LeadershipLeanManufacturingpodcast

GA 058 | Fueling Your Lean Journey with Rick Egelin

By Ron Pereira Updated on July 19th, 2021

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Today’s guest is Rick Egelin, CEO of Fireblast, a fascinating company that builds fire training facilities. Rick and I discussed the company’s recent lean implementation, what’s going well, and what challenges they have faced. An MP3 version of this episode is available for download here.

In this episode you’ll learn:

  • What Fireblast is all about (2:15)
  • Rick’s background and how he first discovered lean (4:13)
  • A quote that inspires Rick (11:01)
  • How Rick introduced lean at Fireblast (12:55)
  • The hardest part of Fireblast’s lean journey so far (16:21)
  • Two of Fireblast’s continuous improvement success stories (22:00)
  • Fireblast’s goals for the future (25:11)
  • The advice Rick would give his past self (27:09)
  • What “Respect for People” means to Rick (28:35)
  • The best advice Rick has ever received (29:59)
  • Rick’s personal productivity habit (31:56)
  • What has surprised Rick in his last year of practicing lean (32:29)
  • What Rick does to recharge and refocus (33:24)
  • The skill Rick feels he needs to improve (34:38)
  • Rick’s final words of wisdom (35:47)

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