What does "Leaning out a process" mean?

With the success of Lean Manufacturing, it is common these days to hear people say we are Leaning out the process. But do people really understand what Leaning out means.
I have come to realize that the phrase Leaning out means different things to different people. Here is the list of some of them...
- optimizing material movement
- removing obstacles in the process
- re-arranging the area
- re-arranging people
- removing clutter
- doing more with less

Although all of the above are good interpretation of the term "leaning out". I think most people undermine the true meaning of the term which is to remove all non value added activities in a process to improve flow. But why is flow important? And above all what should flow?
I think the term "leaning out a process" is used rather loosely at all levels of the enterprise without understanding the true meaning.

Have you heard the term "Leaning out"? What thoughts come to your mind when you hear this term? Drop us a line at info@sybeq.com