Balancing Act

In reading over this weeks' readings, it seems as though a careful balancing act exists between just-in-time (JIT) supply chain management, such as that which UPS employs (http://pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/staticfiles/pdf/whitepaper/wp_just-in-time_supply_chain.pdf) and maintaining flexibility under conditions which may be uncertain, as the Glatzel, et al. article suggests.  Certainly there are numerous, immediate advantages to having a JIT supply chain, as UPS points out in this article the reduced costs from inventory, space, time, and labor needed to shift additional resources.  However, as our current supply chains become more and more efficient, we must use caution so as to not put our supply chains at great risk.  The more streamlined, simple, and monopolistic a supply chain is, the greater the chance that one aspect of the supply chain could grind production to a halt over an entire organization.