The widespread adoption of just-in-time supply chains has been identified as an example of excessive optimisation, according to a letter published on 13 November 2026. These systems, designed to minimise expenditure, reduced costs and improved efficiency by eliminating inventories and spare capacity.
However, this approach reportedly transferred those savings into risks that remained unseen until disruptions occurred. The letter points to the global manufacturing issues during the pandemic as exposing the consequences of this strategy.
The same thinking is said to have influenced public services and national defence, where elements like hospital beds and strategic stockpiles might appear wasteful against immediate demand. The letter argues that the value of such resources becomes apparent during crises.
The fundamental error, it suggests, is not optimisation itself, but optimising for the wrong objective. A system focused solely on minimising expenditure may become less capable of fulfilling its actual purpose, with resilience being described as a form of insurance whose value emerges in a crisis.