The role of value engineering in the sustainable construction projects

By : Hussein Ali Mohammed University of Karbala

What is Value Engineering ?

Value Engineering (VE) is a management technique that seeks the best functional balance between cost , reliability and performance of a product , project , process or service .

What is Value Engineering ?

Value Engineering (also called Value Analysis or Value Management) is a powerful problem-solving tool that can reduce costs while maintaining or improving performance and quality requirements.

What is Value Engineering ?

Value Engineering can improve decision-making that leads to optimal expenditure of owner funds while meeting required function and quality level .

What is Value Engineering ?

The success of the VE process is due to its ability to identify opportunities to remove unnecessary costs while assuring quality , reliability , performance , and other critical factors that meet or exceed customers expectation .

What is Value Engineering ?

VE: An organized study of functions to satisfy the users needs with a quality product at the lowest life cycle cost through applied creativity .

What is Value Engineering ?

There are many tools and techniques being applied in a VE in its quest to improve value , these tools include the FAST diagram , creative thinking technique , life cycle costing and weighted scoring techniques and others . These tools are useful in eliminating unnecessary costs .

What is Value Engineering ?

The value engineering helps organizations compete more effectively by: -Decreasing costs -Increasing profits -Improving quality -Solving problems -Saving time -Using resources more effectively

Value Concept
Value engineering concentrates on the effectiveness through stating functions, goals, objectives, needs, requirement and desires. Then define the quality features that make the product more acceptable. Finally, generate VE Proposals that meet the requirements at the least possible Life Cycle Cost.

Value Concept
VE is a balance between Function, Quality and Cost as shown in figure :
Function

Value Engineering

Cost

Quality

Value Concept
Function +Performance + Quality Best Value Worth = Cost

Function, Performance and Quality Must Meet the Owners Minimum Requirements

Best Value Worth can be Defined as the Least Cost to Accomplish the Function to an Acceptable Degree
Note that Increased Costs Lowers Best Value Worth - Unless there is an Equal or Greater Increase in Function, Performance or Quality

Value Concept
Function: The specific work that a project must do. Quality : Customer requirements, desires and expectation ,or Fit for Use or the Value-Added benefits Life Cycle Cost (LCC): The initial Cost plus all the associated cost of running the facility. The running cost covers energy, maintenance, repair ,replacement ,staffing ...etc. etc. Over all Expenses = Real Cost + Waste Waste: any process that does not add value to the projects

Value Concept
Value is defined as a fair return or equivalent in goods, services, or money for something exchanged. Value is commonly represented by the relationship: Value Function/Resources where function is measured by the performance requirements of the customer and resources are measured in materials, labor, price, time, etc. required to accomplish that function.

Value Concept
A value methodology focuses on improving value by identifying alternate ways to reliably accomplish a function that meets the performance expectations of the customer.

VE Applicability
VE can be applied during any stage of a projects design development cycle . However , the greatest benefit and resource savings are typically achieved early in the development and conceptual design stages. This is a point in time where the basic information of the intended product is established ,but before major design and development resources are spent .

VE Applicability
VE may be applied more than once during the life of the project. Early application of VE helps to get the project started in the right direction, and repeated applications help to refine the projects direction based on new or changing information. It is important to note that the later that a VE study is conducted, the higher the cost of change will be to implement the improvements.

Savings And Costs Of Value Engineering Time (Life Cycle) Concept

Preliminary Design

Detailed Design

Construction

Best VE cost saving opportunities occur early in project

Cost of making changes increases with time

Constructive VE opportunity

Destructive Intervention

Plan for VE - Why is Earlier Better?

Why do Projects have Unnecessary Costs?

-The absence of local specifications

-Lack of information (objectives, requirements, costs) ) (

-Exaggeration in the fundamentals of design and standards - Exaggerate the factor of safety (Safety Factors) -Not to take advantage of modern technologies.

Why do Projects have Unnecessary Costs?

-Poor relations and coordination between the concerned authorities to take decision - Lack of appreciation and identification of cost at the outset - Rely on assumptions without facts - Focus on initial cost and not the life cycle cost. - Limited time available for Design and studies .

VE Job Plan
JOP PLAN
PHASE 1: Information Phase PHASE 2: Function Analysis Phase

PHASE 3: Creativity Phase

PHASE 4: Evaluation Phase PHASE 5: Development Phase PHASE 6: Presentation Phase

VE Job Plan
Information Phase Further familiarization of the project by the team; all team members participate in determine the true needs of the project. Areas of high cost or low worth are identified. The team reviews and defines the current conditions of the project and identifies the goals of the study.

VE Job Plan
Function Analysis Phase The team defines the project functions using a two-word active verb/ measurable noun context. The team reviews and analyzes these functions to determine which need improvement, elimination, or creation to meet the projects goals.

VE Job Plan
Creative Phase: The team lists creative ideas generated from its review of the project with the aim of obtaining a large number of ideas through brainstorming and association of creative proposals. The team employs creative techniques to identify other ways to perform the projects function(s).

VE Job Plan
Evaluation Phase Creative ideas are analyzed , and the team selects the best ideas for further development. The team follows a structured evaluation process to select those ideas that offer the potential for value improvement while delivering the projects function(s) and considering performance requirements and resource limits

VE Job Plan
Development Phase
The team prepares alternative designs with capital and/or life cycle cost comparisons of original designs and proposed alternatives. All recommendations are supplemented with written descriptions, sketches, basic design concepts, technical information and cost summaries. The team develops the selected ideas into alternatives (or proposals) with a sufficient level of documentation to allow decision makers to determine if the alternative should be implemented.

VE Job Plan
Presentation Phase The objective in this phase to present the VE study report to the decisionmakers ,the report includes a statement of the follow-up necessary to ensure implementation ,the presentation may be in written form or both written and oral .

