2023考研英語閱讀日本和全球供應鏈
The disruption to manufacturers worldwide fromJapans disasters will force a rethink of how theymanage production
日本地震災難所造成的世界范圍內制造商的崩潰迫使人們重新思考管理生產的方法
LAST year Icelands volcanic ash disrupted airtransport across Europe and gave the worldsmanufacturing supply chain one of its biggest testssince the advent of the low-inventory, just-in-timeera. Now, Japans quadruple disasterearthquake,tsunami, nuclear alert and power shortageshasput the supply chain under far greater stress. Three weeks after the massive quake, theextent and likely duration of the disruption are still unclear.
去年冰島的火山灰擾亂了整個歐洲的航空運輸，為世界制造供應鏈自低庫存和及時成產時代以來提供一個最大的考驗。 現在，日本的四個災害地震，海嘯，核警報和電力短缺已使供應鏈處在更大的壓力下。 在大地震發生三星期后，破壞的范圍和可能的持續時間海不清楚。
There are some enlightening similarities between the shocks that manufacturers are nowsuffering and those that buffeted the banking system in the 2008 financial crisis. In both casestwo of the biggest surprises were the unexpected connections the crisis uncovered, and theextent of the contagion. The problems began in a seemingly well-contained part of thesystemsubprime mortgages in the case of finance, in manufacturings case a natural disasterin an economic backwaterbut quickly spread.
在制造廠家所遭遇的沖擊和2008年金融危機中銀行系統中連受打擊的人之間是有一些受人啟發的相似之處的。 在這兩種情況下，最讓人驚訝的是未保險的危機和污染范圍的意想不到的聯系。 這些問題始于系統中一個看似完全包含的部分 金融中的次級抵押貸款，在經濟停滯中的制造商所經歷的自然災害，但很快蔓延開。
Like the sudden evaporation of liquidity that the banks experienced, factories are findingthat parts that had always turned up reliably have stopped coming. As with financial regulatorsdiscovery of how poorly they understood the shadow banking system and arcane derivativescontracts, manufacturers are discovering how little they know about their suppliers suppliersand those even farther down the chain. When Lehman went bust, other banks struggled tomeasure their exposure because Lehman turned out to be not a single institution but atangle of many entities. Assembly firms are now finding that their supply chain looks much thesame.
銀行資金如液體揮發般突然不見，工廠發現一只穩定到貨的零部件竟然停止供應。 至于金融監管機構，他們發現他們對于影子銀行系統和晦澀難懂的衍生品金融品合同的理解是如此膚淺，制造商們發現他們對供應商的供應商及下邊的供應鏈知之甚少。 當雷曼破產，其他銀行努力衡量他們的暴露出的問題，因為雷曼兄弟不是一個單獨的機構，而是許多纏繞的實體。組裝公司現在發現他們的供應鏈看起來是一樣的。
Just as some financial institutions proved too big tofail, some Japanese suppliers are now revealed to betoo crucial to do without. For example, two firms,Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Hitachi Chemical,control about 90% of the market for a specialtyresin used to bond parts of microchips that go in tosmartphones and other devices. Both firms plantswere damaged. The compact battery in ApplesiPods relies on a polymer made by Kureha, whichholds 70% of the market, and whose factory wasdamaged.
正如一些金融機構被證明太大而不能倒，現在人們發現日本的一些供應商太重要以至于不能缺少。例如，兩個公司三菱氣體化工和三菱化工，控制了裝在智能手機和其他設備中用于粘連微晶片零件的專用樹脂的約90%的市場。這兩家公司的工廠都遭到了破壞。 蘋果的iPod小型電池依賴于日本吳羽的一種聚合物，其工廠也遭到破壞。
Manufacturers around the world are now racing to secure supplies of the scarcest componentsand materials, pushing up their prices. Carmakers in Japan and America have had to scale backproduction. Toyota fears a scarcity of 500 rubber, plastic and electronic parts. It is not yetclear how much worse things will get as existing stocks run down. Nor can Japanese suppliersbe sure yet of how soon they can get back up to speed: hundreds of aftershocks, some strongenough to disrupt production, have rumbled on since the main quake. Given the loss of a verylarge nuclear plant and shutdowns of others, power shortages may extend for years.
世界各地的制造商正在競相爭取得到稀缺元器件和材料，并提升了其價格。 日本和美國的汽車制造商不得不縮減生產。 豐田擔心缺少500個橡膠，塑膠及電子零件。 若現在的庫存用完之后目前還不清楚事情會變得有多糟。 日本供應商也不能肯定多久能恢復：數以百計的余震，一些強大到足以破壞生產，自從主震發生以來就一直轟轟響著。 由于非常大規模核電廠的損失和其他工廠的關閉，電力短缺可能持續數年。
Even before the extent of the disruption becomes clear, it seems certain that Japans disasterwill have a lasting impact on how manufacturers manage their operations, says Hans-PaulBrkner, boss of the Boston Consulting Group, who was in Tokyo this week. It is veryimportant now to think the extreme, he says. You have to have some buffers.
