Recently, I have had quite a few people ask me in the course of small talk, what exactly is this "supply chain" talk they are hearing about again regarding th e Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus. They've heard the horror stories on toilet paper or disinfectants in many stores. Now we've heard of hoarders over-stocking their own homes or selling these products on the street corner at inflated prices. Many people ask how can this be; what causes this; we are in the 21st century; etc. I remember the start of this current problem back in the 1960s (perhaps earlier) with the start of such programs as MRP (Materials Requirement Planning), but certainly not limited to this program and parlaying further into programs and schemes like J-I-T (Just-In-Time). Bottom line and perhaps over-simplified, these programs were and are intended to speed up production and cut costs. There are newer and greater programs like Lean, etc. But for the average person to understand