over a decade at Anchor Packaging — most recently as Director of Quality and Product Safety, leading 20 quality professionals across nine manufacturing units, and earlier driving an AutoPack division turnaround from last to first place in the company. A Gestalt Professional Certified Coach and DDI Certified Facilitator, Keith holds dual BS degrees from Arkansas State University in Industrial Technology and Leadership Management. By his own description: "an old manufacturing puke."
What you'll learn (with timestamps)
[00:03:00] — What the MEP Network is: a public-private partnership funded continuously since 1988, modeled on the Cooperative Extension Service — "the county agents for manufacturing," with a center in every state plus Puerto Rico.
[00:06:00] — The bread and butter: traditional lean services, including the Lean 101 workshop (Principles of Lean Manufacturing), run thousands of times in Arkansas.
[00:08:00] — How the network shares best practices through regional nodes and national gatherings — giving any center access to ~1,250 professionals system-wide.
[00:10:00] — How MEP services have evolved: reshoring/nearshoring post-COVID, plus technology transfer, automation, and AI.
[00:11:00] — Why AI's biggest manufacturing impact will be in the office, not the shop floor — sitting on top of disparate systems to flag issues and distill the critical few priorities.
Run Your Pipeline Like a Shop Floor: Stage Gates for Mid-Market Sales with Bill Bell
Wednesday, June 10, 2026 • Duration 29:43
Episode Summary
Most operators run the shop floor as a disciplined, measurable system and treat the sales pipeline as a black box. Bill Bell spent his career proving they are the same thing. A million dollar deal dies at month nine and the only explanation anyone offers is "the customer went a different direction." That answer is not a diagnosis. It is nothing.
In this episode, Bill walks through how he took stage-gate thinking off the production line and applied it to complex industrial sales, why a stalled deal is a diagnosis rather than a dead end, and how mid-market manufacturers can stop pouring engineering capacity into custom orders that quietly lose money. If you came up through operations and the commercial side feels like guesswork, this one is for you.
About the Guest
Bill Bell is a partner and fractional Chief Revenue Officer at Chief Outsiders, with more than 20 years of CEO and senior executive experience across the automotive, industrial engineering, and technology sectors. His career includes leadership roles at Durr Group, Leadec Corporation, and Dunes Point Capital, plus executive education at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. As president and CEO of Leadec, he grew the top line by more than 80% in 24 months while substantially improving the bottom line. Today he partners with mid-market manufacturers and industrial companies to build the commercial infrastructure they need to drive consistent double-digit growth.
What We Cover
(02:00) The origin story: how watching a welding station failure on the shop floor reframed a lost million dollar deal
(05:00) Why the right question is not "what's wrong with the deal" but "where in our process did the deal get stuck"
(07:00) Start on a whiteboard, not in a CRM. Run a 90 day Monday morning review before you automate anything
(09:00) Sales as a manufacturing process: you do not get a perfect widget on the first run
(10:00) Going to the gemba in sales means windshield time with your reps, not solving it from the conference room
(12:30) The qualification problem, and the 80% top-line growth that came mostly from tightening the front end
"When you think about sales, it's nothing more than a manufacturing process. Instead of manufacturing a widget, you're manufacturing a sale.""The right question is, where in our process did the deal get stuck, and try and figure out what the pattern is.""If you're selling but you're not generating volume, you're creating scrap.""The hardest discipline is really just to take your ego and put it in a drawer.""My job as a leader is to build more leaders. If I get hit by a car, I wanna have seven other people in the room that can take my job.""The discipline isn't about saying no to customization. It's about pricing it honestly and scoping it before you commit."
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Operations estimates run optimistic. Teams routinely underestimate project effort by about half, which is why experienced operators need to pressure-test the plan before it becomes the thesis.
The firm needs to speak with one voice. If management can go around the operating partner to the deal lead whenever they dislike an answer, the credibility of the CEO and ops team erodes fast. Lockstep alignment between the ops and investment sides keeps that from happening.
Lean culture starts with CEO buy-in. On a short hold, buying a new machine is always the more exciting story. Lean takes hold when the CEO treats it as a way of life, and an early Kaizen win builds the confidence to keep going.
You can't improve what you haven't measured. Many mid-market plants track little beyond revenue, cost, and on-time delivery. Bringing in help up front to install a few critical KPIs, and sharing what they uncover without playing gotcha, turns early embarrassment into engagement.
