<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?><InstanceReport xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><Version>2.4.0.8</Version><ReportLongName>1090 - Disclosure - COST REDUCTION ACTIONS</ReportLongName><DisplayLabelColumn>true</DisplayLabelColumn><ShowElementNames>false</ShowElementNames><RoundingOption /><HasEmbeddedReports>false</HasEmbeddedReports><Columns><Column FlagID="0"><Id>1</Id><IsAbstractGroupTitle>false</IsAbstractGroupTitle><LabelSeparator>

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</LabelSeparator><Level>2</Level><ElementName>us-gaap_RestructuringAndRelatedActivitiesDisclosureTextBlock</ElementName><ElementPrefix>us-gaap_</ElementPrefix><IsBaseElement>true</IsBaseElement><BalanceType>na</BalanceType><PeriodType>duration</PeriodType><IsReportTitle>false</IsReportTitle><IsSegmentTitle>false</IsSegmentTitle><IsCalendarTitle>false</IsCalendarTitle><IsEquityPrevioslyReportedAsRow>false</IsEquityPrevioslyReportedAsRow><IsEquityAdjustmentRow>false</IsEquityAdjustmentRow><IsBeginningBalance>false</IsBeginningBalance><IsEndingBalance>false</IsEndingBalance><IsReverseSign>false</IsReverseSign><PreferredLabelRole>terseLabel</PreferredLabelRole><FootnoteIndexer /><Cells><Cell FlagID="0" ContextID="D2013Q2YTD" UnitID=""><Id>1</Id><IsNumeric>false</IsNumeric><IsRatio>false</IsRatio><DisplayZeroAsNone>false</DisplayZeroAsNone><NumericAmount>0</NumericAmount><RoundedNumericAmount>0</RoundedNumericAmount><NonNumbericText>&lt;div style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold;" size="2"&gt;NOTE 9&amp;#8212;COST REDUCTION ACTIONS&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;On January&amp;#160;22, 2013, the Board of Directors of the Company approved a cost&amp;#8211;reduction action to cease manufacturing at the Company&amp;#8217;s East Windsor, Connecticut facility after being notified that its largest customer selected an alternative supplier. In addition, the Company executed headcount reductions of approximately 130 employees on a global basis through the second quarter of 2013.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;In conjunction with these headcount reductions, the Company recognized severance and related benefits of $13 and $1,281 in cost of sales and $78 and $383 in selling, general and administrative expense for the three and six months ended June&amp;#160;30, 2013, respectively.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;A rollforward of the restructuring accrual, which is recorded in accrued liabilities in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets was as follows:&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style="text-align:left;WIDTH: 60%; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; MARGIN-LEFT: 1.5in;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="60%"&gt;

&lt;tr style="padding:0;"&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 74.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="74%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 4.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="4%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="center"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 20%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="20%" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="center"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold;" size="1"&gt;June&amp;#160;30,&lt;br /&gt;
2013&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.66%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="center"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="padding:0;"&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 74.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="top" width="74%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: -10pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 10pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;Balance at December&amp;#160;31, 2012&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 4.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="4%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.3%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;$&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 18.7%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="18%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: right; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="right"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;200&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.66%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="padding:0;"&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 74.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="top" width="74%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: -10pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 10pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;Additions&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 4.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="4%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 20%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="20%" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: right; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="right"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;1,664&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.66%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="padding:0;"&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 74.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="top" width="74%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: -10pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 10pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;Cash utilization&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 4.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="4%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 20%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="20%" colspan="2"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: right; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="right"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;(1,800&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0.375pt; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.66%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BACKGROUND: #cceeff; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" bgcolor="#CCEEFF" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr style="padding:0;"&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 74.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="top" width="74%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-INDENT: -10pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 10pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;Balance at June&amp;#160;30, 2013&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 4.16%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="4%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2.25pt double; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.3%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;$&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 2.25pt double; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 18.7%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="18%"&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN: right; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;" align="right"&gt;&lt;font style="FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman; FONT-SIZE: 10pt;" size="2"&gt;64&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; WIDTH: 1.66%; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in;" valign="bottom" width="1%"&gt;
&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
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