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.

7. Standardize ICDs

Standardize components used in process:
Use a single platform for more products

No.	Industry SIC	Year	Notes
1	3571	2002	Many companies are trying to consolidate by buying massively powerful servers that use similar, standardized tehnology and do the job of hundreds of the cheap machines. That enables systems to be centralized in locations where it is easier to manage the machinery and software. Now companies prefer to serve applications from those much-larger machines, which can handle multiple programs and be managed centrally. Eventually this will alllow any application to run anywhere in the network without regard to which piece of hardware it is being served from.
2	3711	1992	GM announced plans to reduce the number of basic vehicle frames it uses for its entire car and truck lineup to 7 from 20.
3	3711	1997	Every volume car producer is decreasing the number of basic car chassis, also known as platforms, it produces, making each one capable of supporting different models.
4	3711	2004	In Toyota's new car manufacturing system, the cars are built from inside out. Working in this manner not only simplifies the operation but also increases flexibility, since as many as eight different models can be moved through the same body shop. That makes it easier to produce boutique models, for which total volune is small but profit on each sale is hefty. Since the global body line is almost in place everywhere, Toyota plants building the same car in different countries can promptly share production-line fixes.
5	3711	2004	Toyota's global body line program started in 1996 with trials at a small, labor intensive plant in Vietnam that assembles Camrys. The following year it was installed at a more automated plant in Japan that produces Prius hybrid cars. Since then it has gone to work in France, Britain, and the US. Whether people or robots are doing the welding, the underlying architecture is the same: a single pallet that supports the parts from the inside.
6	3711	2004	As GM develops the next-generation Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups for 2008 it aims to reuse much of the existing platform. That should cut development costs in half, to nearly $3billion. GM is putting its global resources behind its platforms, mining its European and Asian affiliates for vehicles, engines, and architectures that can deliver new cars to North America.
7	3711	2004	Japanese have shortened vehicle life cycle to five years- in part by relying on platform-based development, which allows them to conserve both cash and engineering resources.
8	4512	1991	Since SouthWest flies short distances, all its aircraft are Boeing 737s. Using single aircraft type saves significantly on training, maintenance and inventory costs. Southwest also gets aircraft into and out of gate faster than anyone else.
9	4512	1996	Western Pacific's 12-plane fleet consists exclusively of Boeing 737-300s, which simplifies training, maintenance and inventory control.
10	4512	1997	To cut costs, Alaska got rid of its inefficient 727s, reducing its fleet to just 2 types of planes and gaining big savings in maintenance, training and parts inventories.
11	4522	1997	Atlas's significant market position with 17 B747-200 aircraft market and non-union pilot costs make it a competitive low cost operator in the airport-to-airport international airfreight markets.
12	4899	1996	Nokia spends less on R&D than its competitors–6.4% of sales. A few years ago Nokia bet that one digital phone system, called GSM, would become the standard. It saved millions by not developing infrastructure equipment for other standards.
13	4900	1989	Keeping plants small, simple, and standardized means Cogentrix can build them in the relative blink of an eye–14 months.
14	6021	1996	Citibank is replicating model branches developed in Chile and Greece around the world, instead of reinventing them in each market.
15	8361	1997	The idea of achieving growth through enabling aging-in-place appears to be the choice among the larger Assisted Living companies. The challenge is to find the balance between the cost of the staffing requirements for the additional health care and return.

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