Reduce Unique ICDs by Redesigning the Product or the Process

The objective of this activity is to reduce the number of ICDs by reducing the occurrence of an ICD in producing a unit of Output, or by reducing the number of separate ICDs used in the Output. A unique ICD is one of the key activities in the work center's contribution to the final product (O). It is separate and distinct from any other activity in the work center. For example, the fastening of a part onto a subassembly and a quality control check of the subassembly would be unique ICDs.

A. Redesign the product

Reduce ICDs by redesigning the product or the components of the product. Any redesign of the product or its components implies that the resulting product, after the redesign, would be acceptable to customers.

Warnings and advice

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	0	1993	Survey of 531 companies finds that more than 2/3 of restructuring companies started TQM programs as part of restructuring. Only 41% of companies found this effective. Eliminating low-value work and increasing automation were less popular but more effective.
2	3663	2004	Computer makers are making a new push into televisions, resulting in a new wave of glitzy flat panel models with prices below market leaders such as Sharp and Sony. Dell will sell a 26-inch LCD TV priced at $1,999, $500 less than the comparable Sharp model. Hewlett-Packard will also offer a range of models. PC makers are able to reduce their prices because they use standard parts and are willing to accept lower profit margins on the sets.
3	3711	2004	Japanese car makers spend almost twice on research and product development compared to their American counterparts. The Americans could see their share of the market drop from 60.2% in 2003 to 56.5% by 2006. Motown's top brass used to boast that nearly every part in an overhauled model was different from its predecessor-never mind that all those changes drove up costs and took time to engineer.
4	3711	2004	General Motors, Ford Motor, and DaimlerChrystler have diligently studied how the Japanese engineer more car for less money, using a similar set of chassis and frame parts to create a common vehicle architecture. Failure to close the gap with Japan could hurt the Big Three down the road.
5	5812	1998	Due to lack of sales at CPK, the bean counters responded by cutting corners off the beans. Grilled vegetables were replaced with frozen; fresh mozzarella was replaced at CPK. Customers noticed. Same store sales growth crashed from 5% to below 1% in 1994.
6	7372	4	Nintendo and Sega made it risky for their development partners to increase the variety of the games because of the high up front investments to develop the software and load it onto expensive cartridges.

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