About GembaDocs
Bringing calm and productive flow to workplaces around the globe.
Where it started
Tom Hughes spent years working in and around manufacturing, helping teams improve quality and get production running more consistently.
The same problem kept showing up. Procedures were either missing, outdated, or written in a way no operator would actually follow. Nobody could find the right version. Nobody was keeping things current. Work was being done from memory, and every new starter had to figure it out from scratch.
He could not find a tool that fixed it properly. So he built one.
The first GembaDocs were created to solve a documentation problem at Lumen Electronics. They worked. Other teams saw them and wanted the same thing.
What started as a practical fix for one facility has grown into a platform used by frontline manufacturing teams around the world.
The problem it was built to solve has not changed. Neither has the approach.
Culture
Mission
Empowering workforces to thrive, ours and yours.
Values
Lean
Lean is the heartbeat of our culture, platform, and organization.
We are dedicated to helping customers add value and eliminate waste through continuous improvement.
Empowered
Our success is inseparable from our customers’ success.
We deliver tools and training that empower workforces to perform with confidence, precision, and excellence.
Excellence
Inspiring excellence within our team and our customers’ workforces.
We strive for exceptional support, exceed expectations, and deliver outstanding results – celebrating and rewarding success at every step.
Founder
Tom Hughes
With decades of hands-on experience in manufacturing, Tom possesses a deep, practical understanding of the challenges organizations face in achieving operational excellence.
A passionate advocate for empowering frontline workers and driving continuous improvement, Tom delivers value-driven solutions that tackle real-world challenges head-on. His passion has led him to author two books, including Improvement Starts With I.
Team
Lean and mighty
More than half the GembaDocs team has worked on a manufacturing shop floor. We know the problems our customers face because most of us have faced them too.
We stay small on purpose. A small team moves faster, stays closer to the people using the product, and has to be disciplined about what actually matters. We apply the same lean thinking to how we run the business as we help customers apply on their production floors.
Recognition
GembaDocs was shortlisted for the BQF Excellence in Continuous Improvement award
The nomination was not for a one-off initiative. It was for the way the whole business operates day to day.
Continuous improvement at GembaDocs is not a program or a quarterly theme. It is built into how the team works. Every team member is trusted to identify and act on improvements without needing approval for the small stuff. Bigger changes go through a visible, trackable review process so nothing disappears without explanation.
In a single 90-day period, the team completed 120 formal improvement actions – an average of one every four days – with a four-person core team and no headcount increase. 91% of shared improvements generated a peer reaction. 63% started a direct conversation.
We help manufacturers build this kind of discipline on their shop floors. We run it ourselves because we know it works.
G2
Rated by the people who actually use it - 19 G2 awards in 2026.
