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.

6. Reduce use of Purchases and Capital ICDs

Reduce Caplital ICDs:
Delay spending until firm customer commitment

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	1521	1999	NVR's rivals have focused on land prices while NVR has bought option contracts on prepared lots instead.
2	1521	2005	MDC Holding home builder prefers to pay retail for finished lots. Since that's becoming harder to do, MDC aims to option and shepherd the properties through the planning, entitlement and engineering stages, exercising the option to purchase and assume full risk at the last possible moment.
3	1521	2006	Faced with a slowing market and surging contract cancellations, many builders are waiting for signed deals before they break ground on homes.
4	2339	1997	Retailers like private-label goods suppliers like TAGS because the product class provides a wider gross margin, widening total profit margins. For TAGS, the niche is operating nirvana since goods are cut to order, involve minimal inventory.
5	3570	1993	Before redesign, HP's distribution centers kept on hand a stockpile of each printer option to fill orders. This was especially problematic in Europe, where there are more options produced for small markets. It switched to stocks of generic printers and saved inventory and shipping costs that were greater than the cost of adding options later.
6	3571	2004	Dell dominates the PC market by manufacturing PCs from standard parts which are dropping in prices daily. Computers are sold directly to consumers and they are built only after they are ordered, allowing it to offer the lowest possible price. The dynamic pricing system adjusts prices minute-by-minute based on demand, cost, competition and type of customer. The company is given more flexibility than competitors who advertise prices. The computers are also delivered faster than those of competitors, less than a week compared with H-P's two or three week delivery time.
7	3711	1996	Chrysler now purchases hard tools about 50-60 weeks before volume production, as opposed to 75-100 weeks before, as it did when product development was slower. It now orders tools after prototypes are done, thus reducing later corrections to tools.
8	3841	1999	Cryolife doesn't actually possess the tissue. It merely pays tissue banks $1000 for each heart and passes the hearts along to the cost recipient.
9	4512	1996	To keep prices low, America West plans to stick to renting most of its planes on short-term leases instead of buying or using longer-term leases.
10	5961	1998	Book distributor Ingram Book Group, Amazon's chief supplier, is even developing technology to print books one by one as orders come in.

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