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.

3. Businesses

Losing market share

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	2330	2007	Following a decline in department store sales, Liz Claiborne announced plans to sell or discontinue 16 apparel brands and layoff 8% of its nonretail workforce. Claiborne hopes that by divesting itself of side businesses, it can focus its spending on its spending on its strongest brands, including Kate Spade, Juicy Couture and Lucky Brand. The company will open more stores and improve its online sales.
2	2399	2005	Levi Strauss & Co.'s Signature line, the discount brand it sells through Wal-Mart and Target stores, helped the company turn a profit last quarter, even though sales of its higher-priced Levi's and Dockers remained weak. In the U.S., Levi's largest market, Levi's-brand sales fell 7%, and Dockers sales fell 26%. Levi's had trouble in Europe too, but growth at home and abroad in its Signature business, along with overall strength in Asia, helped offset problems elsewhere. Levi's efforts to sell its Dockers casual slacks business could attract anywhere fro $500 million to more than $1 billion if snapped up by another apparel company. The company said year-over-year weakness in Dockers' sales, blamed in part on a surge in discount-priced sales of closeout products in 2003, was not a concern relative for selling the brand. The Dockers plan is a part of Levi's larger strategy to remake itself and reverse seven years of declining annual sales.
3	2400	2006	While Weyerhaeuser has sold minor assets and sold mills, it has not undergone any significant restructuring until now. The company plans to sell its fine-paper operation to Canada's Domtar Inc. This division is viewed as the weakest link in its portfolio and investors may benefit from the sale.
4	2834	1996	P&G to sell its stake in 2 yr. old Aleve brand of pain reliever as well as 2 other smaller drug brands as part of a strategy to narrow its health-care segment and focus on larger, global brands.
5	3572	1996	Hewlett-Packard announced it plans to close its disk-drive manufacturing operation, in the wake of slowing order growth.
6	3630	1997	Corporate parent Raytheon announced on Feb. 23 that it would seek a buyer or merger partner for its $1.5 billion Amana division.
7	4813	2000	AT&T is looking to unload its consumer long-distance business to help improve its stock price and growth rate. This was once AT&T's core business with 60 million customers. It generates $21 billion in revenue and about $8 billion in cash flow.
8	4833	1989	Westinghouse bought back stock, took a couple of restructuring hits, and channeled capital away from sluggish business and into fast-moving ones. Profits soared.

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