Through this improvement, Myers extended it to other parts of the enterprise, made in-depth and systematic research on the function, cost and value of the product, and put forward the methods of function analysis, function definition, function evaluation, and how to distinguish necessary functions from unnecessary functions and eliminate the latter, and finally formed a scientific method of providing necessary functions at the lowest cost and obtaining greater value. 1947 was published as Value Analysis.
After World War II, L.D. Myers, an engineer of American General Electric Company, first put forward the concept of purchasing not the product itself but the product function, which realized the substitution between different materials with the same function, and then developed into a technical and economic analysis method to reduce the cost on the premise of ensuring the product function. From 65438 to 0947, he published the book Value Analysis, which marked the formal birth of this subject. [Edit this paragraph] 2. The development of value engineering 1954, the US Navy applied this method and renamed it value engineering. Because it is an effective method to save resources, improve utility and reduce cost, it has attracted wide attention all over the world. In 1950s, Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany studied and introduced this method. 1965 or so, it has been widely used in Japan. China introduced it in 1979, and it has been applied in many industries such as machinery, electric power, chemical industry, textile, building materials, metallurgy and materials.
Since then, value engineering has made great progress in engineering design and construction, product research and development, industrial production, enterprise management and other aspects, resulting in great economic and social benefits. Countries all over the world have initiated and applied promotion to carry out training, teaching and research. [Edit this paragraph] III. Definition of "value engineering" Value engineering (VE for short), also known as value analysis (VA for short), refers to an organized creative activity that focuses on the functional analysis of products or operations, aims at improving the value of products or operations, and strives to achieve the necessary functions required by products or operations at the lowest life cycle cost. Some people call it functional cost analysis. Value engineering involves three basic elements: value, function and life cycle cost. Value engineering is a kind of engineering technology theory, and its basic idea is to exchange the required functions with the minimum cost. The main goal of this subject is to improve the economic benefits of industrial enterprises, and the core content is to promote the improvement of old products and the development of new products.
1, the concept of value. The "value" mentioned in value engineering has its specific meaning, which is different from the concept of value in philosophy, political economy and economics. The "value" in value engineering is a "measure to evaluate the beneficial degree of things". High value means that this thing has a high degree of benefit, great benefit and many benefits; Low value refers to low degree of benefit, poor benefit and little benefit. For example, when people buy goods, they always want to be "good and cheap", that is, to spend the least price in exchange for the most and best goods. Value engineering defines "value" as "the ratio of the function of an object to the total cost of obtaining the function", that is,
V=F/C
Where V is "value", F is function and C is cost.
2. Functional concept. Value engineering holds that function has different meanings for different objects: for an object, function is its use or utility; For homework or method, function is the function it plays or the purpose it wants to achieve; For man, function is the task he should complete; For an enterprise, function is the product and utility it should provide to the society. In a word, function is an attribute of an object to meet a certain demand. Careful analysis of the connotation of "function" expounded by value engineering is actually equivalent to the connotation of use value, that is to say, function is the concrete expression of use value. Any function, whether it is aimed at machines or engineering, is ultimately aimed at certain needs and purposes of human subjects, and ultimately serves the survival and development of human subjects, so it will eventually be reflected in the corresponding use value. So the so-called "function" of value engineering is actually the output of use value.
3. The concept of cost. The so-called value engineering cost refers to the consumption of manpower, material resources and financial resources. Among them, human resources are actually the expression of labor value, and material and financial resources are the expression of use value, so the so-called "cost" of value engineering is actually the input of value resources (labor value or use value).
Value engineering [edit this paragraph] IV. The basic feature of value engineering 1 is based on the functional requirements of users.
2. Analysis function.
3. Systematically study the relationship between function and cost.
4, the direction of efforts is to enhance value.
5, need to cooperate, organized, planned, according to the procedure.
Five, the basic procedure of value engineering activities
The whole process of value engineering activities is actually a process of technical and economic decision-making, and its basic procedure is:
① Select the value engineering object. The specific principles of selection are: a. From the perspective of product structure, choose complex, bulky, expensive and poor performance products; B. From the manufacturing point of view, select products with large output, high consumption, complex process, low yield and occupying more key equipment; C. From the perspective of cost, choose products with significant cost ratio and high unit cost; D. From the point of view of sales, choose products with great user opinions, poor competitiveness and low profit; E. From the perspective of product development, select products that are being developed and will be put on the market. Specific selection methods include: key selection method, percentage method, product life cycle method, etc.
