An efficient production line can still be strategically fragile if one irreplaceable part arrives late. Critical single-source components differ from items that can be bought readily from several suppliers. Keeping extra critical parts in reserve appears inefficient in peacetime accounts, but it prevents a delay at one firm from halting every later stage of production. Industrial slack has a concrete military purpose: resilience depends on identifying bottlenecks before wartime demand exposes them.
Notable Point · 57:54-58:52
Supply-chain slack protects critical production
Extra stocks of irreplaceable components keep an otherwise efficient production line from stopping when its most fragile supplier is delayed.