Comment by themaninthedark

I know that it is not a zero sum game and I get there are changes but I am not talking about 1976 to 2026. I am talking about 2025 to 2026. Or 2024 to 2025.

My premise was that input costs are stable and as automated as possible.

We still expect a 1 to 2% increase YOY.

I am not sure how ownership structure cange would give you growth or reduce cost.

Downstream buyers shouldn't affect it much either as we started out producing 3 times as much as is used. Unless someone suddenly found a use for all the excess.

Let me try again with a different example. Let's say that I run a bottle water company, I have an automated production line and I bottle as much water as I am allowed to pump. I sell all my product so there is no waste, this also means that I have all the customers that I need. I would still be expected to show growth YoY. How? Reduce material used in bottles? At some point the bottles are as thin as possible.

My point is, there is a lower limit to how much you can reduce things or how much you can grow. Not everything is there, in fact most things are probably not. But in our strive to grow or become more efficient we are also throwing away the ability to be resilient.

By moving to lean JIT we shutdown when a shipment is delayed. But we had less cash tied up in inventory!

Now we are applying those same practices to hospitals.

You can't fit 1~2% more chickens in the same cage, nor can you feed them less. So where does it come from? Is it worth the growth to spray the chicken down with bleach? Ship it to China to be slaughtered and back? Take the entrails, centerfuge them into pink slime?

What is the stopping point? That is my question.