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.

C. Eliminate customer activities with low value to the customer

Reduce ICDs by eliminating activities for which customers either will not pay or will not pay enough to cover their costs.

2. Products and services

Products producing losses: Due to low revenues:
Low purchases per thousand populations

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	2300	2004	Concerning the liquidation of 150 Wet Seal stores, chief executive of Wet Seal stated that "it is necessary for Wet Seal to reduce its cost structure and focus on those stores that can deliver the best performance as we implement our new merchandise strategy." Wet Seal, hit by lackluster demand for its teen-oriented fashions, has been battling falling sales and hefty quarterly losses.
2	3570	1996	After implementing activity-based management, DEC found that at one plant, 10% of its products were producing 90% of the profits. Based on this information, it improved its cost structure 20-30%.
3	3571	1996	IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc. have pulled the plug on their X-terminal products, opting instead to throw their X-terminal business to one of the leaders in that specialized niche.
4	3571	2000	Silicon Graphics will sell the remains of Cray Research, manufacturer of the fastest computers in the world, to Tera Computer for less than $100 million, and most of that in IOUs.
5	4111	1994	Greyhound developed complex systems to track its routes, reservations. Since 1990, Ghound has halved driver staff, but improved efficiency on fewer routes still allows for 80% as much travel.
6	4131	1993	To cut costs, Greyhound has revamped its maze-like route system into more of a hub-and-spoke operation, added more nonstop "express" service between major cities, and pared down or eliminated service on unprofitable routes.
7	4131	2005	Greyhound ended service to 260 Western towns, with more cuts to come. It bet its future on short runs
8	4512	2000	AirTran has built up cash by ditching money-losing routes, launching early discounts sales to fill planes, and pushing customers to buy tickets over AirTran's cost-saving web site. Higher-fare travelers account for 60% of revenues up from 40% in 1999.
9	4512	2004	In January Delta is imposing a 10% wage cut on its nonunion workers along with increased employee benefit costs. Delta has announced more than $1.4 billion in new cash and financing deals aimed at tiding over the airline as it tries to implement a turnaround plan. The plan includes closing Delta's money losing Dallas hub, reworking more than half the company's route system and cutting as many as 6,900 U.S. workers. Employee cuts should bring the company immediate cash savings in future months. Delta estimates it can save $50 million by redesigning its Atlanta hub. They plan on a scheduling a steadier flow of planes throughout the day instead of a large cluster of flights that arrive and depart close together.
10	5411	2000	In 1993, Safeway partnered with online grocer Peapod Inc., to fill online orders from stores, but that program proved too expensive and was discontinued.
11	5661	1996	Payless Chairman picks over profit-and-loss statements. In one 8-month period, he shut down 319 unprofitable stores.
12	5945	1996	Toys R Us announced it will drastically reduce product offerings, shutter 25 stores, and take a $270 million charge in an effort to return to its former high-growth form.
13	5945	2001	KB has dramatically scaled back the old Etoys' voluminous offerings of 64,000 items to about 8,000 after discovering that the company was losing money on a vast majority of its products.
14	7011	2005	New hotels devote less space to nonguest room services, such as food and beverage, which eat into profits. Instead, they're putting money into room frills, such as upgraded bedding.
15	7319	1999	FlyCast optimizes its clients campaigns by running ads only on the web sites with the best responses. FlyCast drops the others.
16	8111	1986	Gaston Snow & Ely Bartlett cut out unprofitable branch offices.

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