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A comment on The chip shortage keeps getting worse – why can't we just make more?. Parent comment

Re:The chip shortage keeps getting worse – why can't we just... by swsieber on Saturday September 04, 2021 @07:13PM (#28420241)
It got me thinking that a buffer is really just operational insurance, and the cost is "efficiency". I wonder if it's the same average efficiency. If so, my knee-jerk though is that I much prefer the smooth buffered model as opposed to the spiky unbuffered model.
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Re:The chip shortage keeps getting worse – why can't we just... by kqr on Sunday September 05, 2021 @09:21AM (#28424158)
Unfortunately, large buffers lead to more spiky behaviour than well-kempt ones.

One of the reasons is they hide feedback about downstream capacity problems. (See "bufferbloat" for this in internet terms, Principles of Product Development Flow for it in terms of creative work, and any book on lean manufacturing for it in terms of repetitive work.

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