a mass producer of roof frames in the Western USA succeeded in making the parts at low cost and high volumes, but the immediate middle-men could not stop cheating each other and their sub-contractors using crooked contracts and hidden costs. The whole effort backed up and stalled after several years.. some parties took more than their share of profit, and others were cheated and went broke. The production may have halted completely.

source: discussion with a small business person around 2005