ABSTRACT
In Lean manufacturing terminology, a monument is a large, inflexible piece of equipment that sits in the middle of the plant. The implementation partner was very resistant to learning anything new about Lean supply chain design and was firmly pushing traditional, non-Lean supply chain best practices onto the customer because it was part of their rapid implementation methodology. Lean thinking can clearly enhance the value of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) selection and implementation. Lean thinking can mitigate some of the challenges that arise when attempting to modify or add to an existing COTS ecosystem. Depending on the operating model, the decision may be in favor of local diversity, where the COTS system must manage greater complexity. In other cases, it may be in favor of standardization, which makes the COTS system easier to manage but requires often painful concessions at the local business level.
