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Increasing Business CapacityMany companies are challenged with increasing operational capacity in order to respond to changing market conditions. This covers everything from improving productivity to better use of resources to encouraging cost-efficiency. Whether an organization buys new equipment, adds more warehouse space or leverages new distribution channels, expansion can streamline activities and spark significant growth. Plan aheadA capacity adjustment can turn into a huge investment – one that requires a company to commit abundant time and money. So when is the best time to increase capacity and what’s the most efficient and affordable way to do it? For organizations under pressure to cut overhead expenses, or simply do more with less, a capacity increase may be the best approach to overcome these pressures. However, the challenge for many companies is to make the increase before downtime, outages, poor performance or unacceptable quality hinders their operations. Find a leaderThe first step is to assign a manager or team to oversee capacity planning. This person or group should have the responsibility of anticipating and analyzing future demands and capacity needs. In addition, the team needs to set firm availability, reliability and quality specifications with a clearly defined process for continually measuring these indicators. Before extensive investments in new infrastructure, applications or equipment are made, the team should determine what type of changes are necessary. For example, they may want to investigate other less costly and intrusive approaches to understand if changes can respond to demands for:
If these changes still don’t satisfy the need for capacity requirements, then an expansion may be in order. It’s always best to complete capacity increases during slow periods to minimize disruptions and inconveniences. For example, a retailer shouldn’t launch an expansion during the end-of-year holiday shopping spree, or an accounting firm should avoid increasing capacity during tax season. Businesses can definitely benefit from expansion. But it requires careful analysis and planning to make sure the timing is right. |
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