Can we change the quantity?

“数量能改吗” is the question you hope to never have to ask — but in real supplier relationships, quantity changes happen. A customer increases their order. A budget gets cut. A sales forecast was wrong. The key variable is timing: when in the production cycle are you asking? Before material procurement (备料, bèi liào), quantity changes are usually free. After materials are bought, decreasing quantity means wasted materials. After production starts, changes mean rework or waste. The earlier you ask, the cheaper the answer.

Chinese factories handle quantity increases better than decreases. Adding units — especially if it’s the same product, same spec — is fundamentally more production using the same setup. The factory may need to extend the production run and possibly the lead time, but the change is additive. Decreasing units is subtractive: the factory bought materials for 1000 units and you want 700. Those 300 units of materials are a sunk cost. The factory will either ask you to pay for them or refuse the decrease. The compromise: 材料已经买的不能退, 这次按原数量做, 下次调整 (the purchased materials can’t be returned — make the original quantity this time, adjust next time).

Quantity increases can affect lead time more than buyers expect. Adding 200 units to a 1000-unit order doesn’t mean 20% more production time — it might mean a full extra production day if the line was fully scheduled, or it might mean almost no delay if the line had slack. Always ask: 加量对交期有影响吗 (will adding quantity affect the delivery date)? And if timing is critical: 宁愿数量不变, 也不要影响交期 (I’d rather keep the quantity unchanged than affect the delivery date). This tells the factory what your actual priority is — date over quantity, or quantity over date — and lets them advise accordingly.