Any development project, no matter in which industry, is connected with different kinds of risk:
Value Engineering, consequently and systematically applied in combination with FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis) is an excellent management tool to creatively identify and assess all types of risks mentioned above and also to develop solutions by using different creativity techniques to prevent/eliminate or reduce risk factors and situations for a company.
This paper explains techniques which have been applied very successfully during the past 15-20 years in the manufacturing as well as in the construction industry.
The integration of Value Engineering with Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) is a powerful combination which many manufacturing organizations are using today to ensure the best value proposition is offered to the customer. In fact the leading company producing DFMA software, Boothroyd and Dewhurst Incorporated, has just recently released a new version of their software which allows the user to classify all of the components in a bill of material (BOM) for a product into functions for easy identification and sorting. Value Engineering ensures that the right product to meet the customer needs is offered at the lowest possible cost with the performance or function that the customer demands. It starts with understanding what your customer requirements are, knowing how to develop those requirements into function terms, assigning costs to those functions, and then ensuring that the product which is designed meets those customer requirements at the cost they are willing to pay for those required functions over the life cycle of the product. Sounds easy, but without Value Engineering techniques to help manufacturing companies with this process, many organizations fail to deliver the right products to the customer.
After you are sure you know what the customer wants and have an initial concept in mind, DFMA helps manufacturing organizations optimize the design with respect to manufacturing capabilities to ensure that the customer is obtaining a product which truly brings them the best value. Delivering only those functions that the customer wants and minimizing those functions which the customer doesn’t care about, or is not willing to pay for.
At Sanmina-SCI, we have used the VAVE technique on many products in the telecommunications and industrial sectors, such as internet routers and switches, wireless RFID (radio frequency identification) and industrial controller. In the last ten years, we have conducted numerous joint VAVE sessions with our major customers, which resulted in tens of millions of dollars in cost reductions, improved quality and waste elimination. We will present to the audience our approach and a few case studies done recently.
Since year 2001, we have co-developed with a major customer, an accelerated way of conducting VAVE sessions, which was necessary due to time limitations. We can complete a VAVE session on a complex PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) or a chassis within one day. To achieve it, we prepare and distribute all required information two days prior to the group session. Three phases are completed during the one day session: Function and cost analysis, creativity and ideas evaluation. Finally, the phases of development and presentation, followed by implementation and follow-up are done in the next few weeks after the joint VAVE session, via weekly conference calls.
Sanmina-SCI’s core VAVE expertise consists of four engineers and is promoted by the sales department, to which they belong. Two engineers specialize in electronics, and two in mechanical design. Activities are mainly conducted in North America, but VAVE services are also available in Europe with local, additional resources. Among Sanmina-SCI’s customers, all sizes of companies are eligible to benefit, as long as they provide their resources and commit to follow the process. For example, the customer’s designers are invited at the session to present the functionality of the product in scope. That information is a must to do the functional analysis. It also contributes to educate the multidisciplinary team of Sanmina-SCI on the product’s characteristics.