② Collect relevant information. The collected intelligence data, including business objectives, business policies, production scale, business effects and other information, as well as various economic data and historical data, are finally systematically sorted out, and the basis for evaluation and analysis is found.
③ Functional analysis. Functional analysis is the function of systematically analyzing products, components, components of products or details of a project, and calculating its value, so as to further determine the direction, focus and goal of value engineering activities. Functional analysis is the core and important means of value engineering, which mainly includes the following aspects: a. Define requirements for the analysis object; B. define the functions that the analysis object should have; C. classify functions, and further clarify and concretize functions; D, determining the functional system, drawing the functional system diagram, and determining the relationship between functions; E. Conduct functional evaluation to determine the focus, sequence and objectives of value engineering activities (i.e. the expectation of reducing costs), etc.
(4) Put forward improvement suggestions and draw up improvement plans.
⑤ Analysis and evaluation scheme. The commonly used methods of scheme evaluation include: advantages and disadvantages enumeration method, scoring evaluation method, cost analysis method, comprehensive selection method and so on.
⑥ Feasibility test. On the one hand, it verifies the accuracy in the process of scheme selection, finds possible mistakes, and further corrects the scheme; On the other hand, the feasibility of the scheme is proved from the aspects of performance, technology and economy.
⑦ Check the implementation and evaluate the results of value engineering activities. [Edit this paragraph] VI. Ways to improve the value of value engineering: taking products produced by enterprises as examples. The value of product is the ratio of product function to its life cycle cost, that is, function refers to the ability to meet requirements, that is, use value; Life cycle cost refers to the total cost or expense of product design, manufacturing, storage, sales, use, maintenance and scrapping.
Therefore, the ways to improve product value are:
① Reduce the life cycle cost without changing the product function;
(2) improving the product function while maintaining the original life cycle cost of the product;
③ It not only improves the product function, but also reduces the product life cycle cost;
④ The product life cycle cost has increased, but the product function has been greatly improved;
⑤ Although the product functions are reduced, the product life cycle cost is greatly reduced.
Seven, the theoretical defects of value engineering
At present, value engineering has the following theoretical defects:
1, the so-called "value" of value engineering is actually the ratio of output value to input value, which is often called "value benefit". It is not difficult to find that the so-called "value" of value engineering, relative to the concept of value rate (the ratio of output value to input value of the system in unit time), can be considered as a value rate without considering the time factor. Value engineering defines "functional cost ratio" as an objective standard to judge the value of a project. This standard is actually a standard to judge the development characteristics of engineering things, but it does not take into account the time factor. With the continuous development of social productive forces, the value connotation indirectly endowed by time (although time itself has no direct value) is getting bigger and bigger, and the influence on the development characteristics of things is getting bigger and bigger. Theory has proved that the decisive factor that determines the fundamental future of things' survival and development is the value rate of things, and the decisive factor that determines people's fundamental attitude towards things is also the value rate of things, not the functional cost ratio. Therefore, the parameter to calculate and compare the value characteristics of different engineering things should be the value rate, not the ratio of function to cost.
2. The connotation of the so-called "function" of value engineering is limited to people's material meaning rather than spiritual meaning, limited to social economic aspects rather than political and cultural aspects.
3. The connotation of the so-called "cost" in value engineering is also limited to the physical meaning and does not involve the spiritual meaning of people, and it is also limited to the economic aspects of society and does not involve the political and cultural aspects. [Edit this paragraph] VIII. The development direction of value engineering: facing the world
As a modern management technology, value engineering has strong practicability and maneuverability, but it is not studied at a higher level, with insufficient theoretical depth and narrow thinking space. At the same time, in the face of all kinds of complicated things, the mathematical model is single, which is not conducive to better and more effectively playing its role in promoting social productivity.