A clean balance sheet doesn't guarantee working capital. After a restructuring, lenders may not line up and the fund may be low on dry powder. Otis worked the firm's lender relationships, then specialty lenders, and finally key suppliers like Caterpillar, who helped with terms in exchange for future volume.
Automation is a quality and safety play. Reducing process variation means less material, less downtime, and less startup scrap, and it keeps hands away from lines running 700 feet per minute. Framing it that way, and sharing the gains with the operators who remain, earns the buy-in a headcount story never will.
Keep the military training and let go of the rank. Formal training in planning, decision-making, and staying calm under pressure has paid off at every stop. What Otis had to unlearn was the expectation that people act because you're the boss. In industry, results come from knowing people individually, and sometimes from making the hard call to get the right people on the bus.
Quotable Moments
"All those returns that you finger painted into the model, you probably won't reach." (Otis)
"You want to have solidarity from the firm." (Otis)
"It's a way of life. It's not just a project." (Otis)
"You can't make an improvement without having baseline data." (Otis)
"Lean manufacturing is a religion. You gotta believe in it first, and then you gotta try your best to practice it for a long time before you really start seeing the results." (Justin)
"Us manufacturing guys were kind of the first AI folks." (Otis)
"Everybody hits the door with their own set of problems." (Otis)
"We can all talk theory till we're blue in the face, but the realistic side of this is what's really important." (Otis)
Topics Covered
[00:00] Introduction and Otis's background [02:00] What it costs a portfolio company when ops isn't on equal footing with the investment team [06:30] Large-cap long-term thinking versus the PE hold period [08:30] Why management shouldn't be able to go around the operating partner [11:00] Aligning on a common philosophy, and why CapEx is an easier story than cutting waste [15:30] Quick wins, missing KPIs, and building baseline data [20:30] The "dog fight" turnaround and financing after a restructuring [28:00] Automation as a quality and safety enabler [34:30] Army lessons Otis kept and the ones he had to unlearn [42:00] Making the hard calls on people, and closing thoughts
If you enjoyed this conversation, please like, subscribe, and share the show with a friend. It really does help.
Key Takeaways
Go see, do not debate. Adam describes a plant manager and his team arguing over the location of a post on an AutoCAD drawing. Five minutes at the Gemba answered it, and revealed the post would have blocked their entire concept. Going to see cuts the time by a factor of ten and shows your people you take them seriously.
Butt ugly by Friday beats perfect by never. The goal of a Kaizen week is many rapid learning cycles, not one polished solution. Teams try, fail, learn, and try again. By Friday they have something safer and easier that they own, even if it is not pretty.
The team is the people doing the work. Adam uses only two Japanese terms all week, Kaizen and Gemba. Everything else stays plain. Post-its and Sharpies mean anyone can contribute without feeling unqualified.
Sustainability is a system, not a follow-up meeting. The Wheel of Sustainability has nine elements: leadership commitment, notification, training and review, visible evidence, all tools available, clear benefits, daily layered audits, accountability, and recognition. All nine get applied to the change during the week itself.
Notification is about why, not what. Anyone can see a workstation looks different. What matters is whether the operator can tell you why it changed and what it does for them.
Build visible evidence you can read from 30 feet. Outlines, labels, Andon lights, flags. If you cannot tell from a distance whether someone is working to standard, you cannot coach them back to it.
Audit with people, not at them. A good layered audit takes three to five minutes, checks three things together, and often surfaces the next improvement. Accountability runs both directions. Coach people back to standard, and thank the people already there.
Charter means blanket approval, not marching orders. Leaders define the problem and why solving it matters. They do not hand the team a solution. That distinction is what makes ownership possible.
Adam replaced his own framework with observable behaviors. After his marketing team told him the wheel was too abstract, he rebuilt his assessment around five things you can go watch: people become part of the change, leadership at the Gemba, owning the change, earning trust, and growing the improvement culture. Fifteen questions, and each score comes with something you can act on without calling him.
Earning trust means nothing waits. Adam needed a label printer mid-event. The maintenance manager dropped what he was doing, found one in another building, and carried it over himself. That is what leadership having your back looks like in practice.
Safety is the inarguable principle. Every Kaizen event includes a personal objective: two safety improvements per team member, demonstrated by Friday. It applies to roughly 95 percent of Adam's events regardless of scope or industry.
