Application of Value Engineering in
Construction Job Sites – A Case Study
Mr. O. Arivazhagan
Chief Executive Officer,
International Institute of Project Management (IIPM),
Chennai.
Dr. P. Partheeban*
Professor and Dean (Academic)
Department of Civil Engineering
St. Peter’s College of Engineering and Technology,
Chennai
Mr. V. Guru
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
St. Peter’s College of Engineering and Technology,
Chennai
Dr. P. Priya Rachel
Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
St. Peter’s College of Engineering and Technology,
Chennai
Abstract— Value Engineering (VE) is a function-oriented
technique that has proven to be an effective management tool for
achieving improved design, construction, and cost-effectiveness in
various transportation program elements. Value Engineering is
one of the most effective techniques known to identify and
eliminate unnecessary costs in product design, testing,
manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance, data,
procedures and practices. In this study, a questionnaire survey
was conducted for Tamilnadu State, India. The questionnaire
survey mainly focuses on how effectively value engineering is
applied in construction industry and how much the employees
are aware of the concept of value engineering and its
effectiveness. It is observed that at the initial stage the employees
have very good awareness and in due course of project the
awareness has gradually reduced. It is concluded that 20
percentage of them are not following specific procedure for
implementing value Engineering and remaining 80 percentage
following Value Engineering.
Keywords—Value Engineering, Construction Projects, Cost
Saving, Effeciveness
I. INTRODUCTION
Value Engineering (VE) is systematic method to
improve the "value" of goods or products and services by
using an examination of function. VE (value engineering) was
developed at General Electric Corp. during World War II and
is widely used in industry and government, particularly in
areas such as defense, transportation, construction and
healthcare. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost.
Value can therefore be increased by either improving the
function or reducing the cost. It is a primary theory of value
engineering that basic functions be preserved and not be
reduced as a consequence of pursuing value improvements.
Value Engineering (VE) within the construction
industry is an organized process of reviewing a project with
the goal of eliminating unnecessary costs within the project.
Dell’Isola [1] defines unnecessary cost within the project as
any item that does not provide quality, use, life, appearance or
customer features to the project. While the elimination of
unnecessary costs through the performance of formal value
engineering studies has been proved to be successful in
government funded construction projects, the owners of small-
scale private construction projects appear reluctant to embrace
the value engineering process.
Value analysis is a relatively new system which
traces its origins back to the late 1940's. The concept was
conceived by Lawrence D. Miles [2], the author of Techniques
of Value Analysis and Engineering. It is a system developed
for the elimination of unnecessary costs. Value Analysis and
Value Engineering is designed to help understanding the
unique techniques of value analysis, learning the value
analysis job plan, appreciating the major factors in value
analysis, and understanding the role of the value specialist in
relation to the rest of the organization.
The reasoning behind value engineering is as follows,
if marketers expect a product to become practically or
stylistically obsolete within a specific length of time, they can
design it to only last for that specific lifetime. The products
could be built with higher-grade components, but with value-
engineering they are not because this would impose an
unnecessary cost on the manufacturer, and to a limited extend
also an increased cost on the purchaser. Value engineering
will reduce these costs. A company will typically use the least
expensive components that satisfy the product's lifetime
projections.
The goal of a VE study is to achieve design
excellence. The VE team is look for the optimum blend of
scheduling, performance, constructability, maintainability,
environmental awareness, safety, and cost consciousness. The
VE process is not meant to criticize today's designs or
insinuate that the regular highway design process is not
providing acceptable designs. The designs being prepared
today are good designs, they can be built, and they will
function as intended. The following are the objectives of the
study:
To apply the value engineering methodology in the
construction job sites / industry for achieving cost
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effectiveness, reduction in construction time and improve
the safety.
To identify the areas where the value engineering can be
applied in order to improve the quality of construction.
To Identify the importance and benefits of application of
value engineering techniques
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Value Analysis is an important topic to be discussed
especially in the field of engineering. Many literatures has
been discussed which highlights the importance of value
engineering in all braches. The process of value engineering
was developed during World War II by Lawrence Miles [3],
an electrical engineer for General Electric Company, in
response to material shortages created during war. The war
production effort required products to be manufactured but the
material shortages forced the specification of different
materials. Lawrence Miles discovered that many of the
products being produced with the substituted materials
performed the equivalent function of the original product and
at a reduced cost. The literature related to application of value
engineering is discussed here.
Apurva [4] studied on Value Engineering in
Construction Industry. This paper presents the basic
fundamental of Value Engineering and its different phases that
can be implemented in any construction industry in general to
optimize its value. The material is chosen such that the cost is
reduced without affecting the value of the product and its
design.
A study by Amruta Chougule et.al., [5] on
Application of Value Engineering Technique to A Residential
Building –Case Study. They have applied values engineering
in a residential building. The application of Pareto Law 20/80
states that around 20 % of the functions constitute around 80%
of the cost. These functions (20%) are the subject of value
engineering. Likewise they observed that the first 6 items (out
of 16) forms 61.53% of the total cost. As a conclusion, the
area of value engineering analysis and study will be controlled
by the first six functions. Further, they told that we can do
analysis of these functions and suggest alternatives and
calculate cost model after application of value engineering
technique.
Another study on Application of Value Engineering
in Road Construction Project by Sayali Dhayalkar and
Hemanshu Ahire [6] have discussed the concept of Value
Engineering and the effective implementation on road
construction project. Their application of Pareto Law 20/80
states that around 20 % of the functions constitute around 80%
of the cost. These functions (20%) are the subject of value
engineering. Likewise it was observed that the first 3 items
(out of 13) forms 73.3% of the total cost. As a conclusion, the
area of value engineering analysis and study will be controlled
by the first three functions.
Rane and Attarde [7] studied on Application of Value
Engineering in Commercial Building Projects. Their
methodology is composed of three main stages. The first stage
is the Pre-Study of the Value Engineering. The second stage is
the Value Study which is the core of Value Engineering study
and it is composed of five phases, the Information phase,
Function Analysis Phase, Creative Phase, Evaluation Phase
and the Presentation phase. The third stage is the Post Study.
The objective during post-study activities is to assure the
implementation of the approved value study change
recommendations. In this study, the principles of Value
Engineering and the application in construction projects is
explained, and by taking case study on commercial building as
the sample project, practices of Value Engineering in this
project are described. They concluded that the area of value
engineering analysis and study will be controlled by the
functions.
Li Ning [8] carried out a study on Cost Control
Application Research of Value Engineering in the Design
Phase of Construction Project. In his paper, based on this
perspective, applies value engineering to the project design to
meet the requirements of continuously put forward the
development of the real estate design and makes the value
engineering meet the requirements of developing value
engineering theory at the same time.
Stephen Mansfield and Philip D. Udo-Inyang, [9],
Application of Value Engineering within the Construction
Industry The current perception and application of value
engineering was established through a survey questionnaire
sent to various members of the construction industry which
asked detailed questions on the participants’ knowledge and
experience with value engineering. Results were analyzed
which indicated that the majority of the survey participants do
not participate in value engineering studies and do not
understand the true concept of value engineering even though
eighty-four percent of the participants stated positively that
value engineering is performed on the projects in which they
are members of the project team.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
It has been understood from the literature review that
selecting the ways of analyzing VE plays an important role.
The value engineering is a set of procedure or an immense
performance related application to it in the construction job
site. Further, the project development and success mainly
depends on the methodology that is selected to attain the
objective. Clearly identify the problem(s) to be solved, and
gather information on the background, functions and
requirements of the project. Clearly identify the problem(s) to
be solved, and gather information on the background,
functions and requirements of the project. Understanding the
basic concept of value engineering is the important term in
correlating the process of value engineering methodology. The
orientation also deals with the process of applying in
industries and analyzing it in better predominant manner,
In this study, a set of questions were put together as a
full format and it has been correlated into a questionnaires.
The questions are only based on the awareness that every
construction industries posses on value engineering and how
VE is implemented in their industry, how team members are
selected for VE, Benefits of implementing VE , training or
workshop in VE, etc. Steps involved in the delegation of
authority involving in the industry. After preparation of
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questionnaire a pilot study was conducted to find out any
problem in the prepared questionnaire
The prepared questionnaires are submitted for a
detailed survey in a construction job site to a three levels of
workers involved in it. Workers include bondsman, engineer
and supervisor of the construction industries. The
questionnaire survey was conducted for a whole entire
Tamilnadu state. For the study the questionnaires were sent to
several construction industries in 13 districts in person and by
post. Fifty questionnaires were used for conducting survey and
got 54 % response. The collected questionnaires are analysed
based on workers level and then sorted out on the bases of
large scale construction and small scaled one. Questionnaire
can be viewed and analyzed for results at any time during the
collection process in the Analyze section of the survey. This
section mentioned about summary view of individual data ;
browse individual responses; create and export dynamic
charts; use filter, compare, and show rules to analyze specific
data views and segments; view and categorize open-ended
responses, and easily download the results in multiple formats.
Questionnaire collected are mainly analyzed with their
individual response to the concept of Value Engineering.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fig. 1 shows the rate of responses to the sent
questionnaires. The questionnaires also were meant to cover
the main players in the industry, as 40% of the responses
received were from contractors, 40% from consultants and
20% from owner’s representatives. The respondents who had
20 years of experience or more were 53% of the total
responses, while those who had experience between 10 to 20
years were 47%. It is observed that 60% of the experts
working in Chennai and the remaining 40% were working in
other parts of Tamil Nadu. In the part asking “who decides
which construction method to be used?” 73% of the
respondents chose more than one person for this task, while
27% named one person to be responsible for it. These results
are presented in Fig. 2. Project Managers about 53% of them
are designer should be one of the decision makers. While 47%
found that it should be the consultant, 33% considered the cost
estimator and the site manager and only 20%mentioned the
client.