波士頓咨詢集團老板Hans-Paul Brkner說即使在破壞的范圍變得清晰以前，似乎可以肯定，日本的災難將對制造商管理業務方面產生持久的影響，他說。 現在考慮這種極端情況是非常重要的，你必須有一定的緩沖期。
Over the past decade or so the just-in-time concept of having supplies delivered at the lastminute, so as to keep inventories down, has spread down the global manufacturing chain.Now, say economists at HSBC, this chain may be fortified with just-in-case systems to limitthe damage from disruptions.
在過去的十幾年間左右，這種最后一分鐘送達以使存貨下降的剛好夠用的庫存概念在最后一分鐘已經在全球制造鏈上蔓延開。 現在，匯豐銀行的經濟學家說，使用以防萬一系統來限制破壞的損害程度，這一鏈條會被加固。
For instance, suppliers who have near-monopolies on crucial parts and materials may bepressed to spread their production facilities geographically. Their customers may, as aprecaution, also switch part of their orders to smaller rivals. Hiwin, a Taiwanese firm with 10%of the market for linear motion guides, used in industrial machines, may gain share fromcustomers of Japans THK, which dominates the market with a 55% share and which facespower cuts, suggests CLSA, a stockbroker.
例如，對關鍵零部件和材料有近壟斷地位的供應商可能會被迫按照地理位置分布其生產設備。作為預防設施，他們的客戶可能將部分訂單留給規模較小的其他競爭對手。 擁有10%市場份額的臺灣公司上銀可能會從日本的THK的顧客那里獲得股份。
Assembly firms will be under the same financial pressures as before to keep their inventories ofsupplies down. So a new growth industry may emerge from the crisis: that of holding andmaintaining essential stocks on behalf of manufacturers.
組裝公司將像以前一樣面臨同樣的金融壓力以減少他們的庫存數量。 因此，從該危機中會出現一個新的發展行業：代表制造商持有并維護基本庫存。
Industrial firms, having spent years becoming ever leaner in their production techniques and, inthe process, making themselves more vulnerable to these sorts of supply shocks, will nowhave to go partly into reverse, giving up some efficiency gains to become more robust. Oneconsolation is that their problem of too crucial to do without suppliers looks a lot easier tosolve than the conundrum of the too big to fail banks.
工業企業，花了幾年時間來使生產技術日益精簡。在這個過程中，卻使自己對這種類型的供應沖擊更加脆弱，現在不得不部分向相反方向前進，放棄一些效率的提高而變得更加笨拙。 一個令人慰藉的是這些太關鍵以至于不能缺少的供應商他們的問題太關鍵離不開供應商看起來比太大以至于不能失敗的銀行更容易解決問題。
The disruption to manufacturers worldwide fromJapans disasters will force a rethink of how theymanage production
日本地震災難所造成的世界范圍內制造商的崩潰迫使人們重新思考管理生產的方法
LAST year Icelands volcanic ash disrupted airtransport across Europe and gave the worldsmanufacturing supply chain one of its biggest testssince the advent of the low-inventory, just-in-timeera. Now, Japans quadruple disasterearthquake,tsunami, nuclear alert and power shortageshasput the supply chain under far greater stress. Three weeks after the massive quake, theextent and likely duration of the disruption are still unclear.
去年冰島的火山灰擾亂了整個歐洲的航空運輸，為世界制造供應鏈自低庫存和及時成產時代以來提供一個最大的考驗。 現在，日本的四個災害地震，海嘯，核警報和電力短缺已使供應鏈處在更大的壓力下。 在大地震發生三星期后，破壞的范圍和可能的持續時間海不清楚。
There are some enlightening similarities between the shocks that manufacturers are nowsuffering and those that buffeted the banking system in the 2008 financial crisis. In both casestwo of the biggest surprises were the unexpected connections the crisis uncovered, and theextent of the contagion. The problems began in a seemingly well-contained part of thesystemsubprime mortgages in the case of finance, in manufacturings case a natural disasterin an economic backwaterbut quickly spread.
在制造廠家所遭遇的沖擊和2008年金融危機中銀行系統中連受打擊的人之間是有一些受人啟發的相似之處的。 在這兩種情況下，最讓人驚訝的是未保險的危機和污染范圍的意想不到的聯系。 這些問題始于系統中一個看似完全包含的部分 金融中的次級抵押貸款，在經濟停滯中的制造商所經歷的自然災害，但很快蔓延開。
Like the sudden evaporation of liquidity that the banks experienced, factories are findingthat parts that had always turned up reliably have stopped coming. As with financial regulatorsdiscovery of how poorly they understood the shadow banking system and arcane derivativescontracts, manufacturers are discovering how little they know about their suppliers suppliersand those even farther down the chain. When Lehman went bust, other banks struggled tomeasure their exposure because Lehman turned out to be not a single institution but atangle of many entities. Assembly firms are now finding that their supply chain looks much thesame.
