English

We work for project teams and their managers in civil projects, processing plants (food, petrochemicals) and for machine manufacturing. Our value engineers operate on various projects all over the world. We have performed on civil projects, e.g. railroads, transportation consessions, highways, tunnels, bridges and airports, on food processing plant expansion projects, greenfields, and trainings. From first design, to redesign, maintenance and asset management. We also work proces oriented e.g. Project Performance Indicators (CPI, dashboards), system and design measurement, maintenance and planning, enabling strategic planning on short and long term. We did so in the implementation of new environmental laws, the replacement of the Dutch fleet of sea vessels, multiple mechanical projects, and e.g. software systems.
We train engineers, controllers, risk management, project managers and their management to think, work and contract from a value perspective. Getting the most value for money out of your projects.
We help to enrichen project planning and project control by value thinking and value planning (moving from bookkeeping towards value management). Many people know by heart they can improve the value of their assets and designs; by doing and training we show how to effectuate it.

Value Engineering is usually a short but intensive intervention in a projects’ life cycle. It is often performed in a workshop of 1 up to 5 days with relevant stakeholders and the project team. For large engineering jobs these days can happen in more weeks.
It always consists of a function analyses (what should it do when it is ready?) and a creative phase (how else can it do so?).
It takes preparation time to have all informed and set the goals and outline for the study. ValueFM knows the how-to.
Most successful European value engineering studies are performed according to the European standards for Value Management (EN 12973). In the United States and abroad the standards of the Society of American Value Engineers (SAVE) are often set as requirement. Value FM operates and is fully certified for both standards.

Value engineering can serve multiple purposes in a project. Some examples:

• Improving value by cost saving
• Make valuable designs with focus on your values (e.g. capacity, sustainability, safety, and health)
• Design for more value
• Challenge teams to generate more value
• Audit if value is generated
• Do it right from the beginning: front end loading

You want results, such as..

• • Better Terms of Reference during 1) idea generation; 2) design; 3) execution.
  • Better cost forecasts (good for budgetting)
  • Better designs
  • Faster design process
  • Support for results by all stakeholders
  • Justification of the investments (sponsors)
  • Searching actively for creative solutions to mitigate risks and incorporate chances

Value Engineering is in many industries recognized as a value improving practice (VIP). We apply value engineering effectively and efficiently, according to European and North American standards, using cutting edge expert software.

Value Engineering is mandatory in the UK and Netherlands for some types of government projects.

If you have performed a good value engineering study in your project, then:

• you design the right thing
• you design it right
• you deliver best value for money
• you know the major risks and issues plus mitigating measures
• you have alternatives
• you know where the bottom line is
• you can prove and explain the values
• you have satisfied clients and stakeholders: it is the best value for money

A Value Engineering study can be very useful, if one ore more of the following conditions is met:

• Cost cutting is needed
• Project change proposals raise costs
• Cost estimates raise above budget levels: design is too expensive (or budget too low..)
• Uncertainties if this is the right design
• Many issues to be solved
• Tender documents are insufficient for contracting purposes (especially the design documents with performance requirements).
• If project sponsors want the project justification, or if managers need to make complicated decisions
• Your client requires a Certified Value Specials CVS

Value Engineering can be done in various stages of the project. The more advanced the project, the more detailed systems and objects are investigated. However, a study always requires a check and balance to see if the top level requirements are still met and valid. Value Engineering studies are performed in the following phases:

• Initial idea creation phase
• Design development phase
• Contracting execution phase
• Maintenance phase
• Evaluations:
  • Ex ante (prior) of each phase
  • Post evaluation of each phase
  • Annual evaluation (once a year)
• Usually: once or twice in a project lifecycle; but can be integrated in the daily way-we-work.

A VE-study is usually executed together with the project team, the major stakeholders, users of the results, some external experts, peers, and facilitated by a Value Engineer.

