Which of the following is generally considered to initiate a lean manufacturing pull system of...

A lean pull system is initiated by customer needs , so C is correct. In lean thinking, production should be pulled by actual downstream demand rather than pushed by internal production targets or forecasts. Option A is wrong because production output is the result of the system, not the demand signal that initiates it. If production output becomes the driver, the organization risks overproduction, excess inventory, poor flow, and hidden quality problems. Option B is also wrong as the best answer. Sales forecasting is useful for capacity planning and longer-term resource decisions, but a pull system is not primarily triggered by forecasted demand; it responds to real customer or downstream consumption signals. In CRL’s WEM domain, this matters because maintenance and work execution must support flow, availability, and value delivery rather than merely maximizing local activity. The Lean Enterprise Institute defines pull production as production control where downstream activities signal their needs to upstream activities, with the aim of eliminating overproduction. That confirms customer need or downstream demand as the initiating driver.