Quaker oats faced a similar situation. Prior to 1991, Quaker oats evaluated its business segments on the basis of quarterly profits.To keep quarterly earnings on an upward march,segment managers sharply discounted products at the end of each quarter. This resulted in huge orders from retailers and surges in production at Quaker's plants at the end of each three-month period. This practice is called trade loading because it"load up the trade"(retail stores) with product. However, trade loading is expensive because it requires massive amounts of capital(e.g.,working capital,inventories,and warehouse to store the quarterly spikes in output).Quaker's plants in Danville,Illinois,produces snack foods and breakfast cereals. Before EVA,the danville plants ran well below capacity early in the quarter. Purchasing, however, bought huge quantities of boxes, plastic wrappers,granola,and chocolate chips,in anticipation of the production surge of the last six weeks of the quarter. as the products were finished,Quaker packed 15 warehouse with finished goods.All costs associated with inventories were absorbed by corporate headquarters. Thus, they appeared to be free to the plant managers,who were encouraged to build ever higher inventories.The advent of EVA and the cancellation of trade loading led to a smoothing of production throughout the quarter, higher overall production(and sales), and lower inventories.Quaker's danville plant reduced inventories from $15 million to $9 million. Quaker has closed one-third of its 15 warehouse, saving $6 million annually in salaries and capital costs.