ABSTRACT
In the 1970s, the seller’s market changed to a buyer’s market in many branches of the capital goods market. As a consequence, the weighting of company objectives (see Section 1.3.1) changed from stressing best possible capacity utilization to a focus on short delivery lead times. At the same time, however, companies had to avoid physical inventory. Inventory proved to be increasingly risky, because technological advances turned goods into non-sellers often overnight. Thus, short lead time became a strategy towards success in entrepreneurial competition.
