A basic idea of service capacity management is to adjust the capacity according to the fluctuation of demand, so as to balance it with the ever-changing demand. This is very different from manufacturing enterprises. For manufacturing enterprises, even if the demand fluctuates greatly, enterprises can still respond with constant capacity by holding inventory. For many service enterprises, it is impossible to use inventory. Therefore, it is a great challenge for service managers to adjust service capacity according to the fluctuation of demand.

A basic idea of adjusting service capability is to first consider whether the flexibility of the capability itself can be used. Here are some basic ways to use the flexibility of the ability itself.

① Absorb additional demand: Some service capabilities have the flexibility to absorb additional demand. For example, a subway car can provide 40 seats, and if there are enough handrails and area, it can accommodate another 40 standing passengers. In addition, it can accommodate 120 passengers at the same time during peak hours and holidays.

In the case that service ability mainly depends on personnel ability, service personnel may also maintain high efficiency during peak hours. But if he has to work at high speed all day, he will soon be exhausted and prone to mistakes.

② Changing the layout of facilities: Another way to make use of the flexibility of capabilities is to simply change the layout of facilities. For example, some airlines arrange more seats by slightly narrowing the cabin seat interval, and change the number of cabin seats by flexible arrangement of single chair, double chair and three chair. Of course, this change must be simple. Facing the fierce competition pressure from the aircraft manufacturing industry and aviation service industry, Boeing accepted what the airlines called "intolerable requirements" when designing the new 777 aircraft. Airlines require that not only the seats, but also the kitchen, bathroom and water supply and drainage facilities in the plane can be moved within a few hours. Boeing accepted and met this demanding requirement. The reason why airlines require this is to make their service capabilities flexible. Similarly, restaurants can also make their service capacity flexible by adding tables and chairs. Some hotels have doors between rooms. When this door is locked, two bedrooms can be provided. If you open this door, one of them can be turned into a living room, so it becomes a suite.

③ Extended service hours: Another way to use the flexibility of the ability itself is to extend service hours. For example, restaurants can provide afternoon tea and supper, universities provide evening classes and holiday classes, and airlines extend the daily schedule from 14 hours to 18 hours. In some cases, the service time of each customer can also be shortened, which can be achieved by shortening the idle time. For example, when a table of customers has had a full meal and rested, the waiter can quickly hand over the order to let the customers leave. Shortening the service time can also be achieved by reducing the types of services, such as providing simple recipes during peak hours.

④ Optimizing scheduling: By better scheduling service personnel and their tasks, the service capacity can also be greatly improved. Many management science and technology can be used to optimize the arrangement of service personnel, such as the scheduling of hospital nurses, airline pilots, and the location and scheduling of emergency medical services. This is also a simple and effective way to increase service capacity to complete non-urgent tasks (such as cleaning and maintenance) during low demand periods.

2. Increase the flexibility of ability

If the flexibility of service capability alone is not enough to cope with the fluctuation of demand, enterprises need to consider ways to increase the flexibility of capability. The following are the main ways.

① Training generalists: Most services include multiple tasks. The demand level of each task may be different at different times. In addition, even when the system seems to have reached full capacity, there may still be some material components and some people who are not fully utilized. Therefore, if employees are trained to be versatile, let them master the skills of performing multiple tasks and give them corresponding rights, they can make corresponding personnel adjustments when bottlenecks appear, thus improving their service ability at peak demand. For example, in a supermarket, when the queue at the checkout counter is too long, the manager can deploy people who pack and release goods to check out at the checkout counter; When the number of customers checking out decreased, the cashier was deployed to help put the goods in the yard. Cultivating versatile employees has other benefits: it can help employees improve their abilities, acquire extra skills and reduce the boredom caused by repeated work every day. However, enterprises must pay the corresponding training fees.

② Use of part-time employees: Nowadays, many service enterprises use part-time employees to meet a considerable part of human demand. It is estimated that almost14 employees in the service industry are temporary or part-time. In the case of obvious changes in the daily human demand for services, it may be most suitable to hire part-time employees, such as fast food industry and express service companies. Where feasible, the use of part-time employees can significantly increase the flexibility of service capabilities and enable service managers to better control service capabilities.

③ Increasing customer participation: As mentioned above, in some service provision processes, customers may be valuable human resources, and some service organizations use such resources wisely. For example, in some restaurants, customers prepare their own salads in the salad room, and the waiter just puts the food on the table. During the rush hour before New Year's Day, the post office changed the usual two international and domestic delivery mailboxes into one province, which meant that customers participated in the mail sorting work. Generally speaking, increasing customer participation can not only reduce the manpower input of service organizations, but also improve the service speed, thus increasing the service capacity. However, there are some risks in increasing customer participation: if the customer is not skilled, it may slow down the service speed and lead to a decline in capacity.