The Allied Advisors Podcast

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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

Resources & Links

Otis Spencer Jr. on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/otis-spencer-jr-0763a563/
Concepts discussed: Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control (SPC), Deming, OEE

Connect With Allied Advisors

Website: alliedadvisors.io
Email: [email protected]

If you enjoyed this conversation, please like, subscribe, and share the show with a friend. It really does help.

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.

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

Resources & Links

The Wheel of Sustainability by Adam Lawrence - Click Here
Process Improvement Partners: http://www.pi-partners.com
Click Here for Adam's sustainability assessment: 15 questions built on observable leadership behaviors
Connect with Adam Lawrence on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-t-lawrence/

Connect With Allied Advisors

The Allied Advisors Podcast is the podcast for mid-market manufacturers looking to scale operations and improve that ever important bottom line.

Website: alliedadvisors.io Email: [email protected]

If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with a friend. It helps us reach more people and support others on their manufacturing journeys.

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.

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.

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
• Nitro Supply Chain Solutions: Priya Ponmudi, partner
  • https://www.nitrosupplychain.com/
• LinkedIn: Lisa Moses: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-moses-385aba8/
• LinkedIn: Priya Ponmudi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-ponmudi-8831b47/
• Mentioned: prior Allied Advisors episode with Winfred Rocksteiner on the automation of demand planning
  • https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-allied-advisors-podcast/id1833287030?i=1000732961761

Have a question or want to talk about scaling your operation? Justin would love to hear from you.

• Email: [email protected]
• Web: alliedadvisors.io
• Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube

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"
• [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

1. 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.
2. Standardize before you automate. AI and Industry 4.0 amplify whatever you already have. Without a standard workflow, you just get more chaos, faster.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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."
6. 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.
7. 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

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.

Connect with Dr. Huri Mendoza

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-huri-mendoza-1017823/
• Email: [email protected]

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 creation
05:30 — The PE stigma: why the "they just bring money" perception is unearned in industrials
08:00 — The Value Creation Plan (VCP): sharing the plan post-close and opening the canvas to build buy-in
10:30 — Culture integration: PE-owned vs. first-time founder companies; the Lindsay Precast success story
13:30 — People are people: change management from the shop floor to the boardroom, and the red hose lesson
17:00 — Portfolio-wide value creation: the $130M freight spend across 200+ factories and a 20% / $26M target
20:00 — Hidden leaks beyond freight: insurance, tax, tariff recovery, and consolidating renewal dates
24:00 — AI & Claude in the real world: plugging into ERP/AP data for spend visibility — and double-checking the work
29:00 — Capturing tribal knowledge: the 30-year toolmaker's drawings fed into an LLM for the next generation
31:00 — League tables & conferences: OpEx, Sales & Purchasing, and CEO/CFO conferences that drive healthy competition
35:00 — 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 out
42:00 — Closing thoughts: "MiddleGround is Bosch" — delivering value at scale

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• 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
• Rick Brawn on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/operatingpartner/
• 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

Enjoyed this conversation? Like, subscribe, and share The Allied Advisors Podcast with a friend.

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
• (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
• Project A3 — one-page project management tool (background/business case, current state, future state, approach, metrics)
• 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.

• Email: [email protected]
• Web: https://alliedadvisors.io/podcast
• 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.

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 explained
10:45 — Supervisors thrown to the wolves: the colleague-to-boss gap
13:00 — Starting with Meaning: connecting work to purpose
17:00 — Lean transformation, BHAGs & overcoming resistance
21:30 — More Is Better: an overview of the new book
23:30 — Under-investing in frontline leaders
24:15 — MORE Mentor: Coach Kathy in your pocket
27:30 — The biggest people opportunity for mid-market manufacturers
31:00 — Respect for people & securing the future

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
• Book: Steel Toes and Stilettos
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathy-miller-mapp-mba-acc/

The Allied Advisors Podcast — for mid-market manufacturers looking to scale operations and improve the bottom line.

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.
• [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?

Connect with Keith

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-gammill-gpcc-6b7b661/

Email: [email protected]

Mentioned in this episode

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

Enjoyed this episode? Like, subscribe, and share it with a fellow manufacturer. Help us reach more mid-market manufacturers looking to scale operations, improve the bottom line, and keep manufacturing strong in the USA.

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
• (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:

1. A compelling event forcing a decision (capacity constraint, regulatory deadline, platform launch)
2. Access to the economic buyer who owns the problem, not just a technical evaluator
3. A solution that genuinely solves the problem (if you cannot, say so and refer them, building credibility for next time)
4. 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:

1. Can this be built from our standard platform, or does it require genuine custom engineering?
2. If custom, what is the realistic hour and lead time impact, and is the customer being told that truthfully upfront?
3. 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.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williambellsr/

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.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-goethe-35b85a16/

What if the single biggest lever for unlocking capacity on your shop floor isn't a new piece of equipment, a new ERP system, or a costly consultant — it's a discipline most mid-market manufacturers have never even considered hiring for?

In this episode of the Allied Advisors Podcast, Justin sits down with Dr. Thorsten Wuest, full professor of mechanical engineering and founding program director of the brand-new Industrial Engineering program at the University of South Carolina's Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing. Dr. Wuest arrived in Columbia in August 2024 with a mandate that would make most academics sweat: build a world-class IE program from scratch in a single semester. In one year, the program grew from 19 students to 66 — with another 30–40% growth projected — because, as it turns out, industrial engineering is the single most requested major from South Carolina employers that USC wasn't offering.

