Where & Why Value Engineering Goes Wrong with Capital Projects

May 24, 2022

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Description:

Value engineering (VE) as a technique was first developed in the U.S. during World War II to cope with the problems inherent with wartime shortages of key components. Since these shortages existed, innovative methods were required as a workaround to solve these problems. While the origins of VE were in U.S. manufacturing, the technique has spread to numerous other areas including retail, construction, and services sectors in the U.S. and throughout the world. VE has acquired other names including value analysis, value management, and value improving practices. Whatever the name, VE has been widely successful in improving value in a variety of areas. However there have been many other instances where VE has not been successful, or those invoking the VE name have incorrectly implemented the technique or do not really practice genuine VE. This has resulted in professionals, across a variety of sectors, viewing VE as only a simple cost reduction technique. Correctly applied, it is far more! This topic arose from the presenter’s extensive VE experience on teams related to capital projects and reflects years of discussions with practitioners in the construction industry. The material presented herein is the information thus obtained, which has been distilled into various categories related to capital construction projects.

Presenter:

Dr. Neil Opfer, CCP CEP PSP FAACE
University of Nevada Las Vegas, College of Engineering

Neil Opfer has extensive experience in the construction industry in various construction positions and as a construction faculty member and construction consultant.  He has been employed in the construction divisions of such firms as Inland Steel (Arcelor-Mittal), Morrison-Knudsen (URS), CE Lummus, and Standard Oil of California (Chevron).  He has been on the faculty of the Construction Management Program – College of Engineering at UNLV since 1989.  He has been a licensed general contractor in the State of Nevada since 1999.  He has had extensive experience in construction consulting for a number of ENR Top 400 Contractors and Fortune Top 500 Firms.  He received a PhD. Engineering from University of Wisconsin - Madison, an M.S. Management (MBA) from Purdue University along with a B.S. Building Theory, B.A. Economics, and B.A. Business, all from Washington State University.  He is a member of numerous professional associations (AACE, AIC, AWS, CFMA, CMAA, IESNA, and PMI) plus maintains CCP, CEP, CPC, CSHM, PMP, and PSP certifications. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International.