During the pandemic, we suffered increased lead times for things. Generally, these lengthy lead times were called “supply chain problems” or just “supply chain.” There were both obvious and not-so-obvious reasons.
The most obvious reason was that many businesses were shuttered for weeks to even a year or more during the pandemic in an effort to keep employees safe. Knowledge workers could work remotely. But manufacturing, repair, and other “hands-on” activities couldn’t. So, they stopped, or at least severely slowed.
