Mar 4, 2015 -- Developing efficient and cost-effective products is what every manufacturer eyes for to stay ahead in a competitive market. It requires a chain of engineering ideas, technical expertise and right tools to devise products with a better acceptance rate from the consumers. While ensuring that the product meets customer expectations, it is also crucial to maintain its cost-effectiveness.

In order to achieve a balance between the quality and cost, value engineering serves to be extremely useful, allowing manufacturers to produce high quality and low cost products that offer consumers value for their money. Value engineering or VE is a systematic approach that aims to add value to the product or service while keeping the resources utilization to minimum. Most often, the use of VE is focused on cost reduction; however, this method can be applied for several other benefits as well.

Some of the reasons to integrate value engineering in the product development cycle are discussed here:

Improve Product Quality

The process of value engineering involves identification of better design alternatives and manufacturing processes that cost less and still provides the needed quality. Rather than conventional cost saving methods, the standards of VE involves functional phase as well which requires evaluation of the functions or processes involved in the product manufacturing. Comparing the functions can help in eliminating the processes that do not meet project goals. This in turn helps in identification of alternative processes and improvement in the product designs.

Lower Costs

The VE approach requires determining areas in the development cycle that cost more and eliminating or reducing them to ensure that the same product can be developed with least financial investment. Additionally, optimized manufacturing processes and tools help in reducing the development time as well, which in turn helps manufacturers in achieving organizational goals more effectively.

Develop Better Attitudes in Staff

As the entire product development cycle undergoes a rigorous quality control process, it indirectly helps in developing better attitudes among the working staff. This helps in developing a healthy and positive environment in the organization, which is essentially required to drive innovation in the product development.

Improve Resource Utilization

Value is measured as a ratio of function to resources and as such VE aims to get the best out of the available resources, which helps in reducing the possibilities of wastage significantly. Identifying the resources availability and maximizing their utilization helps in improving the production efficiency. The use of tools and skills are applied exactly where required, churning out maximum output.

Compete Better in the Market

VE helps manufacturers in placing their products at a competitive price in a highly volatile market. Since the VE approach improves the product quality while reducing its cost, it is bound to get a good response from the potential customers. With better and cost-effective products in hand, manufacturers can get the advantage against their competitors.

About Author:

Gaurang Trivedi is engineering consultant at Hi-Tech Outsourcing Services. Besides, donning multiple hats, as a website manager and marketing in charge, he also oversees the editorial content, coordinating and managing the website, its news sections, blogs and social media promotions as well.