By Muthiah Kasi, PE, SE, CVS-Life, FSAVE
This issue has two interesting articles…
The first article, “Benefits of a Site Visit”, by Kristi Evans reminded me of similar experiences in my VE studies and training. I never appreciated the importance of site visits until we started relying on Google Maps. Years ago, I reviewed a project site through Google Maps. The design plans showed the construction of a culvert and based on Google maps the culvert was needed for drainage. However, when we visited the site, we found out that the local developer had built this culvert as part of his development. I learned a valuable lesson that day; current information can be assured when we visit the site only.
In another case, a site visit helped us to formulate the functions of a sidewalk. We observed elderly people in wheelchairs who were accompanied by a walking person were passing along a sidewalk. The sidewalk was not wide enough for people to pass each other with the wheelchair so the people were walking in the street to get by. The sidewalk needed to be wider. We also noticed that the crowded sidewalk was a frequent occurrence during our presence at the site. This helped us to list all the functions of the sidewalk.
The second article, “Advancement of Value Engineering through Collaboration of Universities, SAVE International and Industries” is about the collaboration between a university, SAVE and an industry. I have offered graduate level VE courses at the University of Illinois at Chicago for the last two years. It is a popular course as I have professional engineers assist in teaching the class along with me. The VE course is a wrap-up course for senior graduate students and we apply their different course knowledge in the workshop case study.
By offering training and an introduction to VE at graduate or undergraduate level raises the awareness of VE in work force. Recent efforts by SAVE to reach out to the educational societies is a step towards the PACE efforts. We need to promote college level courses in all 50 states.
Enjoy!
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