An interesting substory that is simultaneously reminiscent of the Fogbank story and how Hayek's "curious task" is much more broadly applicable:

  There is a good cautionary tale here from the Space Shuttle era. That vehicle 
  had heat resistant tiles that had to be attached to the aluminum belly of the 
  orbiter. A special cloth had been certified for wiping the aluminum clean 
  before applying the primer that securely bonded the tiles to the metal. After 
  years of uneventful use, tile engineers discovered that new replacement tiles 
  were no longer curing properly.
  
  A careful investigation revealed that the supplier of that special cloth had 
  changed the lubricant used in the machine that sews its hem. Minute amounts 
  of the lubricant were being deposited on the stitching, and enough of that 
  residue was getting on the aluminum skin to prevent the tile adhesive from 
  curing properly.