Grasp the impact of the organization and culture on supply chain process design and operation.
This can be overlooked as a factor in achieving or not achieving lean.

Analyze the effect of continuing external events, such as Homeland Security activities or imports, on lead times and on lean dynamics.

Calculate the risks of the lean supply chain. Reducing inventory frees up capital; reducing time improves the cash-to-cash cycle. However reducing inventory, without a properly designed process, removes the comfortable feeling that accompanies excess inventory and can expose you to the risk of lost sales.

Observe the effect that time has on inventory and on an effective process.

Assess where standardization is feasible and where customizing to specific customer requirements is needed.

Demand supplier performance. It is vital to a lean supply chain operation.

Measure the present process as total cycle time, costs and inventory (both in dollars and units) and inventory turns.

Integrate the supply chain. Breaks in the flow, both internal and external, can be pockets of waste.

Identify non-value added activities, their effect and their cause.

Rationalize the process.

Improve the process to drive change.

Streamline the process for unnecessary complexity as well as unnecessary suppliers and service providers.

Incorporate technology, such as supply chain execution technology, as part of the process improvement.

It is an enabler. Understand where standard ERP and other software may, or may not, enable a lean supply chain.

Use technology that includes event management and exception management to enhance management and control.
Supply chain complexity increases the need for event and exception management technology and capability.
Event management focuses on a key event(s) that must happen for process or transaction success. Exception management focuses on exceptions to what is expected instead of having to look at everything.

Know that technology cannot overcome process flaws.

Involve your people—employees, suppliers, service providers—to provide input on present supply chain effectiveness and improvements.

Recognize the viability of outsourcing as a driver of needed changes. Proper outsourcing can provide people, process and technology that may otherwise not be readily available.

Probe for uncertainties that create inventory and other waste. Forecasting accuracy is one area of opportunity.

Make the supply chain visible; recognize that blind spots can be areas of wast

Collaborate with suppliers. It is a requirement, not an option; and it is a two-way exchange.

Investigate reasons why product does not flow in a more consistent and predictable manner. Order and shipment releases from suppliers, for example, can create inbound flows that mitigate time and inventory buffers.

Position inventories at the proper stores and distribution centers. The right inventory at the wrong facility can result in inter-facility transfers that add time and extra transport costs and can delay customer order deliveries.

This is a non-value added action that generates waste.
 

Be open to the changes necessary for the creation of a lean supply chain. From technology, such as WMS, to a completely redesigned process, significant change can be expected.

Include change management in your lean program requirements.