銀行資金如液體揮發般突然不見，工廠發現一只穩定到貨的零部件竟然停止供應。 至于金融監管機構，他們發現他們對于影子銀行系統和晦澀難懂的衍生品金融品合同的理解是如此膚淺，制造商們發現他們對供應商的供應商及下邊的供應鏈知之甚少。 當雷曼破產，其他銀行努力衡量他們的暴露出的問題，因為雷曼兄弟不是一個單獨的機構，而是許多纏繞的實體。組裝公司現在發現他們的供應鏈看起來是一樣的。
Just as some financial institutions proved too big tofail, some Japanese suppliers are now revealed to betoo crucial to do without. For example, two firms,Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Hitachi Chemical,control about 90% of the market for a specialtyresin used to bond parts of microchips that go in tosmartphones and other devices. Both firms plantswere damaged. The compact battery in ApplesiPods relies on a polymer made by Kureha, whichholds 70% of the market, and whose factory wasdamaged.
正如一些金融機構被證明太大而不能倒，現在人們發現日本的一些供應商太重要以至于不能缺少。例如，兩個公司三菱氣體化工和三菱化工，控制了裝在智能手機和其他設備中用于粘連微晶片零件的專用樹脂的約90%的市場。這兩家公司的工廠都遭到了破壞。 蘋果的iPod小型電池依賴于日本吳羽的一種聚合物，其工廠也遭到破壞。
Manufacturers around the world are now racing to secure supplies of the scarcest componentsand materials, pushing up their prices. Carmakers in Japan and America have had to scale backproduction. Toyota fears a scarcity of 500 rubber, plastic and electronic parts. It is not yetclear how much worse things will get as existing stocks run down. Nor can Japanese suppliersbe sure yet of how soon they can get back up to speed: hundreds of aftershocks, some strongenough to disrupt production, have rumbled on since the main quake. Given the loss of a verylarge nuclear plant and shutdowns of others, power shortages may extend for years.
世界各地的制造商正在競相爭取得到稀缺元器件和材料，并提升了其價格。 日本和美國的汽車制造商不得不縮減生產。 豐田擔心缺少500個橡膠，塑膠及電子零件。 若現在的庫存用完之后目前還不清楚事情會變得有多糟。 日本供應商也不能肯定多久能恢復：數以百計的余震，一些強大到足以破壞生產，自從主震發生以來就一直轟轟響著。 由于非常大規模核電廠的損失和其他工廠的關閉，電力短缺可能持續數年。
Even before the extent of the disruption becomes clear, it seems certain that Japans disasterwill have a lasting impact on how manufacturers manage their operations, says Hans-PaulBrkner, boss of the Boston Consulting Group, who was in Tokyo this week. It is veryimportant now to think the extreme, he says. You have to have some buffers.
波士頓咨詢集團老板Hans-Paul Brkner說即使在破壞的范圍變得清晰以前，似乎可以肯定，日本的災難將對制造商管理業務方面產生持久的影響，他說。 現在考慮這種極端情況是非常重要的，你必須有一定的緩沖期。
Over the past decade or so the just-in-time concept of having supplies delivered at the lastminute, so as to keep inventories down, has spread down the global manufacturing chain.Now, say economists at HSBC, this chain may be fortified with just-in-case systems to limitthe damage from disruptions.
在過去的十幾年間左右，這種最后一分鐘送達以使存貨下降的剛好夠用的庫存概念在最后一分鐘已經在全球制造鏈上蔓延開。 現在，匯豐銀行的經濟學家說，使用以防萬一系統來限制破壞的損害程度，這一鏈條會被加固。
For instance, suppliers who have near-monopolies on crucial parts and materials may bepressed to spread their production facilities geographically. Their customers may, as aprecaution, also switch part of their orders to smaller rivals. Hiwin, a Taiwanese firm with 10%of the market for linear motion guides, used in industrial machines, may gain share fromcustomers of Japans THK, which dominates the market with a 55% share and which facespower cuts, suggests CLSA, a stockbroker.
例如，對關鍵零部件和材料有近壟斷地位的供應商可能會被迫按照地理位置分布其生產設備。作為預防設施，他們的客戶可能將部分訂單留給規模較小的其他競爭對手。 擁有10%市場份額的臺灣公司上銀可能會從日本的THK的顧客那里獲得股份。
Assembly firms will be under the same financial pressures as before to keep their inventories ofsupplies down. So a new growth industry may emerge from the crisis: that of holding andmaintaining essential stocks on behalf of manufacturers.
組裝公司將像以前一樣面臨同樣的金融壓力以減少他們的庫存數量。 因此，從該危機中會出現一個新的發展行業：代表制造商持有并維護基本庫存。
Industrial firms, having spent years becoming ever leaner in their production techniques and, inthe process, making themselves more vulnerable to these sorts of supply shocks, will nowhave to go partly into reverse, giving up some efficiency gains to become more robust. Oneconsolation is that their problem of too crucial to do without suppliers looks a lot easier tosolve than the conundrum of the too big to fail banks.
工業企業，花了幾年時間來使生產技術日益精簡。在這個過程中，卻使自己對這種類型的供應沖擊更加脆弱，現在不得不部分向相反方向前進，放棄一些效率的提高而變得更加笨拙。 一個令人慰藉的是這些太關鍵以至于不能缺少的供應商他們的問題太關鍵離不開供應商看起來比太大以至于不能失敗的銀行更容易解決問題。
