Lean can be applied to all aspects of the supply chain, and should be, if the maximum benefits within the organisation are to be sustainably realised. There are many tangible benefits associated with lean business processes. A lean business process will be faster, eg. the speed of response to a request for the business process will be faster. As most business processes are linked to organisational supply chains, then this can deliver significant financial benefit to a company.

Lean thinking forces us to review the whole supply chain in which the business process sits, and this frequently reveals bottlenecks, pockets of inefficiency and waste.