I dunno. There was a shift a few years ago to lean sigma operating procedures across the board for large manufacturers. Part of the philosophy was for manufacturers and suppliers to move away from holding large inventories of materials and products. They wanted to try to save money on wharehousing expenses and deliver products "as needed." The only probelm was it meant a longer reaction time to supply materials for customers. It also cut into the supply of readily available replacement parts if something broke down or needed to be replaced unexpectedly. Is it a factor? I dont know. maybe. I just think there are alot of possiblities for whats going on.