@Chewett , as long as the current system with item creation is used (using entire stack instead of the required amount), the system will not be used to its max.
It was understandable at beginning as @Muratus del Mur wanted to withdraw from market the huge amounts of resources available and that worked ... sort of. Now we need the rate of item creation (thus consumption) to increase and for this we need to allow smaller amounts to be transferred / converted.
Also, to have an increase flow of resources, MD would benefit from some sort of Alliance stashes where and / alliance specific l