By Daniel Arockiam, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Life Member of Indian Value Engineering Society (INVEST)
The Southern Zonal Council of the Indian Value Engineering Society (INVEST SZC) planned the 2016 L.D. Miles Day and approached a few colleges in and around Bangalore to host it. The Department of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) from the Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT) came forward to organize it. BIT formed the organizing committee headed by the IEM HoD, Dr. M.C. Jagath, Value Engineering Professor, Mr. V.S. Giri, and student volunteers under the guidance of the principal, Dr. A.G. Nataraj.
INVEST formed the advisory committee comprising of the following SZC members: Mr. Daniel Arockiam, Tata Consultancy Services; Ms. Anita Lukose, CVS, Sobha Developers; Dr. H. Ramakrishna, Vice Principal Dayanandasagar College of Engineering; Mr. H. Ragavendra Rao, HCL Technologies; Mr. D.K.S.N. Murthy, CVS, and supported by other SZC members. The advisory committee reviewed the progress of L.D. Miles Day celebrations of the past few years and decided to break the regular practice of function charades and guest lectures, and wanted to celebrate 2016 as a Function Festival. The decision to conduct more function based contests was discussed with Prof. V.S. Giri, who was overwhelmed with the suggestion but immediately agreed to make it happen. The committee reviewed and finalized the following function contests, and the rules were framed and announced to the students:
- Function Photography: Photograph a product and add the function in wording. Photo to be captured in a situation/context such that viewers can understand the function without any assistance.
- VE-Toon: Create a simple and powerful cartoon on any of the value engineering tools, methods and jargons reflecting their uniqueness, supremacy and novelty.
- FASToGram: Create a poster on function analysis system technique (FAST).
- VE-Punch Lines: Create a phrase or a combination of words in the form of rhyme, and should convey a message on any of the value engineering tools, methods and jargons.
BIT students took the contests seriously and participated in mass numbers. They were encouraged, guided and coached by the IEM professors. The VE process rigor was evident in the contest submissions. The INVEST team had a tough time in deciding the top three winners in each of the contest, even though an objective evaluation was followed. Many entries ended with same scoring and the evaluation continued for multiple rounds.
The L.D. Mile’s Day function started with the welcome address, guest introduction and guest felicitation by the Head of the IEM Department, Dr. Jagath. Dr. Nataraj delivered the presidential address and explained the significance of value engineering with our daily life example Mobile Phone – how its prices came down heavily while the functionalities increased exponentially. Dr. Nataraj also explained the importance of focusing on the customers, which is the base of value engineering. The INVEST SZC Vice Chairman, Mr. Rao, talked about INVEST and its various activities to propagate value engineering in India. He noted how INVEST is collaborating with other VE professional bodies, like SAVE International, SJVE and others. Mr. Rao also explained why INVEST is having a special focus on education initiatives, like L.D. Mile’s Day celebrations, and introducing VE as curriculum in engineering institutions.
Mr. Arockiam delivered the lecture on “Function Thinking – the Foundation for Human Life”. He used lots of images from daily life in his presentation to immerse the audience with the contest, and made the participants define the functions in verb+noun format. It was a fun based learning experience for the audience and they enjoyed it.
Ms. Lukose delivered the lecture on “Function Based Innovation”. She used simple examples, like football and chair, as how their invention progress is indirectly ignited by the functions. It was an out of box thinking experience for the audience. She ended her lecture with a video on reverse action umbrella, which was invented to overcome the regular indoor wetting by regular inward closing umbrellas. This idea impacted every participant – by just reversing the action we can do wonders.
Then the function charades contest was announced and the nominations were collected on the spot. Simultaneously all the entries for the events were displayed on the walls of the auditorium for the audience to visit, read, learn, appreciate and enjoy the beauty of function.
There was a “flood of fun” inside the auditorium in the form of function charades. Sixteen teams participated – they made the floor agile and it was a nail biting moment for the audience who will crack the functions in the shortest time. Finally, a new record of nine seconds was set by BIT. The previous record was 19 seconds set during the 2014 L.D. Miles Day celebration at Dayanandasagar College of Engineering, Bangalore. Students requested the staff and INVEST members play function charades, but the INVEST members promised to play it during next VE event at BIT. The winners were awarded with certificates, and received a photograph of L.D. Mile’s and a value engineering book as gifts.
The digital copies of the entries are shown below to share the happiness with the entire value engineering world. It was a full auditorium until the end, evidence of the customer satisfaction which is the foundation for value engineering.
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