By Michael Pearsall, P.Eng., CVS, CVM, FICE, FEC
I just returned from the SAVE 2017 Value Summit in Philadelphia, PA.
It was a busy but rewarding week for me attending presentations and board meetings. Not only did it give me a chance to connect with fellow SAVE members, but I also had the opportunity to make the 7.5 hour drive from Niagara Falls to Philadelphia with a fellow practitioner seeing a few highway projects on the way, which I always enjoy, and having some in-depth VE discussions.
We were fortunate again to have a great summit venue location, with lots to see and do close by. I must give a shout out of thanks to our local hosts, in particular William (Bill) Easley, who amazed and educated me with his knowledge of the historical figures depicted at the Constitution Center and other local historical knowledge.
One keynote speaker at the summit stood out above all else for me and that was Dr. Charles (Chuck) Brandon, the director for US Army Continuous Process Improvement. Chuck is by no means a highway guy; he isn’t a CVS and as I recall he didn’t even talk about any major transportation projects. However, he had an oratory style that captured the attention of most and a powerful message we could all benefit from. Many of us, myself included, have found ourselves in boardrooms justifying our VE efforts and programs by burying the decision makers in technical details. He pointed out that we need to shift our paradigm and help our leaders understand the “Why” not the “What”.
I know most of us can quote the Return on Investment (ROI) from our studies and programs and we can talk about our various projects that were improved at length. However, are you prepared to show your senior leaders why things are better because of VE?
We were also treated to a second good keynote from Jack Kweder, Chief Operating Officer of Benesch. Benesch doesn’t do work in my market, but all of the examples he used were ones I could directly relate to. Jack’s I-94 “football bridge” example is certainly a project that Benesch should be proud to showcase. I also enjoyed his mention of their recent addition of landscape architecture to their business and how they are introducing VE there. I too have landscape architecture under my section and I have been looking for ways to better integrate VE into that aspect of highway projects.
After lunch on Tuesday, Renee Hoekstra treated us to an entertaining refresher on marketing VE. I think in the DOT-world we need to work on revitalizing our marketing, but I don’t think I will take any wardrobe tips from Renee again.
There were so many great presentations I attended that I can’t acknowledge them all here. I would like to note two however that I plan on going into further detail on in future columns as they have a direct relation to transportation.
As transportation professionals, the presentation that has the potential to help us the most was Rob Stewart’s presentation on The Development of a Value Management System Tool for Transportation Projects and Value Management Strategy’s work on NCHRP 19-11. The Value Management System Tool is a MS Excel workbook that can be used by project teams to help guide and record their workshops. There are also a series of seven training videos that have been developed to accompany this report. If you haven’t read a copy of NCHRP 19-11 yet or looked at this tool, then I strongly suggest you make it a priority. This was developed with the objective of improving the delivery of transportation projects and I think we can all benefit from it. I will be reaching out to VMS with the hope to dedicate a future column to this topic.
The second paper presentation I would like to note is Warren Knoles presentation on Post-Award Value Engineering (PAVE) Workshop – Last Opportunity for Value Savings and his work with MoDOT pioneering this concept. I won’t go into much detail on this right now as this will be covered in detail next issue. I see a lot of potential though in using this method in my own agency to increase the quantity and quality of Value Engineering Change Proposals (VECPs) and I encourage you all to take a closer look at it.
Of course, lately I can’t also stop thinking about our fellow SAVE members in Houston, Texas and the surrounding area and how they are managing the effects of Hurricane Harvey. I know there were a few who planned on being at the Summit and were not able to attend at the last moment. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge their situation; my heart goes out to all of those affected. In looking at the news, I hope that as you read this our colleagues in Florida and Puerto Rico are not also going through similar hardships with Hurricane Irma. I was fortunate to visit San Juan in August and I don’t wish any hardship on the nice people I met there.
On a happier note, I hope to see some of you in Montreal in October if you are able to travel. Our sister society Value Analysis Canada is holding their annual conference October 15-17, 2017. The VA Canada conference will feature five excellent keynote speakers, twenty expert presenters who will advance your knowledge and understanding about Value Analysis, and one panel discussion to address your questions about Value Management.
Oh…and yes, I did manage to find some time to take in the Liberty Bell and have my picture taken with it. This is an excellent example of an item with a basic function that has changed over time. I will leave it up to you to ponder this further and maybe it is something we could all use in a training example.
Until the next issue, I would like to continue to encourage any transportation professional out there who would like to share their stories to contact me at mike.pearsall@ontario.ca.
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