An effective lean transformation eliminates more than the most obvious areas of wasted time and resource. A farsighted, lean agenda leverages a tiered enterprise architecture addressing the unique requirements of various business processes:

• Corporate level: Some processes are so critical that you must manage them at the corporate level to maintain close control and transparency
• Shared services level: Other processes, such as finance and human resources, can be consolidated across your enterprise - perhaps under a single COO-level leader.
• Division level: Some differentiating processes require decentralized management to be effective. These include sales and marketing, manufacturing, supply chain, and others depending on your specific business.

A leaner operation, driven by optimized processes at every level, will pay out immediate cost reductions and ultimately improve your competitiveness in a recovering economy.