For Manufacturers, a Little Inventory is Healthy
It turns out that too much efficiency is inefficient.
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In the same way, while many U.S. manufacturers could stand to become more resource-efficient, that doesn’t mean the pursuit of leaner resource levels ought to continue indefinitely at every company. There is some healthy level of inventory, the study would argue—a healthy level of “fat,” if you will—that gives the company more freedom to respond to the rare (but inevitable) dramatic turn of events.
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