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 selling slower than average

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	2000	1996	Nabisco to eliminate 7.8% of its jobs and eliminate slow-selling products. Nabisco had strategy of flooding supermarket shelves w/ new brands and products that add to existing lines, but profits were sacrificed.
2	2043	1996	Doing away with coupons that apply to only one cereal and perhaps even just one size box will lower Post's costs and retailers' costs.
3	2043	2004	General Mills says it will eliminate 20% of its food items as the company struggles with the higher cost of raw ingredients and weak sales in its bakeries and food-service division. Officials said the cuts will affect all of its brands, suggesting it will focus on unpopular flavors instead of entire lines. The products to be eliminated account for a very small percentage of its sales.
4	2052	1996	Nabisco plans to trim its product line by 15% and cut new-product launches by 20%, to cut costs.
5	2452	2005	Pulte Homes Inc. is insulating itself from downturns. Pulte has bought growth: it acquired Del Webb Corp. in 2001. It also has added geographic and demographic diversity. Furthermore, the company is scaling back the number of Pulte floorplans and home amenities, but is making sure to account for regional tastes. Pulte's 28-state spread should cushion it from a regional real estate slump. Pulte expects its new efficiencies to expand its 4% of U.S. new-home sales to more than 10% within a decade.
6	2840	1996	P&G is cutting back its number of products. Its product roster is a third shorter today than it was at the start of the decade. In hair care alone, it has slashed the number of items almost in half.
7	2840	1997	P&G to lessen consumer confusion. Will eliminate 1/4 of its line: sold off Lava soap, cut the varieties of its Head & Shoulders shampoo from 30 to 15. Another 20% of its products will fade away w/in 4 years.
8	3674	2001	Not only is Compaq ending its Alpha design production, but it is cutting 7,000 jobs and making its supply chain more efficient.
9	4512	2004	Southwest Airlines, feeling the squeeze in today's market, is looking to a new scheduling strategy to boost revenue. The discount carrier's seat capacity for the first half of the year was up 29% from the same period four years earlier. But because of mounting competition on ticket prices, Southwest's revenue was up only 18% from four years earlier. Southwest earned $139 million in the first six months of this year, a 49% decline from a year earlier. In October, Southwest will take a step towards countering that by yanking 88 flights from its schedule, largely to free up planes for more lucrative markets. Southwest tweaks its schedule each fall, but typically discontinues only as many as a dozen flights.
10	5411	2004	Most big packaged-food companies are weeding out their slow-sellers to cut costs in the face of rising commodity costs. Big supermarkets such as Kroger, Safeway, and Albertson's are also making it hard for food makers. To differentiate themselves from Wal-Mart, they're expanding their produce, deli, and meat departments. This means that they're shrinking center aisles where packaged foods are sold.
11	5411	2004	Most big packaged-food companies are weeding out their slow-sellers to cut costs in the face of rising commodity costs. Wal-Mart goes with what sells, bumping up to 20% each year. What's more, the nation's biggest grocer carries 20,000 fewer items than most supermarkets, meaning more competition for shelf space.
12	5621	2007	After realizing that 80% of its sales were derived from 20% of its products, Burberry worked to reduce the number of products by a third. As a result, stores are receiving fewer products more often. The company has also worked to ensure that the brand image was consistent throughout multiple divisions.
13	7372	2004	As a result, retailers also faced significant risk of purchasing cartridges and were unwilling to place orders for expensive new Nintendo titles that might flop. So retailers allocated shelf space only to a limited assortment of well known and proven game titles or sequels. This allowed Sony to develop a new market where it maximized variety.
14	8062	2005	HCA Inc. has responded to tough times by cutting costs. HCA said it will sell 10 hospitals, including all four of its facilities in West Virginia. The combined properties generated $654 million in revenue last year, or $344,000 per bed. That's 35% below the company average. It's not an ideal time to sell hospitals. An oversupply of beds, coupled with the sale by Tenet of 27 facilities last year, is holding down the prices. There will probably be a number of offers made by local hospitals and management companies in the markets where they are being sold.
15	8721	1998	Giant accounting firms ignore contracts that only bring in $2 million a year but those contracts are staples for smaller firms like Grant Thorton and its competitor BDO Seidman.

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