What made this unprecedented supply chain disruption hit so hard and fast was the speed at which a single glitch in the production or movement of goods due to a shortage of labor or space can disrupt the supply chains crisscrossing the world.
Whether you’re delivering parts to a factory or purchases to a home, these days it will be done on a “just-in-time” basis. For example, a part ordered by an auto manufacturer from a supplier is supposed to arrive as it is needed on the assembly line rather than being stored in a stockpile. This tightly calibrated movement is designed to keep goods and money in perpetual motion. But once one link in the chain breaks, stalls, or overloads, the impact is immediate, deep, and widely felt. Just-in-time delivery is its own undoing.