Safety is also the sustainability argument. Ask a sponsor whether they are willing to go back to a less safe way of working. Nobody says yes. That answer is the leverage that keeps the rest of the improvement in place.
Lean is not a toolkit. The goal is not 5S or a plan for every part. The goal is an organization that keeps learning, because the environment never stops changing. Batches shift, machines wear, people turn over. Entropy wins if you stop adding energy.
Quotable Moments
"The real solutions to business problems don't come from conference rooms. They come from the people doing the work."
"Butt ugly by Friday. Don't wait for perfection. Try something, see what you learn."
"My Gemba tolerance is about five minutes."
"I am an acquired taste."
"You can't get better if you aren't willing to learn how to get better."
"If you can't get safety right, you can't get anything right."
"Are you willing to go back to a less safe way of working? Well, what are you going to say? Sure, let's hurt more people."
"They said this really needs to be based on observable leadership behaviors. Crap. That actually makes sense."
"Stop letting perfect be the enemy of better." (Justin)
Topics Covered
How Adam structures a Kaizen week, from level setting to Friday implementation Why he limits himself to two Japanese terms and keeps everything else plain The AutoCAD post story and what it teaches about analysis paralysis Virtual Gemba and finding waste in administrative and IT processes The nine elements of the Wheel of Sustainability Why he threw out his original sustainability assessment and rebuilt it The five observable leadership behaviors that predict whether a change sticks Preparing leaders for their role before, during, and after an event Improv sessions on day three as a teaching tool Safety as a lean principle and the Armstrong journey from 4.5 to 0.28 Biggest results: bottleneck eliminations that doubled output, a $1.4 million quality check improvement Why some organizations never get there
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Lisa and Priya have known each other for roughly 20 years. Priya was Lisa's client long before they were partners.
"We look at AI as a technological investment versus an operating model." Priya Ponmudi
"They can plug AI into all that all they want, but it's not going to fix the core problem. AI is just going to make it look pretty, but it's still going to be bad data with bad processes." Lisa Moses
"It stops you from using a $2 million investment to solve a $200,000 problem." Priya Ponmudi
"Where they could get the most benefit is the non-sexy stuff, the stuff in the back office." Lisa Moses
"If you don't do that, you're just kind of lighting money on fire in a ditch." Justin Goethe
"We might all be sent back to tech school to learn to weld instead of learn to code." Justin Goethe
(03:00) The first question to ask back when a CEO says "we need AI"
(04:32) The automotive manufacturer that generated hundreds of AI ideas and no business case
(05:27) AI as an operating model, the cost / service / people framework, and computer vision on the trailer queue when safety outranks ROI
(07:33) Why fewer than six percent see a first-year return
(08:15) Process, data, and discipline problems that AI cannot solve
(08:56) Broken processes, data quality, executive ownership, and the full cost of implementation
(11:50) Justin on learning to vet the business case before writing the software
(13:16) DMAIC as the template for an AI business case
(14:32) Where AI is the wrong tool, and how to tell a client so
(15:29) Demand planning, load optimization, and container visibility: the fast wins
(18:30) Automating demand planners out of existence, and what that does to the consumer
(20:11) Tariffs at Kids2: from zero to five percent to fifty percent in a week
(22:04) The K-shaped economy and the shrinking purchasing market
(24:04) Priya on the COVID parallel and where policy may have to step in
(26:46) Data centers, the grid, the water, and separating fact from narrative
(30:12) Pricing in a 20 to 50 percent increase in AI costs over five years
(31:38) How Veritas runs an assessment before AI ever enters the conversation
Veritas Growth Consulting: global supply chain practice founded January 2026 by Lisa Moses and Priya Ponmudi
[04:00] One-piece flow & Chaku Chaku — cutting inventory, overproduction, and space by forcing flow; overcoming the "we've always done it this way" resistance
[08:00] The discipline of watching — the TPS-for-executives lesson: four hours of observation before a single suggestion
[11:00] AI & digital tools for the mid-market — what's realistic on a modest budget, why big companies already have the data, and where AI genuinely helps smaller manufacturers
[16:00] "Automate chaos and you get expensive chaos" — why you need a standard baseline before layering on technology
[18:00] Building a lean academy that lasts — training standards, defined roles (who owns the pull system?), the "is vs. should" gap, and creating a learning ladder
[24:00] Reactive vs. proactive projects — controlling the firefighting so your people have time for improvement; how thousands of small measures added up to millions in savings
[29:00] The hardest decision — deciding what you're not going to do, and the "rolling 100 days" cadence
[31:00] De-risking a big CapEx launch — high/mid/best-cost country strategies, regional supplier frameworks, and using FlexSim simulation
[34:00] The real value of simulation — it's the front-loaded questions (packaging, cycle times, operator travel), not the software; turning the "perfect" solution into a future-state value stream map
[39:00] "What do I have to do to get us in business?" — the mentor question that reshaped how Huri thinks about relationships, and why how is the question that connects people
[43:00] Include everyone — from CEO to operator, everyone has eyes and ideas; problem-finders vs. solution-finders
[45:00] Wrap-up & how to reach Huri
Key Takeaways
Shut up and watch. The first move in any turnaround is hours of silent observation on the shop floor — not ideas from the desk. The information is already there; go find it.
