For more than half a century, inventory investment has attracted wide attention as a major cause of short-term macroeconomic fluctuations, and the mechanisms involved have been the focus of many major studies. Yet microeconomists and business people familiar with corporate behavior have...

For decades, production has relied on the old principle mass production invented by Henry Ford where parts are being produced in batches and pushed to the market hoping for a customer to buy. Things are based on forecasting and sales were too optimistic. This system disconnects the factory from...