Value Engineering Value Engineering from the Perspective of Competitive Advantage by Edwin B. Dean Value engineering is also known as function analysis , value analysis , and value management. Value engineering is essentially a process which uses function cost analysis to reduce cost. But times and needs have changed. The definition of value as used by value engineering in America is different from the definition of value in design for competitive advantage. In design for competitive advantage, value is defined as the measure of customer choice.
Value is a function of quality, as well as cost.
However, the strong focus on cost reduction disqualifies Value Engineering as a general method for evaluating quality. Since value is a function of quality, this implies that value engineering, as practiced, must be disqualified as a general method for evaluating value. As practiced today, value engineering largely ignores the fact that customer choice is usually based upon far more than minimum essential product function. Actually, a similarity exists in that the derived product functions are those which felt by the team to relate to why the customer will buy the product, as opposed to being the technical functions of the parts. However, it does not complete the customer desire versus function matrix of Comprehensive QFD to assure that they really are the functions which the customer demands or which will go further and delight the customer.