Lean Built: Manufacturing Freedom

What happens when the systems meant to make your shop more efficient start creating more complexity? Can automation be dangerous? When a system works reliably, how do you keep human checks from becoming mindless? When should something live on a checklist, and when should it simply be automated? And what happens when you keep stacking new solutions on top of problems that have...

What does a real lean shop look like when the cameras aren’t hiding the mess?

In this episode of Lean Built, Jay Pierson goes solo to break down a behind-the-scenes day at Pierson Workholding...and some of the misconceptions people have about lean manufacturing. A lean operation isn’t necessarily spotless, effortless, or perfectly optimized. Sometimes two guys wrapping ...

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...