Standardize before you automate. AI and Industry 4.0 amplify whatever you already have. Without a standard workflow, you just get more chaos, faster.
AI gives you data and ideas — not execution. For mid-market manufacturers, the opportunity is real (often low-five-figures to start), but only if you know what you'll do with the information and who will execute.
Culture is a system, not a person. Define roles, standardize training, pair novices with experts, and build a learning ladder — so the results stick long after the champion moves on.
Deciding what not to do is the hard part. There are always more problems than people. Run improvement on a quarterly cadence — a "rolling 100 days."
The value of simulation is the questions. Front-loading the details (packaging, takt time, operator travel) before the steel is cut is what de-risks a launch — with or without the software.
Lead with "how." Ask how do we make this happen? in the right room, with the right people, and you turn execution into a team sport.
Memorable Quote
how
About the Guest
Dr. Huri Mendoza is a global operations executive and project manager with a doctorate in Business Management from Swiss International University (Zürich). His career spans senior global roles at FORVIA (Faurecia–Hella) and Balchem, and most recently Director of Operations with the private equity firm Aequita, where he led a Tier-1 automotive turnaround — reducing manufacturing footprint by 50% and eliminating 20% of non-value-added activities. A Six Sigma Black Belt and lifelong champion of continuous improvement, he has trained more than 10,000 people, run thousands of improvement projects a year, and delivered worldwide programs saving $500M+ with double-digit annual productivity gains. He is also a board advisor to an AI software startup and speaks five languages.
Operations boils down to the basics. Continuous improvement, pricing methodology, and margin analysis transfer to any manufacturer, regardless of what they make.
Process documentation is a values gap, not a cost gap. Founders often don't see the value in writing down processes — the unlock large-cap OEMs and PE both understand is that documentation is what makes a business scalable.
Buy-in beats mandates. Sharing the VCP and inviting the management team to add to it produces a more complete plan and far more ownership.
Scale creates value single plants can't see. Aggregating spend across 200+ factories — freight, insurance, tax, benefits — surfaces savings no individual company could find alone.
AI lowers the barrier to that same analysis. A standalone manufacturer can feed AP and PO data to an LLM and get spend-vs-market insight that used to require a corporate team — as long as the output is verified.
Competition drives adoption. League tables, awards, and tracked Kaizen takeaways turn best practices into implemented change — a discipline any multi-site manufacturer can copy across its own plants.
NOTABLE QUOTES
"Operations really does boil down to some of the basics when you look at it, no matter what you manufacture."
"We're basically coaches on the sideline. We're not the players on the field — and to coach effectively, you've got to understand what they're looking for."
"Nobody was looking at it in aggregate. Just shipping product out the door from our 200-plus factories is about $130 million in spend."
"You don't need me to teach you how to use AI. AI will teach you how to use AI — just start using it. The challenge is you've got to double-check its work."
"If MiddleGround companies knew what MiddleGround companies know, you would be unstoppable."
