Originally Posted By: TeacherRO
the second kind of overload is where a large scale system is overloaded - Like trying to shop for groceries the day before thanksgiving. Or trying to find bottled water as a storm approaches.
It's often a consequence of efficiency. The more efficient a system is, the less slack there is to take up when the load varies. If a system is running at 75%, when the load varies you can push it up to 100% briefly and adsorb the extra with overloading. If it is running at 95%, there's no spare slack and it will get overloaded and fail. Efficiency and robustness are opposed.

Many stores now stock on a "just in time" system. It saves them money by not having stock sitting around not selling itself, but means if there is a transport disruption they will sell out surprisingly quickly.
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Quality is addictive.