Lean Blog Interviews

Jeff Liker was guest number three on this podcast back in August 2006. He has been back seven times since, which makes him one of the most frequent guests in the show's history. For this episode, I pulled clips from across those eight conversations, going back almost twenty years. What stood out on the relisten was how much hasn't changed. The lean tools are better known now. There are more books, more case studies, more conferences. The deeper thing Jeff was naming in 2006 - that companies want the words without the work - is the same thing he is still saying in 2026. These aren't his greatest hits. They are the ideas that keep showing up. In this episode, Jeff talks about: The two percent problem: why so few companies have deeply implemented TPS as a system, even after decades of trying How long real transformation takes when Toyota opens a brand new plant under ideal conditions (hint: it isn't fourteen weeks) Why "picking and choosing" lean practices often reinforces the existing management system instead