RESOURCES & MENTIONS
MiddleGround Capital — operationally focused PE firm founded in 2018; ~15 portfolio companies, 200+ factories
Lindsay Precast (Gainesville, FL) — precast concrete manufacturer and MiddleGround exit; founder Ron Lindsay
Prior episode — Bill Maroney, Freight Think (freight cost and logistics)
Prior episode — Steve Cook, LFM Capital
Referenced concepts: United Technologies / Raytheon "ACE" (Achieving Competitive Excellence); Toyota Production System; league tables; Kaizen boot camps
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(13:00) Where the cycle fits — the tactical bridge between strategy and execution
(14:30) The three workshop deliverables: value stream map, project roadmap, and project A3
(15:30) KPRs, department KPIs, and process KPIs explained
(16:30) Building the current-state map — and why it gets you into the gemba
(18:00) Value stream design: push vs. pull, supermarkets, and production leveling
(19:45) Anatomy of a project roadmap — one owner per project, always
(22:00) The KPI tree: arguably the most important tool in your lean toolbox
(25:00) Hallmarks of a strong project A3 (and why charts beat paragraphs)
(29:00) Common pitfalls that knock programs off course
(32:30) The Allied Advisors Fractional CI Manager (FCIM) program
Key Takeaways
Break work into 90-day cycles. A project due a year out gets no attention today. Ninety-day increments keep the tension on and force week-over-week progress.
Go to the gemba. The current-state map matters because it pulls you out of the conference room and onto the shop floor — where the problems are and where the solutions live.
Every CI system needs four things: a way to derive the right projects, a way to manage execution, a way to validate results, and a way to sustain standards. Miss the last two and you're left with a wish list.
The weekly roadmap meeting is where the rubber meets the road. It's the accountability engine most improvement programs are missing.
Every project gets one owner — one name, not a department. What's everyone's responsibility is no one's responsibility.
The project A3 forces clarity. A one-page document that aligns the team on scope, drives weekly follow-up, and doubles as a marketing tool at review time.
A KPI tree tells you which lever to pull. It maps the hierarchy from profit down to the shop-floor behaviors that drive it, so you know you're working on the right things.
Tools & Frameworks Mentioned
PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) — the discipline underneath the entire cycle
Value Stream Mapping — current state and future-state design
Project Roadmap — the prioritized list of 90-day projects
KPI Tree — hierarchy of key performance results, department KPIs, and process KPIs
Production leveling, supermarkets, takt time, changeover (SMED) — value stream design concepts
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Skipping the value stream map and jumping straight to initiatives — you end up solving problems that don't exist
Taking on too many priorities for the resources you have
Launching projects without a single named owner
Filling out A3s as wallpaper instead of using them to manage the work
Skipping the weekly roadmap meeting — almost a guarantee of failure
About the Fractional CI Manager Program
Allied Advisors' FCIM program helps mid-market manufacturers build a culture of continuous improvement inside the teams they already have — rather than renting expensive consultants who run projects and leave. Over a 12-month engagement, Allied comes on site four times a year to facilitate System CIP workshops, coaches teams through weekly roadmap reviews and project A3s, and mentors your people so the capability becomes self-sustaining. The goal isn't to give you a fish; it's to teach you to fish.
Connect With Justin
Have a question about anything in this episode, or want to talk through where to start? Justin would love to hear from you.
Referenced episode: The Daily Leadership Routine (for more on process validation and daily management)
If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with a colleague — it genuinely helps the show reach more manufacturers.
About the Guest Kathy Miller is President and Founder of MORE for Leaders, a keynote speaker, certified leadership coach, and business transformation advisor. Former VP of Lean Enterprise and Quality at Parker Hannifin. Author of More Is Better and co-author of Steel Toes and Stilettos.
Links
MORE for Leaders & the MORE Mentor tool: more4leaders.com
Book: More Is Better — Leading Operations with Meaning, Optimism, and Relationships for Excellence
The Allied Advisors Podcast — for mid-market manufacturers looking to scale operations and improve the bottom line.
[00:13:00] — South Carolina's OPEX (Operational Exchange) program, benchmarking trips, and why "all we know is what we know."
[00:15:00] — The Arkansas Manufacturing Showcase: an event "by manufacturers, for manufacturers" creating matchmaking and serendipitous connections across the state's ecosystem.
[00:16:00] — Good vs. great management: great managers have "seen great" — and why mistaking lean's tools for its goals leads people to throw the whole thing out.
[00:18:00] — Vision as the "beyond-the-horizon compass heading," and why involving stakeholders down to the shop floor is where commitment lives.
[00:22:00] — Keith's accessible take on vision: "If you've ever been on vacation, you've got vision."
[00:23:00] — What a real MEP engagement looks like: it starts with a listening session — pull, not push — tailored to industry, size, culture, and maturity.
[00:27:00] — Developing frontline leaders: AMS's Transformational Leadership Improvement suite, built for the operators promoted into leadership without ever being taught how to lead.