In fact, many non-engineering social systems also hope to achieve the maximum functional effect at the lowest cost, and can also conduct value analysis. It is not only the basic idea of value engineering, but also the basic idea of many disciplines to obtain the optimal function at the lowest cost. SAVE (American Society of Value Engineers) changed its name to SAVE International, 1996, and put forward the slogan: the value society. The new club number and slogan are facing the world, facing the value field of all disciplines, and cooperating with all organizations or individuals whose purpose is to improve value, which indicates that value engineering has begun to go to the world and other disciplines. [Edit this paragraph] 9. The development thinking of value engineering In order to achieve great development, value engineering must break through the original theoretical framework and thinking space, and study value engineering problems with a broader vision and more universal significance. We can expand the theoretical framework and thinking space of value engineering from four aspects:
1. Enrich the connotation of "function", expand the extension of "function", dialectically analyze and uniformly measure different forms of functions. "Function" refers to the utility that the characteristics of things can produce for the specific purpose of the target object. At present, value engineering generally only analyzes and measures functions in the physical sense, and can further analyze and measure them in the economic sense, rather than in the value sense. Therefore, it is difficult to analyze and compare different forms of functions, and there is a lack of unified measurement standards, measurement methods and measurement units. Although the function of all things has one or several direct or indirect target objects, the ultimate target object is human subject; In the final analysis, the purpose of people's demand for functions is to maintain and develop their own essential strength (for individuals, it is to develop personal labor ability and for society, it is to develop social productivity), that is, the ultimate utility of any function is to maintain and develop its own essential strength, which is the essence or core of the function, so any specific function is essentially a direct or indirect use value. From the above analysis, we can see that any form of function or use value can be analyzed and measured by unified standards, methods and units from the perspective of axiology, so that the extension of function extends from material function to social, economic, political and cultural functions.
2. Enrich the connotation of "cost", expand the forms of "cost", dialectically analyze and uniformly measure various forms of cost. The formation, maintenance and development of any function of things are based on a certain cost. The "cost" paid by human society to obtain functions is mainly reflected in the input of manpower, material resources and financial resources. Value engineering can only analyze and measure the costs with economic and resource significance, and the unit of measurement is usually money, but it is difficult to analyze and measure those non-economic costs, so it is greatly limited. From the analysis of the connotation and extension of cost, we can see that any form of cost is ultimately the cost of labor value or use value, which can be analyzed and measured by unified measurement standards, methods and units from the perspective of axiology. In this way, value engineering can objectively analyze and measure many complex and diverse cost forms, thus expanding the extension of cost from economic and resource costs to social, economic, political and cultural costs.
3. Enrich the connotation of "value", incorporate the time factor into the connotation of value, dialectically analyze and uniformly measure the value of many things or systems. In value engineering, "value" is the ratio of function to cost, which can only reflect the relative amount of input and output of a thing or system in a certain period of time, but can't reflect the value rate of return (that is, the value rate) of this thing or system, and can't reflect its input and output efficiency in unit time. Further analysis shows that the competition between things or systems is not the competition of input-output ratio, but the competition of value rate. The greater the value rate of a thing or system, the faster its development speed, that is, the distribution direction and flow speed of various value resources are based on the value rate. The greater the value rate, the clearer the distribution direction of value resources and the faster the flow speed. The significance of comparing the value of things or systems should not be based on the input-output ratio, but on the input-output efficiency or value rate of things or systems. Only when the function and consumption are linear with time, the "value rate" is equivalent to the input-output ratio of the system and the definition of value in traditional value engineering (that is, the ratio of function and consumption). Expanding the connotation of "value" can help us analyze and measure the value characteristics of multi-morphological, nonlinear, dynamic and multi-level material systems and social and humanistic systems, thus greatly improving the objectivity, accuracy and application scope of value engineering.
4. Enrich the connotation of "engineering", expand the extension of "engineering", and make dialectical analysis and unified measurement of "engineering" systems in different social fields. The great and profound influence of the development of science and technology has made the word "engineering" widely used in non-material fields such as economy, politics and culture, and the word "system engineering" has been generalized (of course, fashionable and abusive rhetoric and big talk are not included). However, value engineering usually takes general material systems (especially manufacturing and engineering systems) as the research object, and rarely involves social economy, politics, culture and other fields. At present, the connotation of "engineering" should be understood in a broad sense, not limited to "artificially made material systems", but should be extended to "all material systems and intangible systems that serve a certain value purpose of human society" In fact, social organizations, social groups, institutions, cultural traditions, ethics, science education and law and many other social things have their specific functional characteristics. At the same time, the establishment, maintenance, development, dissemination and operation of these social things require certain manpower, material resources and financial resources, that is, everything has its specific functional value, but also its cost and consumption, so it can be analyzed. Expanding the connotation of "engineering" can help us analyze, compare and measure the value characteristics of various types of economic, political and cultural systems, thus further expanding the application scope of value engineering. [Edit this paragraph] X. The main means of developing value engineering takes into account the systematicness, hierarchy and classification of value, and vigorously expands the thinking space of value theory research and practice, and the content will be extensive and rich. To sum up, the main means to expand value engineering are:
1, broaden the research horizon. It makes people know a lot of complex and interrelated value information, such as the new trend of philosophical axiology, the new trend of economic axiology and the new development of "negative entropy" theory of natural science, which makes value engineering develop into a new modern science.
