Overproductive workers who produce subassemblies are an example of physical constraints of part storage. Real-world factories don’t have infinite buffer space to store subassemblies. Overproduction is a problem for many reasons, but if we had some kind of Star-Trek-tier space warp for infinite storage, overproduction would be less daunting. But even if we had infinite buffers, Murphy’s Law would guarantee that some businesses would still find ways to go bankrupt.

Regarding engineers: “This is more an example of Goldratt’s concept of the Critical Chain, or classic project management.”

Maybe that is right, but I would need quite a lot of time to dig into the details and mentally digest the case study.

My hot take, prior to digging deep, is as follows: The problem with engineers who get too creative is more akin to managing painters or sculptors or musicians. Engineers are very creative, and creative people don’t maximize profits by exploring creativity. The “buffer space” for creative engineering ideas is so large it seems to be effectively infinite. Obviously, intensive exploration of creative ideas is not the same as overproduction of physical subassemblies.