Just-In-Time: The Buffer Was Hiding Something
Cutting inventory frees a lot of cash. The original reason for cutting it was different — stock conceals late suppliers and broken machines, and removing it forces them into view.
Topic
Inventory Management
Supply Chain and Logistics: The Ocean Is Cheap, the Doorstep Is Not
Crossing an ocean can cost less per item than the final eight kilometres. Once you see logistics as handling events rather than distance covered, most of the field makes sense.
Antifragility: The Things That Get Better When You Drop Them
We label parcels 'fragile' but have no word for the opposite — not strong, which survives shocks unchanged, but something that improves because of them. Your muscles are the everyday example.
The Amplification of Panic: The Bullwhip Effect and Supply Chain Volatility
A five percent shift in consumer demand stopped the world's car factories. The distortion happens on the way upstream — and it is entirely rational at every step.
Black Swan Events: The Model Was Never the Problem
Every observed swan was white until Australia. No amount of confirming evidence establishes a universal rule — and the most confident moment is often the one just before the record breaks.
Margin of Safety: Building for the Estimate Being Wrong
A bridge expecting ten tonnes is built to hold fifty. The extra capacity will likely never be used — and it is not there for unusual lorries. It is there because the calculations might be wrong.