The rapid shutdown of much of the U.S. economy delivered unprecedented shocks to the largely separate systems that supply businesses and consumers. Both rely on vetted networks of producers and distributors and other middlemen to deliver goods in ways that are tailored to specific markets. “All those contracts produce lots of rigidity,” said Nallan Suresh, a professor of operations management and strategy at the University at Buffalo School of Management. “You’re not able to easily shift supplies from one channel to another.” Experts say the gap between the industrial and consumer supply chains grows larger at virtually every step of the process. Erasing the differences, they say, would require expensive investment with little promise of a payoff over the long term. Wholesalers that sell to both […]