Thanks to this post by Bruce Hamilton (aka "Toast Guy" or "Old Lean Dude"), I was reminded of the old General Motors effort, spearheaded by then-CEO Roger Smith (of "Roger&Me" fame), to fully automate car factories. Their concept was the "lights-out factory" that could run without people (other than a security guard).GM invested $90 BILLION dollars over 10 years in this quixotic (if not foolhardy) quest. The robots often famously painted each other instead of painting cars, as described in this book:

http://leanblog.org/audio148

Thanks to this post by Bruce Hamilton (aka "Toast Guy" or "Old Lean Dude"), I was reminded of the old General Motors effort, spearheaded by then-CEO Roger Smith (of "Roger&Me" fame), to fully automate car factories. Their concept was the "lights-out factory" that could run without people (other than a security guard).GM invested $90 BILLION dollars over 10 years in this quixotic (if not foolhardy) quest. The robots often famously painted each other instead of painting cars, as described in this book: http://leanblog.org/audio148

Thanks to this post by Bruce Hamilton (aka "Toast Guy" or "Old Lean Dude"), I was reminded of the old General Motors effort, spearheaded by then-CEO Roger Smith (of "Roger&amp;Me" fame), to fully automate car factories. Their concept was the "lights-out factory" that could run without people (other than a security guard).GM invested $90 BILLION dollars over 10 years in this quixotic (if not foolhardy) quest. The robots often famously painted each other instead of painting cars, as described in this book:

http://leanblog.org/audio148

GM's CEO Roger Smith Thought Toyota Had Magic,

Lean Blog Audio is a short-form podcast featuring audio versions of articles from LeanBlog.org, written, read, and expanded by Mark Graban.

Each episode explores practical Lean thinking, psychological safety, continuous improvement, and leadership—through real-world examples from healthcare, manufacturing, startups, and other complex work environments.

Topics include learning from mistakes, reducing fear and blame, improving systems, and using data thoughtfully through tools like Process Behavior Charts. Episodes often go beyond the original blog post, adding fresh context and reflections fo

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Lean Blog Audio is a short-form podcast featuring audio versions of articles from LeanBlog.org, written, read, and expanded by Mark Graban. Each episode explores practical Lean thinking, psychological safety, continuous improvement, and leadership—through real-world examples from healthcare, manufacturing, startups, and other complex work environments. Topics include learning from mistakes, reducing fear and blame, improving systems, and using data thoughtfully through tools like Process Behavior Charts. Episodes often go beyond the original blog post, adding fresh context and reflections fo

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GM's CEO Roger Smith Thought Toyota Had Magic,

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