By Jim Bolton, PE, CVS-Life, PVM, FSAVE, FINVEST
I was fortunate to be able to attend the 33rd Indian Value Engineering Society (INVEST) International Conference on Value Engineering for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth which was held at the Hotel Swissotel in Kolkata, India on November 24-25, 2017. This year’s conference was organized by the Eastern Zonal Council of INVEST and the tenth Annual INVEST Conference that I have been asked to speak at since 2008. It was an honor to mingle with the approximately 200 attendees who made the effort to participate at this very well-organized conference.
There were three technical tracks again this year with approximately 64 papers presented over the two-day conference from a variety of companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consulting, TRF, Mahindra and Mahindra, Larsen and Torso, Allegion, John Deere, Danfoss, Jusco, HCL, York and others. Since I was the only SAVE International member from the US whom attended the conference this year (it was difficult for others to attend since the conference started the day after Thanksgiving), the local leadership team asked me to participate in the traditional candle lighting ceremony which kicks off every INVEST Conference.
The INVEST National President, Mr. P S Reddy, who is also a Managing Director at TRF Ltd, gave the welcoming address. Following his welcome, various awards were presented with the first one going to Tata Steel Ltd as the winner of the Handa Golden Key Trophy (for the organization which best demonstrates the true application of Value Engineering in a systematic manner and has realized that benefit). Then the Prof. Vasant Rao Trophy was presented to Tata Motors Jamshedpur as the winner of this award for an organization which is the second best to the winner of the Golden Handa Trophy.
The Soundaram Kannappan Medal was presented to Surya Prabhakar of Tata Steel Ltd as the INVEST member that delivered the most number of lectures outside of his own organization in a public forum on Value Engineering in the previous financial year. The spirit behind this award is to encourage INVEST members to spread the message of Value Engineering widely and effectively.
I was asked to deliver a short update on the changes to the SAVE International Certification Program, as well as a 30-minute keynote speech. This year, I spoke on ‘Building an Internal Value Methodology Program for Sustainability and Growth’.
I was also honored to be able to present my annual Bolton Scholarship Award to the individual or team that wrote and presented the best technical paper at the conference. These papers were judged against the strict criteria for the award based on the principles in the Function Analysis Guide. The judging committee is made up of the INVEST Certified Value Specialists.
This year there were again three tracks and I am very proud to announce that both the winner and runner-up to this award (whom INVEST will send to the Society of Japanese Engineers [SJVE] Value Engineering Conference) were two teams from Mahindra and Mahindra, whom I mentored for about four years. The winners will have the opportunity with the scholarship money to present their paper at the SAVE International 2018 Value Summit in Austin, Texas (if SAVE accepts their paper).
The first-place team is from Mahindra’s tractor division and the second place team is from their Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) division. Overall, from my experience, the general quality of the technical papers is improving each year at the INVEST annual conferences, and there is some excellent value engineering work being done in many manufacturing and now even some construction organizations within India.
Finally, I would like to congratulate the INVEST Eastern Zonal conference committee for doing an excellent job in not only organizing but in managing the complete event. It is always my pleasure to attend these events as they bounce around India from East to West to South to North.
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