2. Open up new research fields. Make value engineering face more disciplines, especially humanities, expand the scope of research and application, and thus develop into an open science.
3. Introduce new research ideas and advanced research methods. Strive to absorb the outstanding achievements of social science and natural science, and make value engineering develop into an advanced science.
4. Promote the "great unity" of value theory and the great integration of natural science and natural science. Make value engineering develop into a highly universal, controllable, objective and accurate science.
5, unite and absorb the majority of non-engineering academics. Establish a broad United front of value theory, constantly expand its influence, let more people care about and participate in the research work and practical activities of value engineering, form a strong joint force of theoretical research and social practice, and make value engineering develop into a popular science. This is not only a blessing in the field of value engineering, but also a blessing in the whole field of value theory. [Edit this paragraph] XI. Value Engineering magazine was founded in 1982.
"Value engineering" is a modern management technology which is recognized all over the world and closely combines technology, economy and management. It is also an important management concept. The value-oriented principle and innovative essence of "value engineering", as well as its multi-disciplinary characteristics, will have great influence and positive promotion on management innovation, product innovation, technological innovation and organizational innovation.
2 1 century is an era in which value determines the outcome.
Value analysis (VA), value engineering (VE) and value management (VM) are all in pursuit of value creation and improvement, and will also extensively assist enterprise leaders and managers to coordinate and comprehensively handle the relationship among quality, cost, market share, information and innovation.
Value engineering (VE) helps enterprises to occupy the market with high quality and low price products!
Value analysis (VA) helps enterprises reduce costs and improve economic benefits!
Value management (VM) helps enterprises move from physical management to value-based value management!
Member of editorial board
Journal of University Value Engineering Committee of China Higher Education Society
Comprehensive Evaluation Database of Chinese Academic Journals Source Journals China Core Journals (Selected) Database includes journals.
China periodical network full-text periodical China academic periodical (CD-ROM version) full-text periodical
Wanfang data-Periodicals included in the number database of digital periodical group.
China standard serial publicationNo.: CN 13- 1085/N International standard serial publicationNo.: ISSN1006-431.
Honorary Advisor: Yuan Su
Editor: Huang Jinkui.
Editor: Gao Mingxin
Deputy editors: Wang Naijing, Shen Qiping and Song Hui.
However, after a period of rapid development of value engineering, theoretical research and application are relatively stagnant, and the topic selection of the paper lacks innovation, which urgently needs to expand the thinking space of research and practice. [Edit this paragraph] Other viewpoints Value Engineering (VE), also known as Value Analysis (VA), is a new management technology and an effective method to reduce costs and improve economic benefits. It originated in the United States in the 1940s, and Myers was the founder of value engineering. 196 1 When the American Value Engineering Association was founded, he was elected as the first chairman. After World War II, due to the shortage of raw materials, procurement often encountered difficulties. After unremitting exploration in practical work, Myers found that some materials are relatively not in short supply and can well replace the functions of scarce materials. Later, Myers gradually summed up a set of effective methods to solve the procurement problem, and extended the idea and application of this method to other fields, such as combining technology with economic value to study other problems in production and management, which was the early value engineering. After 1955 was introduced into Japan, this method was further developed and became a more mature value analysis method. Myers' monograph "Value Analysis Method" has made value engineering have a great influence in the world.
The so-called value engineering refers to the functional analysis of products or services through collective wisdom and organized activities, so that the target can reliably realize the necessary functions of products or services at the lowest total cost (life cycle cost), thus improving the value of products or services. The main idea of value engineering is to improve the value of the selected research object by analyzing its function and cost. The theoretical basis of value engineering is the value theory formula V=F/C (F function: functional importance coefficient C cost: cost coefficient V value: functional value coefficient).
