Ryan Tierney of Lean Made Simple, Seating Matters, and Sperrin Metal, Tom Hughes of GembaDocs, and Brian Meyers of Fat American Manufacturing gathered for an extended Q&A session at Gemba Summit 2025.

The panel shared their key takeaways from the two-day event – Tom emphasized the value of informal conversations between sessions, Ryan highlighted the bold visions people are taking home (making Germany the next Ireland, transforming the hospitality industry), and Brian reflected on Russell Watkins’ insight about learning to see and appreciate progress before becoming critical.

The audience asked about future Summits (overwhelming enthusiasm for next year, possibly needing a bigger venue!), scaling lean into new industries like hospitality and the public sector, and how to maintain connections after the event.

The panel discussed how lean spreads to new sectors through passionate individuals who become exemplars – like Jane Wilkinson aiming to make her hotel the world-leading example of lean in hospitality, or Putra Kamaro implementing lean in Ontario’s public sector despite political headwinds.

Ryan closed with heartfelt thanks to the Seating Matters team for creating the structure that allowed him to focus on Sperrin Metal, emphasizing that sometimes you have to let things go to move forward. He declared that Sperrin Metal is going to be “the biggest, best lean transformation that the world has ever seen” and they’re just at the beginning.

Visit the Lean Cave at https://gembadocs.com/learn/ to read the full post or watch other sessions from Gemba Summit 2025.