Another way to decouple fluctuation is by adjusting your capacity. If your customer wants more, you just ramp up the working hours and produce more. If the customer wants less, you just send people home and stop the machines.

我们要讲的另一种消除波动的方法是：调整生产能力（产能）。如果客户想要更多的产品，那么我们只需要增加工作时间去生产更多产品。如果客户想要更少的产品，那么我们只需停机，让员工下班就可以了。

I guess you can already see the difficulties with this approach. Few operators are willing to be called in on a moment’s notice and sent home a little later – and rightfully so!

我想，你已经看到实施这种方法的困难点了。很少有操作人员愿意在接到通知后立即被叫来，稍后再被安排下班-真的是这样的！

The problem with adjusting capacity is the delay between the decision to increase or reduce capacity, and the actual increased or reduced capacity.

调整生产能力（产能）的问题是增加或者减少生产能力（产能）的决定与实际增加或者减少生产能力（产能）之间的延迟。

In Europe, flexible companies can set working hours one week in advance, while less flexible companies set working hours one month in advance or more. Sometimes smaller changes on a short notice are possible with the good will of the operators.

在欧洲，灵活的公司可以提前一周设置好工作时间，而不太灵活的公司能提前一个月或者更长的时间来设置工作时间。有时，临时通知较小的变更是能够被接受的，员工能够理解。

If you need larger increases than possible with your workforce, you have to hire more people. However, it will take probably months before you see a noticeable effect.

如果需要较大幅度地增加劳动力，那么你得雇用更多的人员。然而，你可能需要几个月才能看到明显的效果。

If you need more machines, it may take even longer. To install a new custom made set of machines easily takes 6 months. If you build a new plant, measure the delay in years.

如果需要更多的机器，那么可能会需要更长的时间。安装一套新的定制机器需要6个月时间。如果建了一家新工厂，延迟则需要用“年”来衡量。

Same if you want to reduce your capacity. If you have to fire your workers, this may take months or even longer depending on your local labor laws. Getting rid of old machines is faster, but used machinery has quite a markdown on price.

同样，如果你想降低生产能力（产能）。如果必须解雇工人，这可能需要几个月甚至更长的时间，这要取决于当地的劳动法。是的，淘汰旧的机器会比较快，但旧机器的价格却会大打折扣。

Additionally, with inventory you could create a pile of finished goods at one spot at the end of your value chain. With capacity, however, you need to adjust the entire value chain up to the new capacity.

另外，有了库存，我们可以在价值链的末端的某处制造一堆成品。对于生产能力（产能），我们需要将整个价值链调整到新的生产能力（产能）层面。

If you forget to increase capacity in one process, your entire system will not be able to produce more than the bottleneck process.

如果在某个流程中忘记提升生产能力（产能），那么整个系统将无法生产超过瓶颈流程的产品。

Please keep in mind that the bottleneck could also be your supplier, which has to make the same move up or down as you do. If you forget to decrease capacity in one process, the problem is smaller, but you still have people or machines waiting for work.

请记住，我们这里说的瓶颈也可能是供应商，他们也得像你那样对生产能力（产能）进行调整。如果在某个流程中忘记降低生产能力（产能），那么问题就会相对小一些，但是仍然会有人员或者机器处于待工状态。

On the plus side, changes in capacity may be cheaper than by increasing inventory. Having your operators work a few hours more per week does not add much to the cost of the product, since most of the labor cost is not fixed but variable cost. In fact, it may make things cheaper since your fixed costs get distributed over more products.

另一方面，生产能力（产能）的变化可能会比增加库存要来的便宜。让操作人员每周多工作几小时，并不会增加多少产品的成本，因为大部分人工成本不是固定的，而是可变的。实际上，由于固定成本被分配到了更多的产品上，可能使东西变得更便宜一些。

Overall, changes in capacity are slow but economical. Hence, they are best used if there is a known long-term behavior or trend.

总而言之，在生产能力（产能）上做出变化，虽然会缓慢，但却很划算。因此，如果有已知的长期行为或者趋势，最好利用生产能力（产能）。

If your sales increase by 5 percent every year, then you can expect how much capacity you need next year. If your demand shows a seasonal curve, you send people on holiday in the off-season and have them work when you need their time most.

如果销售额每年增长5%，那么，我们可以预计明年需要多大的生产能力（产能）。如果需求呈现季节性曲线，我们可以在淡季让员工去休假，而在最需要他们的时间来工作