Kanban: America’s Ubiquitous “Just in Time” Inventory System: A Fragile House of Cards

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an update to an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog in February, 2007. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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When I give lectures or do radio interviews, I’m often asked for examples when I mention that “we live in a fragile society.” Here is one prime example: kanban. The kanban or “just in time” inventory control system was developed in Japan, and became popular in America starting in the 1970s. It is now ubiquitous in nearly every industry.

The kanban concept is simple: Through close coordination with subcontractors and piece-part suppliers, a manufacturer can keep its parts inventory small. (Kanban is a key element of “lean manufacturing.”) They only order batches of parts as needed (“just in time”), sometimes ordering as frequently as twice a week.

Companies now hire Six Sigma consultants and Kaizen (“Improvement”) gurus. They buy sophisticated data processing systems. They also used to hire additional purchasing administrators. But now that role is largely filled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) “Expert Systems.” All of these expenses actually save companies money, at the bottom line.Continue reading“Kanban: America’s Ubiquitous “Just in Time” Inventory System: A Fragile House of Cards”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. Pictured above is the headquarters building of the BATFE.

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President Trump Nominates Robert Cekada to Head ATF. The article includes a key quote from Knox Williams, president and executive director of the American Suppressor Association:

“If confirmed, he would be the first ever truly pro-Second Amendment nominee to head the agency. By nominating an ATF Director who understands our community and respects our constitutional rights, President Trump and his administration are further underscoring their commitment to standing up for the Second Amendment and gun owners. We urge the Senate to confirm him without delay.”

JWR’s Comments: If any SurvivalBlog readers have contact with Mr. Cekada, please encourage him to coordinate with Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and declare a six-month Class 3 Weapons Registration Amnesty. There hasn’t been a Federal NFA amnesty since 1968, and it is now badly needed. There are an estimated 3 million unregistered machineguns, autosears, and Destructive Devices in private hands. It has been impossible to register any transferable machineguns since the 1986 enactment of the Hughes Amendment to the McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owner Protection Act.

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Man prepares to finish his walk around the world that took 27 years.

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New from Jack Lawson (one of our advertisers): How to Build a Low-Cost Faraday Cage to Protect Electronics.

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Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — November 25, 2025

On November 25, 1491, the siege of Granada began. The city was the last Moorish stronghold in Spain.

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November 25th is the birthday of economist and comedian Ben Stein. He still spends part of each year at one of his three homes in Sandpoint, Idaho. (At last report, he also owns homes in Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Rancho Mirage, California.)  He has always leaned toward tangible investing.

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November 25, 1834: Delmonico’s, one of New York’s finest restaurants, first provided a meal of soup, steak, coffee, and half a pie for 12 cents.

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Today’s feature aricle is a guest piece from our friend Brandon Smith.

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We now need entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. (That round begins on Monday, December 1st.)  More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Is Global Technocracy Inevitable Or Dangerously Delusional?, by Brandon Smith

The bewildering truth behind human technological enslavement is that it is impossible without the voluntary participation of the intended slaves. People must welcome technocracy into their lives in order for it to succeed. The populace has to believe, blindly, that they cannot live without it, or that authoritarianism by algorithmic consensus is “inevitable.”

For example, the average person living in a first world economy voluntarily carries a cell phone everywhere they go at all times without fail. To be without it, in their minds, is to be naked, at risk, unprepared and disconnected from civilization. I grew up in the 1980s and we did just fine without having a phone on our hip every moment of the day. Even now, I refuse to carry one.

Why? First, as most people should be aware of by now (the Edward Snowden revelations left no doubt), a cell phone is a perfect technocratic device. It has multilayered tracking, using GPS, WiFi routers, and cell tower triangulation to track your every step. Not only that, but it can be used to record your daily patterns, your habits, who your friends are, where you were on any given day many months or years ago.

Then there’s the backdoor functions hidden in app software that allows governments and corporations to to access your cell’s microphone and camera, even when you think the device is shut off. The private details of your life could be recorded and collated. In a world where privacy is being declared “dead” by boasting technocrats, why help them out by carrying something that listens to everything you say and chronicles everything you do?Continue reading“Is Global Technocracy Inevitable Or Dangerously Delusional?, by Brandon Smith”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. Pictured above is the town of Steptoe, in the Palouse Hills, which straddle the Idaho-Washington state line. Presumably photographed from Steptoe Butte. (A Wikimedia Commons photo by Dana Hutchinson.)

