These days, it seems everyone's going lean, and it's easy to see why. Done right, employing lean principles helps manufacturers continuously cut non-value-added activities from their processes and begin producing goods according to true customer demand. Get that down, and your company can thrive.

But what if your company hasn't yet gotten the religion, and your management is clueless or skeptical? You're in luck, one of the central tenets of lean is thoughtful empowerment of the people closed to the process -- that would be you.

With just a little knowledge and a few ideas, you can get going on your own lean projects. Once you knock off some improvements -- reducing machine changeovers or eliminating a chronic defect, for example -- you just might attract the big boss's attention. You might even save your company and your own job.

Make no mistake. Lean initiatives must be driven from the top of the company. When they fail, they fail because senior management is unable to make them stick. "This is not a grass roots thing. Ultimately, management has to buy in," says Drew Locher, principal at Change Management Associates (Mount Laurel, NJ) and co-author of "The Complete Lean Enterprise" (Productivity Press, 2004).

But you have to start somewhere. "You can demonstrate what can be done and maybe some high-level person will come by and get interested," says James Womack, founder and president of the Lean Enterprise Institute (Brookline, MA).

The key is to choose one or two self-contained projects that do not touch too many other processes -- you need to start small, especially if you don't have express permission to try out lean. The scope should be limited -- don't try to re-do anything that affects other divisions or processes.

It's also a good idea to read a book or two (Womack's "Lean Thinking" is considered a lean Bible; click here for additional online resources).

Some good lean starter techniques include:

• Do the 5Ss (sort, set in order, standardize, shine, sustain). 5S sounds complicated, but basically what it boils down to is fixing up your work area and finding a place for everything and everything in its place. "You sort out what you really don't need and get it out of there in a midnight trip to the dumpster. Then you figure out where things should go and how you will keep them in place," says Womack. You won't make your company rich with this one, but you just might make your work area more workable.

• Work on standard work. The official lean term for this is "kaizen". Kaizen is the heart of lean philosophy, and it means to make continuous process improvements. When you're trying to use some lean techniques without management approval, you can still do kaizen "events" (in which you break apart each tiny process and question whether each step is essential). "You say, is there a better way to do this? Can we make the job easier?" says Womack. Just make sure you narrow the scope of the event so it is contained to your area. You'll stay out of trouble that way.