The five main ways to improve value are:
1, cost unchanged, function improved (f =/c→ = v =)
2. The function remains unchanged and the cost is reduced (F→/C↓ = V =)
3. The cost is slightly increased and the function is greatly improved (F = large /C = small = V↑ = small).
4. The function is slightly reduced, and the cost is greatly reduced (F↓ small /C↓ large = V↑)
5, cost reduction, function improvement (F = C = V = large)
In the long-term practice, Myers summed up a set of principles to guide every step of value engineering activities. These principles are: (l) When analyzing problems, we should avoid generalization and conceptualization, and make concrete analysis. (2) Collect all available cost data. (3) Use the best and most reliable information. (4) Break the existing framework and innovate and improve. (5) Give play to real originality. (6) Find out obstacles and overcome them. (7) Make full use of relevant experts to expand professional knowledge. (8) For important tolerances, they should be converted into processing expenses and seriously considered. (9) Try to use ready-made products from professional chemical plants. (l0) Use and purchase the production technology of professional chemical plants. (1 1) adopts special production technology. (l2) Try to adopt standards. (13) Take "whether I spend my own money like this" as the criterion. In this 13 principle, 1 to 5 belongs to the requirement of thinking method and mental state, and it is innovative to ask for it; Articles 6 to 12 are the requirements of organizational methods and technical methods, and it is proposed to emphasize specialization, specialization and standardization; 13 puts forward the judgment standard of value analysis.
To carry out value analysis, we need to choose the object of value engineering first. Generally speaking, the object of value engineering is to consider the needs of social production and operation and to improve the potential of object value itself. For example, if we can reduce the cost and improve the value by selecting raw materials that account for a large proportion of the cost, then this value analysis will have a great impact on reducing the total cost of the product. When we are faced with emergencies, such as product functions and raw material costs in production and operation, researchers generally use empirical analysis, ABC analysis and percentage analysis. After selecting the analysis object, it is necessary to collect the relevant information of the object, including user demand, sales market, scientific and technological progress, economic analysis and the actual ability of the enterprise. The number of schemes and the implementation results that can be determined in value analysis are closely related to the accuracy, timeliness and comprehensiveness of information. With comprehensive information, we can enter the core stage of value engineering-functional analysis. At this stage, functions should be defined, classified, sorted and evaluated. After analysis and evaluation, analysts can put forward a variety of programs and choose the best one to implement. After the implementation plan is determined, a specific implementation plan should be formulated, and the contents, progress, quality, standards and responsibilities of the work should be put forward to ensure the quality of the implementation of the plan. In order to grasp the results of the implementation of value engineering, it is necessary to organize the evaluation of the results. Performance evaluation is generally based on the economic and social benefits of implementation. As a technical and economic analysis method, value engineering realizes the close combination of technology and economy. In addition, the uniqueness of value engineering lies in its emphasis on improving the value of products, focusing on the development stage and taking functional analysis as its own unique analysis method.
Value engineering has developed into a relatively perfect management technology and formed a set of scientific implementation procedures in practice. This implementation procedure is actually a process of discovering, analyzing and solving contradictions, which usually revolves around the following seven logical questions: (1) What is this? (2) What is this for? (3) How much does it cost? (4) What is its value? (5) Is there any other way to achieve this function? (6) What is the cost of the new plan? How is the function? (7) Can the new scheme meet the requirements? The process of answering and solving these seven questions in turn is the working procedure and steps of value engineering. That is, selecting targets, collecting intelligence data, performing functional analysis, proposing improvement plans, analyzing and evaluating plans, implementing plans, and evaluating the results of activities.
Although value engineering originated from the study of materials and substitutes, this principle soon expanded to various fields, with a wide range of applications, which can generally be applied in two aspects: First, in engineering construction and production development. The large one can be applied to the analysis of an engineering construction or a complete set of technical projects, and the small one can be applied to every product, component or equipment produced by an enterprise. This method can also be applied to the analysis of raw material adoption. Specific methods include: engineering value analysis, product value analysis, technical value analysis, equipment value analysis, raw material value analysis, process value analysis, parts value analysis and process value analysis. Second, in terms of organization and management. Value engineering is not only a political and technical method to improve the value of engineering and products, but also a scientific method to guide decision-making and effective management, which embodies the idea of modern management. This scientific idea and technology can also be applied to the management of engineering construction and product production. For example: business varieties, construction plans, quality, products, management methods, and value analysis of operating institutions.
In practice, when we apply the concept of value engineering to the field of human resources, people naturally become the object of value research. We can analyze people's functions, and then use the value coefficient evaluation to determine people's value and group value, and then determine the implementation plan or improve the actual plan, so as to achieve the purpose of improving the performance of organizational personnel.
Seven principles to be observed in VAVE activities:
The principle of customer first
(2) the principle of value promotion
(3) the principle of functional thinking
(4) the principle of economic thinking
(5) the principle of creative thinking
(6) the principle of flexible use of information
(7) The principle of team design
Value engineering reference website: /view/59 1 140.htm? fr=ala0_ 1