Value Engineering and Product Engineering

Value Engineering is coming of age° In the hands of experienced product engineers it can grow into a truly professional tool for improving the competitive position of a company. It applies the precise techniques of science and engineering to those areas of evaluation, programming, and decision-making which have heretofore been governed by intuition. In estimating, bidding, and scheduling, Value Engineering saves not only money but also elapsed time. In design, development and production, it seeks the best ratio between desirable qualities and their cost in available resources. This paper will illustrate how Value Engineering can be utilized within the conventional engineering disciplines to provide the quantitative data necessary for better balanced specifications, for reducing areas of uncertainty in product planning, and for better decisions in both product design and program management.