A VE-study can also be carried out by a complete external team (kind of audit). The study delivers a VE-report, with sketches, ideas, costs and logic reasoning how to proceed. That is a sound basis to decide upon. A groups’ average size is about 10 people and varies between 5 and 50.

Value Engineering studies are performed best on the location where it wil happen in the future when the project is ready. It can be e.g. the building site, a youth community, on the interface of a nature reserve and urban areas, in the city or in a factory.

Site visits generate new information that was not available before. A value team that has contact with people who work with the results, alway has more inspiration for alternatives that work and remain sustainable.

ValueFM works worldwide and cooperates with a wide range of matter experts of various companies. ValueFM provides the value engineering process; the project teams gives their knowledge, and we identify possible competence gaps and seek for the best experts to complete the team.

We work in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Also visit our page dedicated to e-learning!

We have trained most of the value engineers in the Netherlands and train abroad as well. We train delegates and we perform value engineering ourselves. This combination keeps us fresh, up to date and we have plenty of examples during our trainings. We educate according to the European standards VM1, VM2 up to VM3, and/or to the SAVE-standards (USA) VMF1 and VMF2 including the corresponding official certificates. Our training received exceptional ratings by the participants. We have two types of training: one focusses on Civil Engineering, the other focusses on Machine and Manufacturing.

VM1 (value management 1: introduction)
The purpose of this 3-day course is to provide a good understanding of the principles and practice of value management. The course is an important precursor of training in value study leading and design and is the first part of the preferred route to a formal qualification in Value Management (certification by EGB, Value for Europe).

Learning objectives:
•Understand VM and VE and the difference between them
•Be aware of the need to design Value Studies
•Know core tools and techniques
•Be able to apply specific tools
•Experience of key processes
•Emotional understanding of VM
•Awareness of personal behaviour and team impacts
•Positive attitudinal and motivational change to VM

Designed for:
Anybody who is interested, can follow the course. The specific audience who would benefit most of knowing about Value Management are project managers, business owners and managers in general. They initiate Value Management studies and should know when and for what purpose VM could be applied. Furthermore, the course is the first step towards formal qualification in Value Management and is therefore of interest for those who wish to apply Value Management on a professional level. This could be consultants (self-employed or working at a consultancy or engineering firm) or support departments within larger client organisations. The course is also for individuals who wish to participate more effectively in a value study as a team member, or who may wish to use the basic tools as part of their normal job.

Overview:
Value Management (VM) (also known as Value Engineering) is a worldwide renowned approach to optimise the ratio between the level of fulfillment of needs versus the amount of means sacrificed. In many companies this is recognized as a Value Improving Practice (VIP). Needs and means can be measured and objectified, but the decision how much to invest in what result is highly subjective, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved. Value Management facilitates decision making in this subjective field. Governments and companies apply VM as a best practice in order to get the best value for money on investments made.

You will learn how to reach the typical goals of Value Management:
– Saving costs while preserving basic needs (up to 20% in early stages and 5-10% later in design);
– Accelerate design;
– Align organization-, business- and project goals better;
– Commit stakeholder
– Make projects more cost effective and improve business cases.
Value Management is a design philosophy and methodology which is applicable on basically everything, e.g. on products, processes, projects, programs, and can be used in all development stages and on subjects of different sizes. This makes Value Management very versatile, pragmatic and lean to use. Fit for purpose. The 3-days version of our VM1 course is to provide a good understanding of the principles and practice of value management. The course is an important precursor of training in value study leading and design and is the first part of the preferred route to a formal qualification in Value Management (certification by EGB, Value for Europe).

VM2, VM3:
The courses VM2 and VM3 are for value engineers who want to explore value engineering further, become facilitator and e.g. extend their capabilities to design studies in international context. After VM3 the European title of PVM is obtained. This is comparable with the American title of CVS. These levels require some days training, but also that the value engineer has facilitated some VE-studies.
We maken trainings made to measure, fit for your needs and organisation. Mail us for more information.