Lean manufacturing is most concerned with which one of the following?

Lean manufacturing primarily focuses on reducing waste in all forms throughout a process. The core principle of lean is to enhance efficiency by identifying and eliminating non-value-added activities or resources that do not contribute to the final product or service. This includes minimizing excess inventory, reducing waiting times, and streamlining processes to create more value with fewer resources.

While reducing people, eliminating bottlenecks, and improving employee satisfaction are important aspects of overall operational efficiency and productivity, they do not encapsulate the fundamental goal of lean manufacturing as effectively as reducing waste does. In lean practices, waste can take various forms, including overproduction, defects, unnecessary motion, and underutilized talent, among others. By concentrating on waste reduction, organizations can improve their processes while potentially also achieving benefits such as lowering costs and increasing value to customers.