Gemba Academy Podcast: Lean Six Sigma | Toyota Kata | Productivity | Leadership GA 616 | Teaching Lean with Noah Waech
Jan 22, 2026
Noah Waech, a continuous improvement practitioner with a rich background in manufacturing and education, shares his insights on teaching Lean and Six Sigma. His passion for Value Stream Mapping shines as he describes hands-on experiments that engage and transform learners. Noah recounts his rewarding experiences in teaching and mentoring, and tackles strategies for engaging skeptics in the workplace. He emphasizes the importance of setting high expectations to inspire growth and improvement among teams.
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Unseen Waste Is The Biggest Risk
- The most dangerous waste is the waste we do not recognize, a quote Noah Waech highlights from Shigeo Shingo.
- If people can see waste, they will naturally work to eliminate it, so teaching detection is key.
Proving Single-Piece Flow With A Live Test
- As a new engineer, Noah showed operators a single-piece-flow video and then tested the method on the line with a live hour-by-hour experiment.
- After running the experiment for a full shift, the crew converted because the one-piece flow produced more packages and proved sustainable.
Train Owners To Sustain Improvements
- Teach people to do improvements, not just implement changes for them, so the gains become sustainable when you leave.
- Involve process owners directly so they own and maintain improvements over time.