Dr. Wuest is also the founding director of USC's new Center for Industry Solutions, designed to close the gap between academic research and real-world manufacturing — with a particular focus on giving mid-market companies access to the kind of engineering talent that only the Fortune 500 could previously afford. His advisory board already includes the CTO of Scout Motors, the head of engineering from Mercedes-Benz, and representation from Siemens. He has been named one of SME's 20 Most Influential Professors in Smart Manufacturing and has authored over 180 peer-reviewed articles.

This is a conversation Justin has been wanting to have for a long time, and it delivers.

What We Cover in This Episode

The IE talent gap hiding in plain sight. Industrial engineering is the most-requested major from South Carolina employers — yet most high school students have never heard of it. Dr. Wuest breaks down why IE remains a "hidden major" and what USC is doing to change that, including a strategic partnership with Glimpse to better educate school advisors across the state.

The ROI of a single industrial engineer. Justin shares a story you'll want to write down: one client increased production output by 80% using nothing more than a Process FMEA (PFEP) and some combines — a strictly industrial engineering project that drove millions in additional monthly revenue. Dr. Wuest echoes this with his own firsthand example: just one hour walking a mid-sized manufacturer's shop floor surfaced improvement opportunities that would pay back in weeks, not years. The savings don't stop at throughput — better routing and layout also reduce forklift crossings, lower accident risk, and can even reduce insurance premiums over time.

Why your operations team will never solve this problem. You don't ask your shift supervisors how the process standards are coming along — you ask them how many parts came off the line. Justin and Dr. Wuest dig into why improvement work will always fall to the bottom of the pile unless you dedicate a resource to it, and why that resource pays for itself fast when given the right support and direction.

Change management is the real barrier. Mid-market hesitancy around hiring industrial engineers often isn't really about the salary — it's about what an IE's recommendations actually require: organizational change. Dr. Wuest and Justin discuss why proactive change (on your timeline, with your resources) is almost always cheaper and less painful than reactive change forced by a crisis.

How to start small: co-ops, capstones, and student consulting. Not ready for a full-time IE hire? Dr. Wuest makes the case for starting with a co-op or a structured student consulting project through the Center for Industry Solutions. These aren't ordinary class projects — they're interdisciplinary teams of competitively selected, paid students from IE, supply chain, and finance, supervised by professional staff and faculty, executing semester-long engagements run like real consulting engagements. Manufacturers get consulting-grade deliverables at a fraction of the cost. Students get real shop floor experience — and employers get an extended job interview with their best future candidates. The onboarding cost savings alone may justify the engagement.

USC's Center for Industry Solutions: a new front door for manufacturers. Dr. Wuest walks through the three pillars of the Center — workforce readiness, talent retention, and industry-university connectivity — and explains how it functions as a matchmaking service for the whole breadth of what the Molinaroli College has to offer, from student consulting projects to full-scale applied research partnerships. He also details how the Center is working to dramatically reduce the legal friction that typically slows university-industry collaboration to a crawl.

AI in engineering education: use it wisely, or pay for it later. Dr. Wuest has spent the last 10–15 years in machine learning research, so this isn't a surface-level conversation. He and Justin explore USC's proactive, transparency-first AI policy, the risk of students outsourcing their critical thinking before they've ever developed it, and why the analogy holds: if you never work as a junior coder, you can never become a senior one. The best use of AI — as Justin puts it — is as an "efficiency multiplier" for professionals who already have the foundational knowledge to evaluate and direct its output. You can't get there without doing the hard work first.

Retaining talent in the Palmetto State. South Carolina's $3,000 internship incentive is a start, but the real retention play is giving students meaningful, challenging work with employers who treat them as intellectual contributors — not just cheap labor. Dr. Wuest lays out the chicken-and-egg dynamic driving engineering talent out of the Southeast, why that is beginning to reverse, and what Scout Motors' move toward Charlotte signals about the region's trajectory.

Key Takeaways

• Industrial engineering is the most-requested major from South Carolina employers — and one of the highest-ROI hires a mid-market manufacturer can make.
• A dedicated IE resource is the only way to ensure process improvement actually becomes someone's first priority.
• One hour of structured shop floor observation can surface savings that pay back in weeks.
• Co-ops and student consulting through USC's Center for Industry Solutions offer a low-risk, high-value on-ramp for manufacturers who aren't ready for a full-time hire.
• AI is a powerful efficiency multiplier — but only for professionals who have already done the hard work of developing foundational expertise.
• The Southeast's talent retention problem is solvable, but it requires proactive investment from both universities and employers.

About Our Guest

Dr. Thorsten Wuest is a full professor of mechanical engineering and the founding program director of the Industrial Engineering program at the University of South Carolina's Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing. He is also the founding director of USC's Center for Industry Solutions. Dr. Wuest is one of SME's 20 Most Influential Professors in Smart Manufacturing and the author of over 180 peer-reviewed articles. His research sits at the intersection of smart manufacturing, machine learning, and industrial AI.

📧 Contact Dr. Wuest: [email protected] 🌐 Center for Industry Solutions: [sc.edu — search "Center for Industry Solutions"]

Connect with the Allied Advisors Podcast

If you're a mid-market manufacturer looking to scale operations and improve your bottom line, this show was built for you. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and if this episode resonated, share it with an operations leader who's been putting off that first industrial engineering hire.