"Why order 2 washers? Order the whole box."
Without wishing to make this thread the ultimate cure for insomnia - There was such a thing as a Pre-Packaged Quantity (PPQ) so if a single item, e.g 1 x washer , were demanded and its PPQ was - say 100 - then the depot would issue the PPQ. Engineer gets his one washer and the other 99 go into chiefy's drawer invisible to the system.
In extreme circumstances, the Sqn on t'other side of airfield demand the same washer and get another 100 and same thing happens. Next thing is OC ESW jumping up and down about excessive holdings of 'C' stores.
On a more serious note, I attended a meeting about LITS , JIT deliveries and its application to the RAF Supply system. Also there, was a well-upholstered civvy "consultant" who just sat in a corner and nodded like a toy dog. If he said 'Yes' - it was in, - if he said 'Nah, civvy business don't do it' - it was out. The pushing point was that JIT worked for the likes of Ford and Sony so it must be good for the RAF. The big cheeses running the project couldn't grasp the fact that it wouldn't work in the Service environment because of the fast moving and ever-changing goalposts. However, they had the ear of the folks who made the final decisions and were on-message with what the minister wanted to hear. I'm not surprised to read about the situation that now appears to prevail - I wouldn't have trusted those folks to run a bath!!
I was only a tradesman, so what did I know about Supply?