Final Customer Purchasing from an Intermediary of the Product

Maintain Steps: Maintain steps include all activities required to keep the product in working order. These steps include the costs the customer incurs to diagnose and correct product problems.

B.
Resources – Reduce resources required for the use of the product

2.
Time – Reduce the time the customer must spend with the product

A. Reduce steps the customer must use with the product

Reduce product or process components to reduce time in repair or maintenance

No.	SIC	Year	Note
1	4832	2005	XM is already on its third generation of chipsets, an advantage that has helped it quickly introduce popular products like MyFi, which users can take jogging or in the car. Sirius won't have anything similar ready for months. Because it has fewer products on the market, Sirius picked up about 45% of sales outside of car dealerships for the year ended Feb. 28. To catch up further, Sirius is hoping for help from a new generation of products that can work with both services. That would help blunt XM's technology lead and let Sirius compete on the battlefield it prefers: content. The FCC has mandated that XM and Sirius design a radio that would work with both signals; a team from both companies is currently developing one.
2	4899	2000	By focusing on newcomers, AOL has become the world's leading Internet provider. It recently surpassed 25 million subscribers. The company's secret: dumbing down the AOL interface to appeal to the millions who might otherwise have balked. Its strength is getting fist-time users while rivals like Prodigy go after businesses. In favoring simplicity over functionality, AOL persuaded computer-shy users to try e-mail, instant messaging and other tools–and got them hooked.
3	4899	2000	AOL is vulnerable in new technologies such as broadband and wireless Internet services. MSN isn't. Its new software is called MSN Explorer and it is easier to use and it packages its many services. MSN plans to attract new customers by continuing a $400 rebate program.
4	5611	2002	The new CEO of Jos. A. Banks Clothiers upgraded the quality of all products when he took over in 1999 by eliminating the middleman and having goods made to Banks' specifications. Additionally, instead of buying from a sales rep, as it once did, Banks does the designing in-house, buys the fabric, and tells the outside companies that sew the products what materials to use. Banks now offer several grades of fabric in all products. In suits, they range from luxury wool to lower thread-count varieties.

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