Regarding small, batch-oriented manufacturing; I am sure you're right that spreadsheets are better suited for that domain. But there are plenty of moderately-si

Regarding small, batch-oriented manufacturing; I am sure you're right that spreadsheets are better suited for that domain. But there are plenty of moderately-sized, batch-oriented factories or continuous-flow manufacturers that are using spreadsheets as well, and I don't think the technique is nearly as well suited there. To clarify, my problem isn't with spreadsheets as a tool in general: my problem is that spreadsheets are powerful enough to do this particular job even for larger factories, but not powerful enough to do it without quickly becoming 10,000 layers of accreted, fossilized spaghetti. If the process is illegible to everyone who manages the factory, using the spreadsheet is akin to divination by tea leaves: dump your numbers into the sheet and hope that you can interpret the right action from it. Restated: it seems to me that spreadsheets are often taken well-past their limits as an effective tool in the management of factories, and nobody seems to notice that its happening until its too late.