Fringe Effects of Value Engineering. A Survey Prepared by the Technical Subcommittee, Aoa Special Committee on Value Engineering for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Installations and Logistics)

摘要

The Department of Defense is currently taking steps to greatly increase the application of value engineering techniques to defense equipment and supplies. Since it is a widespread feeling among persons not directly involved in value engineering work that value engineering 'cheapens' a product and lowers its performance capabilities, it was requested that the American Ordnance Association undertake a study of representative items, arbitrarily selected, to determine whether or not this feeling was true. It was further suggested that the study document the impact in terms of such factors as reliability, maintainability and other fringe effects. The special committee on value engineering established the survey format and boundaries and actually applied value engineering principles to preparation of the survey. Some of the problems encountered in preparing this survey were ones of definition. For example, although it is clear what the difference is between a class I and a class II change to the individual contractor, it is possible that a class I change for a subcontractor would be a class II change for a prime contractor. The ground rules established to this problem were: if the change necessitated a modification to the prime contract, it was counted as a class I change. If the change did not require a contract modification to the prime contract, it was counted as a class II change.