This is an excellent question. It sounds like your organization is in a clutter. In this situation, it would be best to begin with a Value Stream Map (VSM). A VSM will help to identify the bottleneck (constraint on the system) operation and much of the associated wastes. Once the bottleneck has been identified it can be examined in detail and improved upon using basic IE tools such as 5S. This will likely reveal a new bottleneck for which this process can be repeated. This approach of constantly focusing efforts on the bottleneck is known as the Theory of Constraints (TOC). This should give you an effective starting point, but remember a journey of thousands of miles begins with a single step.
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