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Value Engineering , Design Engineering Handbook

Engineering Applications and Design

Value Engineering, Design Engineering Handbook

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Value Engineering, Design Engineering Handbook

Preface

Everybody ought to be interested in Value Engineering (VE)! As wage-earners, the application of VE is helping American industry maintain its economic position in world markets, thereby protecting our jobs and careers.

As consumers, we today purchase many products at not only lower prices, but with greater value as well, because the manufacturer of those products is applying VE as an effective management tool.

Even then, the reader was being asked to consider the application of a cost saving technique that was not really new; it dated back to 1947. But in those 13 years, VA was coming of age. Wherever the technique had been intelligently and open mindedly applied, it had been successful. For instance, the preface to the first edition pointed out that: “Most Value Analysis case histories show not only spectacular savings but enhanced product performance and reliability as well”.

In retrospect, it has become evident that many did “take a look” - individuals and management alike. And what’s more, they must have liked what they saw, because the methodology for identifying and for placing a dollar sign on value is, in a very practical and rewarding manner, becoming a way of life throughout the Department of Defense/Industry community. With this acceptance and practice of the methodology have come rapid developments in the state of the art, and in the point of its application lo the product cycle. What was once considered second look, Value Analysis - whereby the methodology was applied only after the entity of the product was well established - began moving back in the product development cycle for a first look into the design aspects of the product. Thus what was originally christened Value Analysis, synonymously became known as Value Engineering (VE) - a confirmation that served to justifiably raise the status of (and respect for) the technique.

Value Engineering is therefore no longer on trial. It has proved itself repeatedly. But in spite of its name, its success has not come as a technological technique, but as a potent economic tool for management. Why? Because the record shows, without reservation, that the technique must have the rigorous and unqualified backing of management. Where VE has received this kind of support, management has reaped a return on investment in the order of 15:l. This kind of performance, management understands!

But management must also understand that VE is basically a simple technique, in spite of all the attempts to adorn it with erudite trimmings - an ornamentation that can only serve to stifle its simplicity and reduce its return. Management should. serve as the VE board of directors, establishing policy for the use of the tool, but leaving the actual application of the tool to trained and qualified VE specialists.

This places quite a responsibility on the VE specialist. But then to successfully apply VE, requires a very specid type of specialist; he is expected to be a gregarious technologist, a creative thinker, an expert communicator, and, above all else, a super salesman. Why? Because in spite of the success of VE to date, the market for its application, both within and without the military establishment, has only been scratched. DOD wants more Value Engineering Change Proposals (VECP’s). Industry wants more effective ways to cut costs. The VE specialist can help both of them!

TOC

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1. WHAT IS VALUE ENGINEERING (VE)
CHAPTER 2. THE CHALLENGE OF VALUE ENGINEERING
CHAPTER 3. ORGANIZING FOR VALUE ENGINEERING
CHAPTER 4. APPLYING VALUE ENGINEERING
CHAPTER 5 . COMMUNICATIONS IN VALUE ENGINEERING
CHAPTER 6 . THE VE/DOD/INDUSTRY COMPLEX