Supply Chains, Systems, and the Cost of Predictability

Here's a question to start off today's discussion: Is standardization always a good thing? I hope that everyone can realize that the answer to that one is "it depends!"

Standardization doesn’t start in the kitchen—it starts upstream.

When supply chains optimize for uniform inputs, stable costs, and predictable behavior, downstream creativity works inside tight constraints. Menus don’t converge because teams stop caring. They converge because systems reward sameness.

This article breaks down how consolidation reshaped ingredients first, then quietly reshaped outcomes.

Where in your own automations have you seen “reasonable” optimizations compound into unexpected limits?

https://creativecooking.blogspot.com/2026/01/how-ingredients-became-same-everywhere.html

#Automation #SystemsThinking #ProcessEngineering

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