By Prof. Emad W. Shublaq, PhD (Civ, Leeds), CPEng, CVS-Life, FIEAust, F, ASCE, FSAVE, FAITD – President, SAVE-International Australia & New Zealand Chapter
Lawrence (Larry) Miles from General Electric (GE), USA, had come up with a revolutionary method in 1947 to overcome the shortage of resources due to the World War II crisis and devastation. The challenge to overcome needed to address the increasing demand of customer`s orders with shortages in labor and materials. Miles had to tackle this issue of no on-the-shelf ready-made prescription to substitute or replace the conditions faced at his manufacturing department.
Tremendous and overwhelming attempts have been made to find a solution to address this issue GE was facing with their existing customer base and to thwart their competitors. Miles and his team creatively came up with a function-based technique called Value Analysis. This paradigm shift focusing on the item or product’s function and focusing on customer-centered needs drove the analysis we do today and answers the questions “What does the item do?” and “What must it do?”
Before the end of World War II, additional spare parts were transferred from flourishing European countries (revolutionized industries) to the U.S. and assembled at production lines then packaged and delivered as planned. This means that the shortage of material and lacking available resources had led the GE staff to smartly thinking outside the box and come up with value alternatives.
Move forward to today and history is repeating itself. Unlike war in the 1940’s, value practitioners in 2020 are dealing with labor and material shortages brought across the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is becoming “the monster behind the scenes.“ This situation is impacting all players in product manufacturing and has a global impact never seen before in the industrialized world.
Before I proceed and go further, let me quote the concerns and forecast about the Value Methodology (VM) from my dear friend and mentor Dr. Stephen J. Kirk, CVS-Life, FSAVE, FAIA. In a 1999 article from Interactions, Dr. Kirk gave some thoughts to what VE would be in 2020 noting the follow concerns:
- How will SAVE International serve its members?
- What will value practitioners and managers be doing in the year 2020?
- What trends or developing issues are out there that may hold clues to what the future might be like?
(Reference: President`s Message 2020 visioning for the future of SAVE International, page 2, Interactions, February 1999.)
The good news, on one hand, which may support Dr. Kirk`s strategic vision, is that the VM is continuing to spread around the world and becoming more acknowledged and recognized. This is partly due to two recent publications from SAVE International, the VM Guide and the Function Analysis Guide.
On the other hand, we could say that Dr. Kirk would be concerned that COVID is bringing a downturn somewhat in the number of VE studies being executed. According to Australia news media, this is reflected by VE studies and training which have declined by almost 25% in most of the countries due to the continuous lockdown and ill economy.
The lessons learned here is that we should revive and invigorate our skills and talents as an expert in VE and always find solutions, ideas and alternatives without letting up like Miles did in the 1940’s during contentious times of hardship. And this is what we learned from the practices then and reinforce due to the hallmarks of the Value Methodology.
Luckily, the internet and communication media are still running and functioning, and we can use these platforms instead of face-to-face meetings and conferences. Maybe this is a gift in disguise to allow a more global approach for VE practiced from anywhere in the world and potentially allow facilitators the ability to attend SAVE events every year and lead studies without leaving the confines of their home workspace.
Finally, we want to remind practitioners that there is a glimpse of hope during this precarious situation and we should never give up (our predecessors didn’t). For VE fans and foes, we are the ones who create the hopes and overcome the challenges ahead of us.
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