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.

4. Reduce movement of an Input (People, Purchases or Capital)

Reduce movement of information by making an immediate connection between work or sale progress information and supporting systems:
Replenish inventory

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	1600	2005	The energy market is a big user of satellite guided global positioning systems, or GPS for surveying and planning construction. Because most of the global firms run several projects simultaneously across the world, they are dependent on database software that helps keep tabs on costs, logistics and productivity.
2	2841	1992	At Kao Corp., an info system links sales and shipping, production and purchasing, accounting, R&D, marketing, retail cash registers, and salesmen's hand-held computers. The network virtually eliminates the lag between an event in the market and the arrival of the news at the company. This allows companies to even out production levels and increase variety without drowning in stock.
3	2843	1991	S.J. Johnson Wax has slashed by 40% the time needed to fulfill orders through a broad-based information system that links people in sales, customer service, manufacturing, distribution, credit and finance, shipping and warehouse operations.
4	3290	1997	SAP connects all the information that flows through a company in a single system, so that, for example, when a salesman enters an order, it automatically puts dibs on raw materials, schedules production and delivery, and prepares a bill.
5	3576	1999	Over half of Cisco's customer orders placed on its web site flow directly over the net to its contractors who ship directly to the customer.
6	3711	2004	Toyota has spent the last six years revamping its ordering, manufacturing, and distribution to make it easier for dealers and customers to make changes right before production. First Toyota spent four years developing its own software that connects dealers to factories and factories to suppliers. When a request from a dealer comes in, the system figures out the availability of parts nearby, the time to resequence the assembly line, and whether the change would unbalance the line by scheduling.
7	3949	1991	Coleman linked computers with major retailers like Wal-Mart and Kmart so orders could be sent electronically from cash register to factory. This cut by a day the interval between a customer's ordering and receiving products.
8	4513	2004	FedEx has a service called FedEx Custom Critical that uses five different types of vehicles to cover all the services the customer might need and the customer’s cargo is the only one carried in the truck. Some hauls are delivered the same day of pick up. Most of the shipments are picked up within 90 minutes of receiving a customer’s order and the service delivers faster than airfreight. 96% of the time FedEx delivers on time. The company uses independent fleet truck drivers contracted on demand and pays these contractors 58% of the shipping costs while the drivers pay for the fuel. The dispatchers are key to this business. They must make quick decisions and understand the driver’s capability. The company uses a two-way satellite communication system to locate instantaneously any of the trucks in the fleet. Then software determines what trucks the dispatcher should send and where. A system of computers immediately alerts a driver if he falls more than fifteen minutes behind schedule. To keep the product personal, FedEx broke the company into Customer Assistant teams, each of which always deal with the customers in the same area.
9	5331	2004	Executive vice president of marketing at Henkel Adhesives saw a spike in duct tape demand when the terror alert was raised to orange. Wal-Mart, one of Henkel's key customers, helped ease the burden during this time. Using Wal-Mart's online Retail Link system, which gives its suppliers daily point-of-sale data, Henkel tracked inventory levels at Wal-Mart's regional warehouses.
10	5411	2004	Albertson's is using new technology to gather information and build customer loyalty. The chain spent $500 million on technology last year. This year, it is outfitting all store directors and managers with devices that'll tell them such things as when to restock.
11	5411	2005	The British supermarket chain Tesco is finding immense success after applying Toyota Motor Corp.'s "lean consumption" model. After realizing that practically all its practices for getting goods from the supplier to the shelf had waste at every step, Tesco decided to change its methods. The first step was to hook the point-of-sale data in the store directly to a shipping decision in Tesco's regional distribution center (RDC). This made the end customer at the checkout point the "pace-maker" regulating the provision stream. Tesco then increased the frequency of deliveries to the retail stores. After several years of experimentation, Tesco's trucks now leave the RDCs for each store every few hours around the clock, carrying an amount of cola proportional to what was sold in the last few hours.
12	7300	2007	Businesses are boosting productivity by using customized applications on their BlackBerry or wireless phones. Benefiting from the expansion of cellular networks, workers can connect to the web and remote database without a laptop or an internet connection. These services are particularly useful for sales and service people. Pitney Bowes has service employees report which parts they use on repair jobs. Inventory levels have been reduced by 15% and emergency parts orders fell by 90% as a result of the initiative.

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