Lean operation -finding ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency by improving internal processes -is not a new concept. Companies, starting with Toyota, began exploring the idea more than half a century ago, according to the Lean Enterprise Institute. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that most U.S. manufacturers began recognizing how the process could help them. And it’s taken roughly 20 years for many distributors to follow suit.
 
Chuck Cohen, president of Benco Dental, attributes the hesitancy of U.S. companies to embrace lean operations on the simple fact that we are a Big Gulp society”-we’re looking for the one thing that will slake our thirst instead of realizing that the best results may actually come in smaller packages.
 
“We have to stop asking ourselves …