Actually, McMaster doesn't manufacture anything, as far as I know. They are a distributor. (They tend to deliberately obscure this by refusing to tell you the b

Actually, McMaster doesn't manufacture anything, as far as I know. They are a distributor. (They tend to deliberately obscure this by refusing to tell you the brand name or actual manufacturer of any item they sell in advance.) But back to the main point. The "long tail" type of business I envision is one that manufactures one-offs, or quantities so limited that the volume demand is below the level needed to interest a distributor such as McMaster.