Many people think that lean is only for high-volume manufacturers.  However, the Toyota Production System was born out of low-volume requirements; that fact should put to rest this false assumption about lean.  Lean is about finding ways to eliminate all forms of waste from an organization such that the customer is satisfied and profits and cash flow are increased.  Lean can be applied to any organization: from high volume manufacturers to hospitals to restaurants to insurance companies.  This is because just about every organization has these basic requirements: