For years, manufacturers have used the concept of lean to improve efficiencies in their operations. Now distributors are moving forward with their own lean initiatives - looking at ways to reduce costs by improving internal processes. In this article, a dental supplies distributor shares its experience with lean.

At the beginning, going lean seemed so simple to Chuck Cohen, president of Wilkes-Barre, PA-based Benco Dental: Assign someone to identify waste and work with employees to eliminate it.

But when some employees seemed unable to overcome the "We do that already" attitude, he realized it wasn't so simple.

"Lean is the most seductive yet complicated process I've ever been involved in," Cohen says. "It's really easy to do OK at it. It's ...