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.

3. Reduce or change components

Use alternative forms of component

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	2000	2004	Clif Bar, the manufacturer of energy and nutrition bars, sponsors charitable events to raise money for various causes. In addition to the results for charities involved, the exposure of Clif Bar as a socially responsible company helps the bottom-line. The company donates 1% of annual sales to charity, a significant amount for the $100 million a year company. The Luna bar, aimed at women and bearing the Breast Cancer Fund logo, did extremely well and the company had feedback from consumers happy to support a cause. 75% of the firm's marketing budget goes into grass roots efforts, small weekend events which cost less than large advertising campaigns but pay off in good will.
2	2015	1996	The new system, called totes, is a technology adapted by Bachoco in 1996. A modular system, large insulated plastic containers are filled with ice and chickens. Instead of packing one van for each customer, one or more of these totes can be dropped off.
3	2273	1996	While a polypropylene shortage led to a price shock in 1995, its historically low price relative to nylon has caused polypropylene to take an increasingly significant role in the carpet production process.
4	3490	1996	Sinter Metals uses powdered metal-making, which is cheaper than other processes, since it leaves fewer scraps behind and requires little finishing work.
5	3571	1988	IBM eliminated screws and clamps and the number of adjustments to those parts needed to build a product. In years past, they needed a couple hundred adjustments on a Selectric typewriter as it was produced. Now it only requires 3% of those parts adjustments.
6	3571	1990	IBM substituted snap-on fastening for screws and bolts, and combined multiple parts into one. Its new Laser Printer has much fewer parts than H.P.'s. Since they're so simple, the printers are cheaper and easier to make by hand than by robots.
7	3578	1989	NCR's new cash register has so few parts–no screws or bolts – that it takes only 25% as much time to assemble. One expert says that, although cost of screws is low, the price of using them to put products together (mostly in time) can pile up to 75% of total assembly costs.
8	3600	1986	GE cut costs by switching to plastic interiors in its dishwashers. They don't rust and are much easier to manufacture with automated equipment than are steel interiors.
9	3633	1991	Sharp created a modular design for its washing machines, increasing the number of product combinations from about 200 to about 3,000, while reducing the average number of different parts per product from 1,500 to 1,000.
10	4512	2006	Through thick and thin, Southwest Airlines keeps expanding its available seat miles and routes because of its ability to maintain low operating costs. A few months ago, it removed all the light bulbs behind no-smoking signs in planes, saving on bulbs and power. It saves $100,000 annually by buying cheaper mops to clean planes. Starting in early 2007, the company plans to install fuel-saving, aerodynamic winglets on the ends of many of its Boeing-737 jets.
11	4513	2004	FedEx Custom Critical uses five types of vehicles to cover all possible services. In addition, the customer's cargo is the only one carried in the truck.
12	7311	2007	Brand integration is becoming increasingly common on daytime talk shows. Advertisers can pay a flat fee or buy a large ad package and have their products incorporated into shows. When advertisers purchase $250,000 worth of 30-second spots, they can work with the Martha Stewart Show to develop a branded segment on the product. The message may also be incorporated into the magazines and satellite radio show produced by Martha Stewart. These spots can be more effective than traditional commercials because the message comes from someone viewers know and trust.
13	7372	2004	Nintendo required its third party developers to pay all its proprietary cartridge cost as well as manufacturing fees and royalties up front so the soft ware developer bore all the commercialization risk. In addition, the cartridges took a minimum of three months to respond to a change in demand. The use of CDs gave Sony a big advantage in responding to the game market. The CDs were much cheaper than cartridges which sold for $35 in 1996 and had larger data capacity at 650 MB versus 16 MB for the cartridges. This allowed more graphics, animation and levels of difficulty.
14	7372	1997	Developers are moving toward Java. They can write software once instead of creating many versions for different types of computers. That saves them time and money while expanding their market.

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