Reduce the Units of Input Not Producing Output

Reduce units of Input (I) available but not producing Intermediate Cost Drivers (ICDs). This action makes Input levels more directly variable with the quantity of the ICD by reducing the amount of the available Input that is wasted or idle. For example, an employee (I) might produce one subassembly (ICD) per day. During that day, the employee spends a total of one hour waiting for parts for the subassembly. If the Company could eliminate that one lost hour of the employee's work day by providing parts in a more timely manner, the Company could reduce the number of employees (I) needed to produce the same subassembly (ICD) by 1/8th.

F. Speed the Process

6.
Relieve bottlenecks

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	3523	1990	Deere decided to can the robots it uses to paint tractor chassis and hire humans; the robots take too long to program for large varieties of paint orders.
2	3711	1990	Nissan's new auto plants can produce hundreds of different variations on a given car model simply by reprogramming robots that paint auto bodies and install car seats, engines, batteries, windshields, tires, and doors.
3	3711	1992	Toyota began installing flexible lines in the mid-80s. Computer-controlled fixtures are programmed to hold the panels for each model that comes down the line. Setting up for a new model takes half the man-hours it used to, just 4 months–vs. nine of old–while the line continues to manufacture other cars. Capacity utilization climbed from 75% in 1982 to 95% today.
4	5251	2001	Home Depot's future integration technology will employ CRM, which tracks customer behavior and needs. In its current system, sales, inventory, data, and pricing flow into a central database in large chunks at the end of the day. This clogs the network and results in delays. The new system will update data within minutes.

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