[00:29:00] — AI and legacy equipment: a phased approach starting with sensors and data, always within a bigger vision via value stream mapping.
[00:33:00] — Why planning's real value is the experiential journey the team takes together — and how that drives accountability without having to enforce it.
[00:35:00] — A friendly point of "violent agreement": why change efforts need a dedicated resource, not a shop-floor supervisor getting called 50 times a day.
[00:37:00] — How to get connected and what to expect from a first plant visit.
Quotable moments
"You either mine it, make it, or grow it."
"All we know is what we know."
"The difference in good management and great management is great management has seen great at some point in their career."
"Vision is the beyond-the-horizon compass heading that draws us forward."
"If you've ever been on vacation, you've got vision."
"The game is won and lost in the corner office, not on the shop floor."
"You don't really need to enforce accountability when people have been a part of the journey."
"The expert is anybody more than 50 miles from the plant."
"If you're not engaged with them, you're foolish not to take advantage of it."
Key takeaways for mid-market manufacturers
There's an MEP center in every state offering deeply discounted, locally delivered support — most manufacturers just don't know it exists. Lean is as relevant as ever, but it spans the whole business; most waste hides in administrative functions, not on the floor. AI's near-term payoff is largely in the office, connecting siloed systems and surfacing the critical few priorities. Any technology or improvement effort should sit inside a bigger plan — start with a value stream map. And lasting change requires two things: a clear, shared vision and a dedicated resource to drive it.
How to get connected
Visit nist.gov/mep and click "Connect with an MEP Center," or simply search "MEP center [your state]." In Arkansas, reach out to Keith directly. The best first step: invite a center representative in for a plant visit or discovery conversation, and come ready to talk about your pain points — including the "magic wand" question: if you could change one thing in the business, what would it be?
Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions (AMS) · National MEP Network · Lean 101 / Principles of Lean Manufacturing · Bill Kraus (AMS) · SCMEP OPEX (Operational Exchange) program & Mike Demos · Arkansas Manufacturing Showcase · Transformational Leadership Improvement · Chris Mennona (past guest, most-downloaded episode) · Pat Erdley, Shift HR (past guest) · Quality Digest · Taiichi Ohno / Toyota Production System
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(14:00) The four criteria that separate a real project from sales scrap
(19:00) The CEO learning curve: getting your ego out of the room when you are not the smartest person in it
(22:00) Why accountability for execution is what separates great CEOs from the rest
(23:00) Customization as an absence of commercial discipline, and the three questions that fix it
Key Takeaways
A stalled deal is diagnostic. One stuck deal is noise. A hundred deals stuck in the same stage is a pattern. Consistent deaths at the budgetary quote point to an estimating problem. Deaths at technical validation point to a sales enablement gap.
Understand the process before you buy software. Build the stage gates by hand, review every deal for 90 days, and find the patterns first. Then buy a CRM to automate a process you actually understand.
Sales time is money, and unqualified deals are scrap. Selling without generating volume is the commercial equivalent of producing scrap on the line.
Qualify against four criteria. A real project needs all four:
A compelling event forcing a decision (capacity constraint, regulatory deadline, platform launch)
Access to the economic buyer who owns the problem, not just a technical evaluator
A solution that genuinely solves the problem (if you cannot, say so and refer them, building credibility for next time)
A champion with a personal reason to want the win
The CEO's job is to build more leaders. Stop trying to be the smartest person in every room. Ask better questions, demand clarity, let your functional experts own the decisions, then hold them accountable for executing what was agreed.
Customization is not a value prop, it is often missing discipline. Push every custom request through a technical qualification gate with three questions:
Can this be built from our standard platform, or does it require genuine custom engineering?
If custom, what is the realistic hour and lead time impact, and is the customer being told that truthfully upfront?
Is the margin acceptable once real engineering hours land, or are we about to take an order that loses money?
"Leaving revenue on the table" is a myth when you say no. Every custom order that eats disproportionate engineering capacity is an order you cannot take from a better-fit customer. You are already leaving revenue on the table. You just cannot see it.
Quotable Moments
Connect
Reach out to Bill Bell at Chief Outsiders to talk through what is stalling growth in your own manufacturing business.
Subscribe to The Allied Advisors Podcast for more conversations built for mid-market manufacturers looking to scale operations and improve the bottom line.
Connect with Justin Goethe and Allied Advisors to learn how the FCIM methodology drives measurable operational results.
