slack is a luxury in supply chains

see also: LLMs · Model Behavior

Port backlogs in 2020 made me realize we built logistics systems that assume zero buffer. Every ship that waited off LA was a reminder that slack equals survival.

context + claim

Efficiency fetishism gutted redundancy. When Port Congestion Squeeze hit, we had no flex—no extra cranes, no spare containers, no workforce reserves.

risk surface

• Lean inventories sound smart until a single week of delays ripples through retail.
• Financial incentives still reward “turns” over resilience.
• Governments only notice supply chains when they break, making policy reactive.

my take

I now evaluate vendors by their slack. Any partner that can’t prove surge capacity is a risk, no matter their price.

linkage

linkage tree

• tags
  • #logistics
  • #strategy
  • #2020
• related
  • [[Port Congestion Squeeze]]

ending questions

What slack metrics should procurement teams demand before they sign multi-year contracts?