> just-in-time logistics makes businesses much more efficient Where is it written that "efficient" is the be-all-end-all for businesses? If a business can onl

> just-in-time logistics makes businesses much more efficient Where is it written that "efficient" is the be-all-end-all for businesses? If a business can only extract money but can't serve society when required, perhaps that business should be replaced by something that can? This is the whole "smoking ban" thing once again. Smokers were so much more profitable that businesses that gave them up simply couldn't compete against those who didn't. At some point, we, as a society, decided that the downsides of such businesses finally outweighed the benefits, and we changed the laws to force those businesses to change. > Carrying enough inventory to weather a shortage like recent COVID shortages would require months and months of inventory; imagine the obsolescence costs if the factory needs to make any change at all! However, we also had situations like toilet paper where the factories had capacity in the industrial sector to make toilet paper, but we couldn't transfer that to the consumer sector because every step was so hyper-optimized (rolls are larger, no ability to individually package, only able to ship pallets, etc.). So, the demand shock rippled through consumer and the supply chain had no ability to adjust upwards because they had no extra capacity. And the industrial chain that had extra capacity was so hyper-optimized that it couldn't pivot to serve the demand shock. Maximally efficient is minimally robust.