American Redoubt News Links

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. The Christians had that absolute in God’s revelation. Because the Christians had an absolute, universal standard by which to judge not only personal morals but the state, they were counted as enemies of totalitarian Rome and were thrown to the beasts.” –  Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?

Preparedness Notes for Monday — November 24, 2025

November 24, 1434: The River Thames in London froze over. Later, “Frosts” were celebrated with drunken faires.

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November 24th marks the day that John Knox died, in 1572. (He was born in 1514.) AtheistAgendaPedia says: “Born near Haddington Scotland. He was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After imprisonment and exile in England and the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of the Reformed Church.”

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Today’s feature piece is a review written by our own Tom Christianson.

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We need a few more entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

A Counterfeit “Benchmade Barrage”, by Thomas Christianson

A Cautionary Tale

“If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.” (Modern Proverbial Warning, circa late 20th century).

“For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” (Alexander Pope, circa 1711).

One day, when the battery was running low in my scam detector and my gullibility meter was running high, I ordered a new “Benchmade Knives Barrage 583SBK limited edition white” on eBay.

The knife eventually proved itself to be a counterfeit. In fact, after examining the postings for other “Benchmade” knives offered for sale on eBay, I have come to the conclusion that most of them are counterfeits as well.Continue reading“A Counterfeit “Benchmade Barrage”, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week:

The following simple recipe for Cuban Eggs is from The New Butterick Cook Book, copyright 1924, now in the public domain. That is just one of the dozens of bonus books included in the 2005-2025 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that will be available to order in January of 2026.

Ingredients
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sausage meat
  • Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chopped onion
Directions
  1. Cook the meat and onion together for five minutes.
  2. Beat the eggs until light, add the seasonings.
  3. Pour into the pan with the meat.
  4. Cook slowlv, stirring constantly, until the eggs are thick and creamy.
SERVING

Serve with buttered toast or pour over slices of toast

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic:  50 States With Equal-Population. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

JWR’s Comment: This certainly illustrates the low population density of The American Redoubt.

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

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Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It’s not an endlessly expanding list of rights – the ‘right’ to education, the ‘right’ to health care, the ‘right’ to food and housing. That’s not freedom, that’s dependency. Those aren’t rights, those are the rations of slavery – hay and a barn for human cattle.” – P. J. O’Rourke

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — November 23, 2025

On November 23rd, 1644, John Milton published his “Areopagitica” pamphlet that decryed censorship.

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November 23, 1869: The Clipper Ship Cutty Sark was launched in Dumbarton, Scotland, as one of the last clippers ever built. It is the only one still surviving.

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On November 23rd, 1980, a 7.2-magnitude quake struck southern Italy killing more than 3,000 people.

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Today’s feature piece is by JWR.

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We still need some entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Update: Hilltop Retreat Locations Versus Hidden Retreats

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is an update and expansion to an early post that I made in SurvivalBlog back in December, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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I often have SurvivalBlog readers and consulting clients ask me about the “ideal” terrain for a rural survival retreat house. I must report that there is no single “best” answer because there are significant trade-offs related to terrain. Castles were situated on hilltops for centuries, for obvious reasons: Enemies had to fight uphill Defenders were able to see approaching armies from a long distance. They were also able to exploit the potential energy of stored boulders and other heavy objects. However, in the context of a modern survival retreat, a commanding position makes hilltop structures hard to miss.

The goals of privacy and advantageous fields of fire are often mutually exclusive. Likewise, a hilltop position and a spring water supply are also mutually exclusive in all but the rarest of cases. (A hillock with an artesian well is geologically possible, but extremely rare. And even one with a shallow well is very  uncommon.)Continue reading“Update: Hilltop Retreat Locations Versus Hidden Retreats”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

The Genius Move: Glock Loses Millions To Create The V Series, To Stop “Switches”

Only To Be Outsmarted Just A Month Later By Rednecks With Dremel Tools

News Link: 

Glock’s New V-Series Just Hit a Major Problem: Reports of New “Switch” Compatibility Surface.

Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.