Bob Melvin, VP of Engineering at Teledyne Marine Systems, shares his passion for lean product development and his early experiences practicing it. He discusses his career progression and the challenges of remote team communication. The importance of innovation, collaborative dialogue, and building a cohesive team are also highlighted.
Lean product development principles can be implemented without realizing it, emphasizing the importance of testing and challenging assumptions in the design process.
Success in engineering requires building cohesive teams, asking the right questions, and maintaining a deep understanding of customer needs and technical knowledge.
Deep dives
Overview of Teladine Marine Systems
Bob Melbourne, VP of Engineering at Teladine Marine Systems, discusses the products and innovations of the company. They specialize in autonomous vehicles for the marine industry, such as underwater gliders that can navigate long distances and underwater vehicles for tasks like oil and gas inspection. Additionally, they have surface boats for quick inspections and even equipment for inspecting containers like k-cups for quality assurance.
Bob Melbourne's Lean Product Development Journey
Bob Melbourne shares his journey in lean product development, starting with his early experiences of using lean principles without realizing it. He highlights the importance of testing and challenging assumptions before finalizing designs. Bob's career transitioned from being primarily an engineer to focusing on building cohesive teams and a strong process. He emphasizes the need to ask the right questions and ensure a deep understanding of customer needs and necessary technical knowledge to make informed decisions.
Lessons Learned in Remote Collaboration and Innovation
Bob Melbourne reflects on the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with remote collaboration and adopting various communication tools like Zoom and Teams. He acknowledges the need for standardization and finding the right balance between leveraging technology and maintaining effective processes. Bob emphasizes the importance of driving innovation and making the best decisions while also keeping in touch with the technology and continuously learning and adapting to new circumstances.
This episode features Bob Melvin, Vice President of Engineering at Teledyne Marine Systems.
Here, he shares his passion for lean and how he started practicing lean product development principles early on in his career and didn’t know back then that it was called lean.
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode