IRJET- The Application of Value Engineering to Highway Projects and Programs

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 04 | Apr 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 3827
THE APPLICATION OF VALUE ENGINEERING TO HIGHWAY PROJECTS
AND PROGRAMS
Gopal A. Kandle1, Shital V. Patel2
1Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai
2Prof. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai
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Abstract - A big challenge to all highway agencies
is to face the needs exceeding the funds made available to
them. In developing nations, like India, the imbalance of
required funds and available funds results into an inability to
maintain and upgrade existing highways or construct new
highways. In a developed nation, thisimbalancemayaffectthe
maintenance and expansion of an existing highway network.
Large budget is allocated to Highway programs
even in the poor nations. Highway resources are generally
considered as limitless. But, every highway authority is
completely aware of the resources available to their program
are finite. To keep highway project and program costs within
available funding, they are frequently forced to eliminate or
drastically reduce the scope of projects or entire programs.
There is an alternative, to controltheexpendituresby
effective means of identifying unneededand unwantedcostsat
the same time preserving the essential elements of projects.
This process is known as value engineering (VE), and it has
been applied efficiently for over 40 years by various industries
as an engineering and management tool for cost control and
increasing profit margins, while assuring that essential
product functions are maintained.
Key Words: value engineering, improve construction,
highway construction
WHAT IS VALUE ENGINEERING?
Value engineering is a systematic and organized
approach for providing the necessary functions in a project
at the possible lowest cost. Value engineering promotes the
alternative of materials and methods with less expensive
replacement, without compromising functionality. It is
focuses on the functions of various components and
materials, rather than their physical properties. Value
engineering may also be called as value analysis.
In the highway context, products and services
include the structural elements of highways as well as the
processes, equipment, and supplies used in their
development, from concept through operation and
maintenance. The required function should be achieved at
the lowest possible cost and max life-cycle as required for
performance, maintenance, safety, and aesthetics.
This techniquewasdevelopedbyLawrenceD.Miles,
a General Electric staff engineer, in 1947. VE is greatly
recognized in manufacturing and industry throughout the
world. But its application to public works, particularly
highways, is largely limited to the United States and just
recently the Republic of Indonesia till now.
The process of VE is carried out by a multi-
disciplinary team of technical experts following a set of
procedures referred to as the VE job plan. The job plan
consists of eight phases: Selection,Investigation,Creative,
Evaluation, Development, Presentation, Close out/
Implementation.
SELECTION PHASE:
The selection phase identifieswhichprojectswill be
studied. Value engineering or value analysis is not free so
careful selection of study object must be done. It should
assure maximum returns on the investment of agency’s
resources. Projects which are good objects for VE study are
ones that:
 Significantly exceeds initial cost of estimates;
 Which have complicated designs;
 High cost & critical material requirement;
 Are difficult to construct or fabricate;
 Have questionable justification;
 Have record seeking design;
 Appear too costly to build or maintain; or
An effective tool for identifying valuestudyobjectis
Pareto’s law of distribution. Pareto’s law is based upon the
principle that approximately 20 percent of the elements in a
construction project or program will account for about 80
percent of its total cost. An example would be a highway
agency. The total cost of the 20% most expensive projects
will equal about 80 % of the total cost of all the program.
INVESTIGATION PHASE:
The investigation phase is the first of five phases
performed by the VE study team. It is also the foundation
upon which the remainder of the study will be carried out.
Three activities are performed during the investigation
phase:

1) All applicable information regarding the project
and its major elements is gathered;
2) The functions of the project and its major
elements are determined; and
3) The cost and worth of the functions of the major
elements are determined,andthefunctionswiththegreatest
potential for value improvement are identified.
Function analysis is a technique whichsetsVEapart
from other cost reduction efforts. It asks the questions,
“What must this project or project element do or
accomplish” and “What else does this project or project
element do?” The functions can be classified as utility,
aesthetic, esteem, and unwanted. In highway applications,
the utility function is the most important and the aesthetic
and esteem functions are secondary. The function is defined
in the simple term, a verb and a noun. The basic function ofa
bridge is to “cross the obstacle.” If it is designed to be the
longest, highest, etc.,structure,thentheesteemfunction may
also add the cost to the project. The heat generated bya light
bulb or the disposal of excess excavation are examples of
unwanted functions. Both are costly, but these do not
contribute to the performance of the basic functions of the
light bulb or highway.
Cost and worth are often confused, but in VE they
are very distinct. Cost is the amount of money that spent to
achieve a function using the present design, and worthis the
minimum amount that must be expended to attain the
required function. Cost will always exceed worth, but when
cost substantially exceeds worth, the potential for value
improvement is high. Those functions with costs
substantially exceeding worth are selected for further
evaluation in the VE study.
CREATIVE:
In this phase, the study team speculatesondifferent
ways of performing the functions which are having high
potential for value improvement. The team applies
brainstorming techniques to develop more efficient
alternatives to the current project design. Brainstorming
forces people to be creative. The mechanism that produces
this phenomenon is called synergism --one idea triggers
other ideas through similarities or like ideas.
The VE study team uses brainstormingtogeneratea
large list of potential solutions to the problem described by
the two-word function, which preparestheteamtoenter the
next phase.
EVALUATION:
In the Evaluation Phase, the advantages and
disadvantages of each remaining alternative are enlisted.
Each and every advantage or disadvantage is described in
general terms. The team can perform a weighted matrix
analysis depending upon the need to determine which
alternative is best. If the disadvantages are more than the
advantages of any alternative, then that alternative is
dropped from further consideration at this point.
Conducting this analysis ensures the VE objective--
to achieve the best blend of performance, cost,andschedule.
Perfection should not be the objective of the VE study team.
DEVELOPMENT:
Once the team made the selection of the best
alternatives, they are fully prepared with sketches, cost
estimates, validation of test data, and other technical work
for determining if any of the assumptions made during the
study or development phase are in fact valid or not. The
Development Phase is the final step. Team presents its
recommendations to the agency's management. The study
team construct an implementation plan which describesthe
processes that the agency must follow to implement any
recommendations.
PRESENTATION:
The final product of a VE study is the official VE
Report with the presentation of the team's
recommendations. In this phase, the VE team presents their
findings to the project decision makers,andtriestoconvince
them that their ideas should be adopted.
While making the presentation, the study team
should take care when presenting estimated cost savings or,
in some cases, increased costs associated with
recommendations. Overstating or double counting savings
must be avoided. For VE studies which take longer time to
complete, it is always better for the study team to provide
progress updates in certain intervals to the appropriate
project management staff.
The VE Report serves as a step-by-step recordofthe
work executed during the preceding phases. The report
provides documentation to support the team's
recommendations, tracks the team's deliberations and/or
considerations, and supports in implementation of the
recommendations. It can also be a useful reference tool for
future projects and VE studies for similar topics.
CLOSE OUT/IMPLEMENTATION:
No recommendation for cost savings can achieve
savings unless and until it has been implemented. However,
it may not be possible to implement each and every
recommendation proposed by team, the project decision
makers must take the appropriate decision to ensure that a
fair and serious consideration of the proposed
recommendations have taken. Main activity of the
Implementation Phase is the information sharing within the

agency as the recommendations have to be implemented on
projects. Not only does this activity promote the benefits
associated with conducting the VE studies but also it will
provide benefit to future transportation projects.
The final phase of the Job Plan also involves
determining the actual amount of savings estimated by the
VE analysis. This may depend on the amount of
recommendations implemented in the construction project
and evaluatingtheoutcomeoftherecommendationachieved
in the project.
APPLYING VE TO HIGHWAY PROJECTS AND
PROGRAMS:
Excellency in design isthegoal ofeverydesigner.No
designer would knowingly incorporate poor value into his
work, but the experiences have shownthathighwayprojects
are not different than buildings, military hardware,
automobiles, etc. Due to following reasons, poor value clips,
in the best designer’s work,commonlyattributedtohighway
projects:
 Lack of information;
 Shortage of time;
 Habitual thinking;
 Emphasis on performance at any cost;
 Changing technology;
 Misunderstood project requirements;
 Changes in conditions or project scope over
time; and
 Decisions made before the costs and/or value
of alternatives are known.
As highway professionals, designer will analyse
items on this list and then their influence on his projects.
This is not an allegation of his ability as engineers, but a
reflection of the world he must all work in. Value
engineering provides a tool for the reasonable evaluation of
our work and helps to preserve the design excellence for
which highway engineers are so rightfully proud. VE is the
early decisions taken that have the greatest influence on a
project’s life-cycle & cost.
Experience has also shown that recommendations
from VE studies done early in the project development
process have a much better chance of acceptance than ones
from studies done later. Logically, the selection of projects
for VE study should occur early in the project development
process so that the study can be conducted when the
potential for savings and acceptance is greatest. When the
design of a project has advanced to about 30 percent
completion, it is quite likely ready for VE review. For large
improvements requiring several construction projects to
complete, two or more VE studies may be appropriate: one
during early design and others as the design progresses.
Nearly all highway projects are designed by several
individual firms or small groups working independently to
achieve a more or less common goal. There is frequently a
lack of effective communication, and information sharing
between two designers, because they are not aware of its
existence; misunderstandings occur; and individual design
elements are maximized without consideration for the
project as a whole. The multi-disciplinary team approach
used in VE can overcome these communication
breakdowns. Also, working as a trueteam,theVEstudyteam
can generate more and better ideas than as individuals
working separately. This is most clearly demonstrated
during the speculation phase.
Value engineering teams are generally made up of
five to eight members from various backgrounds. Areas of
highway expertisethatshouldbeconsideredwhenforminga
team are traffic, structures, hydraulics, right-of-way,
environment, geometries, geotechnical construction,
maintenance, materials cost estimating, and many others.
The team members’ attitudes are as important as their
technical backgrounds. Members should be open-minded
and willing to work in a team environment. To assure
objectivity, it is recommended that none of the members
have direct involvement in the project being studied.
Leadership is also a critical factor in the success of the VE
study. The leader must be technically competent,
experienced in the value process, and have good leadership
qualities.
Gathering information for the VE study in Highway
projects can be a difficult task. The team must be thorough
but tactful. The required information will probably be
distributed to several offices as well. Some designersmaybe
antipathetic to provide information for a variety of reasons.
The level of development of VE recommendations can vary
depending on the needs of the highway agency. Some
develop the proposal to a point where an informed decision
can be made, but additional effort will be needed to
implement it. Others fully develop the idea into a nearly
complete design before presentation to management.Either
procedure is satisfactory as long as management knows
what they are getting and the team knows what is expected
of them. The real results of a VE program are not study
recommendations but value actually achieved.
Implementation of a VE proposal does not happen by itself.
Management must accept the proposal, the approved
proposal must be communicated to the designer, and the
designer must incorporate the proposal into the plans.
Making sure that all this happens will avoid wastage of
effort.
Following are the some parts of Highway
construction

REFERENCES:
1. Value Engineering for Highways, U.S. Department of
Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, 1983.
2. “Poor Value in Construction,” R. H. Mitchell, CVS, and D. M.
Hood, CVS; Value World, October/November/December
1986.
3. Value Engineering the Construction Industry, 3rd edition,
Alphonse J. Dell ‘Isola.
4. “Developing A Formal ValueEngineering OrganizationinA
State Highway Agency,” B. A. Lind, P.E., CVS; 1987.
5. Value Engineering Workshops ’82 to ’86, Kempter-Rossm

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