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.

B. Redesign the process of producing the ICD or Output

Change the process used to produce the ICD or Output to eliminate activities.

2. Shift ICD to others outside the company with no payment for their assistance

General public

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	0	2004	Linux, instead of using expensive software engineers, used volunteers. A development model even more efficient than outsourcing work to India's young coders. Even IBM, with its multi-billion dollar research budget, finds this deal too good to pass up: Linux is now at the heart of the company's enterprise computing strategy.
2	0	2007	Computer scientists are using highly addictive computer games to get the public to carry out mundane tasks and test tier products. The ESP Game, an initiative by a Carnegie Mellon professor, links two random players via the web. Both users are shown the same picture and type in possible key words to describe what they see. If the names match, they are rewarded points, encouraging competition. This allows computer scientists to label and categorize pictures from the Internet, a task that computers can rarely do properly.
3	0	2007	When government and corporations fail to solve problems, new prizes are encouraging people to offer solutions to common problems. The X-Prize Foundation offered $10 million to the first team that can build and demonstrate a device to sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less. Prizes encourage people to work hard and sponsors only pay for success, minimizing their economic risk.
4	2038	2007	Like its consumer products rivals, General Mills is seeking fresh ideas from outside its organization. The company began an "innovation network," a program in which scientists and innovators were enlisted to produce new products.
5	3661	2008	Many companies show need for broader management strategy that addresses how they are creating, sharing, and using knowledge. The best way to create knowledge is by soliciting ideas, insights, and innovations from all company workers, customers, and business partners, rather than just relying solely on the R&D staff. Nokia has benefited from this strategy by setting up Wikis and blogs that researchers and employees can contribute to. It also collaborates with universities, design firms, and telecom industry partners.
6	5812	2005	Taco Bell recently turned to consumers to help create a new burrito, aiming for a "truly healthy" product. The participants chose from different fixings and combinations. The result was not a low-cal item, but a three-cheese 'indulgent' burrito priced at $2, an expensive product for the chain.
7	5941	2005	Sikko Snowboards was launched for kids who wanted to design their own $50 snowboard skins (vinyl graphics) on the web. The business sky-rocketed but not for that reason. The consumers weren't interested in customizing. The 10,000 online fanbase spent time on Sikko's site discussing hobbies and buying habits and rating skins. This info has helped Sikko design better skins; 60% of Sikko's revenue also comes from companies who use its customers for market research.
8	7375	2007	People are willing to carry out a mundane task for free or very low rates if it is made into a game. Amazon.com has a site called Mechanical Turk which pays low rates for various tasks, like writing a movie plot summary.
9	7841	2007	When government and corporations fail to solve problems, new prizes are encouraging people to offer solutions to common problems. Netflix offered $1 million for an algorithm that better predicts whether a customer will enjoy a movie depending on ratings of previous movies. Prizes encourage people to work hard and sponsors only pay for success, minimizing their economic risk.

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