XYZ Company is a manufacturer that buys raw materials from Supplier A.

XYZ Company is a manufacturer that buys raw materials from Supplier A. In the past several years, Supplier A has experienced increasingly unpredictable order patterns from XYZ, which has necessitated it carry more inventory as safety stock. A meeting with XYZ reveals that this is because XYZ frequently stocks out of items its upstream customers require, and thus orders more than it needs in order to ensure that it is covered. Which of the following BEST describes the problem within this supply chain?