What is a sustainable(Green) Building?

Green or sustainable buildings are sensitive to: Environment. Resource & energy consumption. Impact on people (quality and healthiness of work environment). Financial impact (cost-effectiveness from a full financial cost-return perspective).

What is a sustainable(Green) Building?

low life cycle costs in energy, water and Resources better comfort and health conditions for users higher satisfaction and productivity levels increased rents and occupancy rates improved value for all components of building

What is a sustainable(Green) Building?

The financial benefits of green buildings include: -lower energy, waste disposal, and water costs -lower environmental and emissions costs, lower operations and maintenance costs - savings from increased productivity and health.

Factors affecting sustainability

Economy

Functionality
Durability Aesthetics Ecology Health Socio-Cultural Sustainability

Value engineering and sustainability

VE consists of a systematic job plan , which would guide the team through problem seeking and solving in a coordinated manner . This job plan would ensure that sustainability issues would be part of the efforts generated to produce the proposal of VE

Value engineering and sustainability

VE process can be adapted to align stakeholder views and to develop jointly acceptable strategies for moving towards agreed ,long term sustainable solutions .

Value engineering and sustainability

The proposal of VE produced from the workshop would include features that protect the environment ,social interest and long term economic return .

Value engineering and sustainability

The capabilities of VE in improving sustainability consideration are summarized as below : -skill-mix participants provide an opportunity to disseminate and broaden sustainability knowledge. - team working and coordination in VE practices would increase the chances of sustainability being considered effectively in VE

Value engineering and sustainability

-Structured job plans can systematically guide a sustainability agenda in detail. -The use of function analysis to identify sustainable issues as project function . -Availability of tools and techniques within VE to assist in the decision making process and to ensure the concern on sustainability is relayed from one stage to another .

Value engineering and sustainability

-The series of workshop would enable continuous attention on sustainability performance . -Action plans following the accepted proposal ensure sustainability plans or design being implemented . -VE proposals which are both cost efficient and fulfill sustainability needs could provide evidence to persuade clients towards this approach in the future . -The tools and techniques are reliable to eliminate any unnecessary cost -Availability of facilitators to guide sustainability into the process and bring awareness to the members .

For Value Sustainable Building

Sustainability Factors
Economy Functionality Durability Aesthetics Health Socio-Cultural Information Phase Function Analysis Phase Creativity Phase Evaluation Phase Job Plan Schematic Design

Sustainable Building for best Value

Development Phase Presentation Phase

Value engineering and sustainability

VE process enables social, economic and environmental values to be considered in developing alternatives. VE process does not depend on a single right answer for sustainability, or a specific calculation. VE report documents how sustainability was specifically address on the project

Value engineering and sustainability

the design team can contribute information on innovative design, building technologies and sustainable Materials. suppliers can contribute to the decision making process with information, for example, on raw material extraction techniques or energy consumption figures The major and sub-contractors will be in a position to provide information on sustainable construction techniques including on-site waste management

Value engineering and sustainability

At project level, sustainability means balancing value, risk and waste within project parameters. Issues surrounding the use of land, types of materials and construction techniques, regeneration issues and community needs, are all considered. The use of value engineering tools and techniques in the delivery of best value and sustainable construction strategies.

VALUE INDEX AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The use of VE to approach sustainability gives a brand new focus on this theme. Value index, in particular, can become a significant element for a new strategy towards sustainability issues.

VALUE INDEX AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

We can define the value index for the sustainable development as: Is = Ws / Gc Ws is the total sum of sustainability worth, and Gc is the sum of global costs of the items analyzed in service life. Sustainability worth can be defined as the function related cost of components that perform a sustainability requirement (i.e. an insulating panel in a energy saving building), in analogy with the general VE definition of worth.

VE Can Help Teams and Projects Be More Sustainable

VE its Multi-disciplinary approach helps explore sustainability from other perspectives Sustainability can be used as a performance criterion Different elements of sustainability can be weighted Sustainability can be a brainstorming target VE teams can consider sustainability in making recommendations Improved sustainability can be the goal of a VE workshop

VE Can Help Teams and Projects Be More Sustainable

Identify & prioritize project values amongst stakeholders; Generate innovative and creative solutions to improve issues such as energy use, air quality Maximize system efficiency and alleviate consumption of natural resources Decrease both capital and life-cycle costs. Seeks best value for money spent; Ensures you do the Project Right (cost effective).

Sustainability in the VE Job Plan

Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria Analyze Function Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas

Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability

Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Information Phase
Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria Analyze Function Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas

Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability

Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Develop & weigh project specific sustainable performance criteria that reflect environment, social and economic issues.

Function Analysis Phase

Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria Analyze Function Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas

Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability

Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Include Sustainability objectives as functions - encourage alternate modes - reduce waste - conserve energy

Creative Phase
Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria Analyze Function Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas

Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability

Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Brainstorm Sustainability Targets How do we encourage alternate modes?

Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria

Analyze Function

Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Evaluation Phase Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas

Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas Facilitator ensures some sustainability ideas are carried forward to development

Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria

Analyze Function

Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Development Phase
Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Develop Ideas that Improve Sustainability Evaluate social, economic, environmental benefits (not just capital cost of idea).

Gather Information Develop Sustainable Performance criteria

Analyze Function

Generate Idea Brainstorm Sustainable Targets

Presentation Phase
Present Ideas Consider Sustainability in recommended ideas Develop and Expand Ideas Develop Ideas that improve Sustainability Evaluate and Rank Ideas Consider Sustainability When Ranking Ideas

Consider Sustainability in Recommended Ideas Integrate sustainability with project goals and objectives. Show how Value is improved.