Implementing lean manufacturing first requires that you fully understand what lean manufacturing is.  Lean manufacturing is a broad subject aimed at elmininating waste and streamlining operations at companies across the globe.  Initially targeted specifically at manufacturers of products, of late lean manufacturing has spread its wings and moved into the service sector.  Lean is not simply a set of tools, but more a way of thinking about how to run an organization.  It focuses on right sizing everything required to be successful and making it readily apparent where everything is supposed to be.  Visual management is a key concept in lean that lends itself to allowing for the process to be self sustaining and effective.  Inventory reductions often are a key target of the process and lead to a better cash position as well as making it easier to navigate the warehouse to do the required tasks.  There are many facets of lean manufacturing that all tie together, but the process as a whole is very powerful.

So the most common question it seems is where to start when implementing lean manufacturing.  You obviously can hire a consultant to walk you through the process, which is many ways is a prudent move because while lean is targeted to be a visual, common sense approach that doesn't mean it is common sense immediately!  But assuming you want to tackle this process on your own the first place to look to is defining the goal of the implementation.  Do you wish to free up cash from inventory?  Do you wish to get more product out the door?  Perhaps you would like the quality of your process to improve.  Whatever the goal, make sure to have a clear, concise problem statement in place before undertaking any of the tasks involved with lean manufacturing.  I have seen tons of projects fail simply because they weren't scoped correctly and the key outcome was not clear to everyone involved. 

Once a clear, concise, targeted problem statement has been derived the next step to do is almost always create a value stream map of your process.  It is often great to make one of the entire process, but if that seems like too big of a task to wrap your head around start small and expand from there.  Target a subsection of your process that is known to cause issues and create a detailed value stream map of that process.  Make sure to actually walk the process and not just sit at your desk and think it up and put it to paper.  That can be a great starting point, but getting out to the masses that actually do the work and making sure that they are doing it as your value stream map suggests is imperative.  Once complete a value stream map often makes it completely obvious the areas that need attention.

Make sure to scope the area you are working on sufficienlty to ensure that you can accomplish all the tasks required.  Boiling the ocean will only lead to dead ends and subpar outcomes.  If you make your focus razor sharp the improvements are more attainable and success increases greatly.  Lean manufacturing is a great way to lead your company to the next level, just make sure you implement it in a positive, targeted way to ensure buy in and future success