Fig. 1 Percentage of Responses Received
Fig. 2 Percentage of Decision Makers in the Construction Method
Then 80 % stated there is a specific procedure for
selecting the most appropriate construction method. In the
other hand 20% denied that there is a specific procedure for
the selecting process. The 80% using a specific procedure
mentioned some of the factors, such as nature of crossing,
cost, equipment, workmanship skills, duration of the project,
bridge’s different physical characteristics, soil condition, the
used materials, surrounding area nature and cranes capacity.
Focusing on the field of Value Engineering, 83% of
the respondents reported that VE technique is being
implemented in order to select the most appropriate
construction method and 17% stated that they don’t use it. All
the 83% assured that the VE technique is being applied before
constructing the project. After that the respondents were
asked about the range of savings in the project’s total cost that
could be achieved by implementing the Value Engineering
Technique. 60% of them couldn’t decide the range as it varies
from a project to another, While 40% estimated that the
savings are from 20 to 25%. Only 20% of the respondents
applying Value Engineering technique have a special team
responsible for this task. The other 80% considered that it is
the responsibility of the designer or the consultant and a few
mentioned the contractor.
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V. CONCLUSIONS
Twenty percentages of the respondents didn’t have a
specific procedure for the selection process and even the
respondents who have one couldn’t specify this procedure.
This fact reflects the randomness which may occur in the
construction industry without good planning. The selection
process is highly affected by the physical characteristics of
bridges, surrounding environment (surrounding area nature,
soil subsurface conditions, nature of building and land
topography) and to a less extent by construction method
characteristics (cranes capacity and manoeuvring, accessibility
and the used material). 25% of the respondents reported that
they implement the Value Engineering technique in the
process of selecting the most appropriate construction method,
It means that the awareness of applying Value Engineering
technique is very less. All the respondents agreed that the
Value Engineering technique should be applied in the very
beginning of the project through the preliminary studies and in
the beginning of the design phase.
The respondents assured that there will be a
significant amount of savings due to applying the Value
Engineering in the range of 20% to 25% of the project total
cost. 53% of the respondents of the one who apply Value
Engineering were aware that the designer and the project
manager should select the bridge. Construction method, while
only 33% mentioned the cost estimator which is alarming.
Most of the respondents admitted that they don’t perform an
organized Value Engineering job plan as supposed. It is
obvious that the Value Engineering technique still not being
applied p as 100% of the respondents who claimed applying
the VE technique stated that they mainly depend on their own
previous experience in choosing the most appropriate
construction method, which is very confusing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge International Institute of
Project Management for sponsoring this research project. The
author’s also gratefully acknowledge the work done by
Mr.Anirudhan. M, Mr.Aravind Raj Kumar.B, Mr.Balaji. G
and Mr.Mohan Raj. S for collecting data for this research
work.
REFERENCES
[1] Dell’Isola, Alphonse J. (1974). Value Engineering in the Construction
Industry. Construction Publishing Company, New York
[2] Miles, Lawrence D. (1961). Techniques of Value Analysis and
Engineering. McGraw-Hill, New York
[3] Thiry Michel (1997). Value Management Practice. Project
Management Institute, Sylva, NC
[4] Apurva J Chavan, (2013), Value Engineering In Construction Industry,
International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering &
Management, Volume 2, Issue 12, pp. 18-26.
[5] Amruta Chougule et.al., (2014), Application of Value Engineering
Technique to A Residential Building –Case Study, International Journal
of Innovative Research in Advanced Engineering (IJIRAE), Volume 1
Issue 12, pp. 115-118.
[6] Sayali Dhayalkar and Hemanshu Ahire, (2016), Application of Value
Engineering in Road Construction Project, Imperial Journal of
Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-11, PP.101-104.
[7] Nitin L. Rane and P.M. Attarde, (2016), Application of Value
Engineering in Commercial Building Projects, International Journal of
Latest Trend in Engineering and Technology, Vol. 6 Issue 3, pp. 286-
291.
[8] Li Ning, (2015), Cost Control Application Research of Value
Engineering in the Design Phase of Construction Project, International
Conference on Economics, Social Science, Arts, Education and
Management Engineering, pp. 390-396.
[9] Stephen Mansfield and Philip D. Udo-Inyang, (2006), Application of
Value Engineering within the Construction Industry, SC Proceedings of
the 42nd Annual Conference Colorado State University Fort Collins,
Colorado.
International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181http://www.ijert.org
IJERTV6IS020054
Vol. 6 Issue 02, February-2017
(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)
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