Paul Vallely of Kukoon delivered one of the most practical and honest presentations at Gemba Summit 2025 about integrating AI with lean thinking. Seven years into their lean journey after visiting Seating Matters in 2018, Paul openly shared what Kukoon still needs to improve - including bringing back a second morning meeting in January because reducing to one weekly meeting had failed to transfer lean knowledge to new team members, creating an embarrassingly large gap between experienced and new people.

His AI guidance was refreshingly direct and came in three phases: First, use ChatGPT for everything at every opportunity - it costs $30/month and teaches you how to become a better prompter through feedback loops. Second, invest heavily in automation capabilities through scripts and coding. Kukoon built a three-person business improvement team that created exponential time savings, reaching 150 hours saved monthly for less than 40 hours of input by month 12. The key is "slow is smooth and smooth is fast" - create subject matter experts, give them time to learn, and focus on maximum returns rather than easy wins. Third, proceed with extreme caution on big-ticket AI platforms.

After extensive research and investing £60,000 annually in two AI platforms, Paul's assessment was blunt: "There's a lot of snake oil being sold." Many companies are just ChatGPT with good connectors charging tens of thousands for $30 worth of capability.

He gave it 50/50 odds they'd still use either platform next year. His overall message: embrace AI learning, build automation skills, but be very skeptical of expensive platforms that promise more than ChatGPT can already deliver.

Key Takeaways:

• Be transparent about what needs improvement - Kukoon is adding back an additional morning meeting and formal Kaizen targets after realizing knowledge transfer wasn't happening
• Use ChatGPT for everything - every question, analysis, comparison, especially things you think it can't help with
• ChatGPT has become exceptional at teaching better prompting through feedback loops - tell it why answers aren't right
• Invest in building automation capabilities with Google Apps Scripts, Python, and Power Automate - create integrated systems
• "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast" - automation has steep learning curves but exponential returns once mastered
• Create subject matter experts within your team and give them dedicated time to learn and test
• Focus on maximum returns, not easy wins - determine where automation creates most value across entire business
• For big AI platform investments, require ROI in under two years because technology moves so fast top solutions become obsolete quickly
• Proceed with extreme caution - many AI companies are selling "snake oil," charging tens of thousands for ChatGPT with connectors
• Even manufacturing-heavy businesses have opportunities - everyone else is moving data around, and automating that benefits accuracy, efficiency, and service

Speaker Details

• Name: Paul Vallely
• Company: Kukoon
• Website: www.kukoonrugs.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/paulvallely-kukoon/

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