News & Press

Become a Sponsor of the 2024 Value Summit

Tue, 5 Mar 2024 14:00:00 GMT

SAVE International is excited to offer various sponsorship opportunities for the 2024 Value Summit being held June 2-4 in Nashville, TN.

The annual Value Summit typically attracts over 200 attendees from every continent and provides essential professional development. Participants will enhance their capability to lead teams through optimizing their projects, processes and product development, and learn how to identify and develop value and innovation.

SAVE's sponsorship offerings are designed to enhance your company’s image and deliver marketing and branding opportunities throughout the Value Summit to the global reach of the SAVE community:

1,000 Members
20 Corporate Member Companies
200+ Value Summit Attendees
2,500 Certified Professionals

Click here to view the 2024 Value Summit sponsorship prospectus.

For more information, visit www.value-eng.org/2024ValueSummit.

Thank you in advance for your support!

SAVE 2024 Value Summit Registration is OPEN

Fri, 1 Mar 2024 16:00:00 GMT

Registration is open for the SAVE International 2024 Value Summit being held June 2-4 in Nashville, TN.

The SAVE Value Summit is an annual event providing essential education and professional development to individuals that practice the Value Methodology (VM). The event is open to all individuals around the globe who are interested in learning more about the VM, including those that perform or lead value studies or would like to implement a company value program.

Visit www.value-eng.org/2024ValueSummit to register and for more information, including the schedule of events, hotel reservations and sponsorship opportunities.

We look forward to seeing you virtually this June!

BECOME A SPONSOR OF THE 2024 VALUE SUMMIT

SAVE is excited to offer various sponsorship opportunities that are designed for companies and consultants to display their support and commitment to SAVE by engaging in a variety of support options. This builds loyalty, while delivering marketing and branding opportunities to the global reach of the SAVE community.

Click here to view the 2024 Value Summit sponsorship prospectus.

Thank you in advance for your support!

SAVE 2024 Consultant Directory Now Available

Fri, 1 Mar 2024 14:00:00 GMT

The SAVE International 2024 Consultant Directory is now available and can be found on the SAVE website at www.value-eng.org/consultantdirectory. The Consultant Directory is available to view digitally or as a PDF for easy downloading and printing.

The annual Consultant Directory is the best place to find Value Methodology (VM) consultants, instructors, value study team members and support services. It includes paid listings from SAVE members and other individuals and companies wishing to promote their professional services.

The Consultant Directory is used by VM clients and practitioners worldwide as the primary resource for locating VM consultants, instructors, value study team members and support services.

SAVE International on Social Media

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 14:03:00 GMT

When you’re online in your office or on your mobile phone during the day looking through posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., please be sure to react to and comment on and/or tag SAVE International’s social media accounts…

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/save-international-33b43516
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SAVEInt/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/saveinter
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/SAVEInternational

If you, your colleagues or your company are on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, please be sure to like and follow SAVE’s social media accounts. SAVE uses these accounts to promote the Society, Value Summits, membership, certification and anything else that is important to members and others in the industry. The more people engage with SAVE, the better!

Please help SAVE “Spread the Word and the Word is VM”.

Harnessing the Power of Value Engineering

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 17:29:47 GMT

Drew M. Algase, CVS-Life, FSAVE (Vice President – Global Affairs, SAVE International), recently attended OPEX Week: Business Transformation World Summit 2017 in Orlando, FL. In this PEX Network interview, Algase talks to Andrea Charles (Senior Editor, PEX Network) about harnessing the power of value engineering and the latest trends in value innovation.

PM Point of View #25 - Advances in PM: Value Podcast

Wed, 31 Aug 2016 17:31:00 GMT

Check out a recent podcast from PMI featuring SAVE President, Mary Ann Lewis. Click here to listen.

VE Saves Council Bluffs School

Fri, 4 Dec 2015 05:00:00 GMT

New sports complex saved from financial disaster

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Middle East District’s Center of A development for a new sports complex in the Council Bluffs Community Schools District, Iowa, has been saved from financial disaster through the use of value engineering.

Current sports facilities have been painting the schools district in a bad light in the eyes of visiting athletes and the local press. However, proposed plans for a new and improved athletic complex initially also faced problems, with the original bid creeping over its estimate by $2.2 million.

Recent meetings expected bad news for the development, but thanks to value engineering studies on the site, the costs have been brought back in line with the original estimate. Among the savings, concrete thickness was reduced by an inch, sidewalk widths in certain sections were also reduced, and nonessential elements of dugouts in the baseball and softball fields were removed or downgraded.

Further to this, project manager Jared Olsen has stated that he is still working with the construction company to find further small savings without sacrificing any “wow” aspects of the project.

Board vice-president Troy Arthur was impressed with the assessment, saying “I’m really impressed that you guys dug through this and found that much to save”

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SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Napa Valley Flood Control

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Value Engineering pushes flood control projects up the priority list

Value engineering is proving vital in improving the flood defences of Napa County, CA. The project began with the recently-opened Napa River Dry Bypass, which aims to reduce severe flooding and protect the local residents, while doubling as a public park in the dry seasons thanks to its marshlands and turfed spaces.

The local government have been seeking to expand the flood defence program further with the use of flood walls in key parts of the riverside. However, the Army Corps of Engineers who assisted in the bypass development have had their reservations. The Corps had already made an estimate that suggested the costs would be too high, and that the bypass would be the last project for them.

However, this initial $179 million estimate has since been severely reduced. A value engineering study over the last year brought the figure to $92 million, while further savings were discovered separately, bringing the figure down to $76 million, cutting the costs in half.

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SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Value Engineering meets Re-Branding

Wed, 12 Aug 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Mega Corp has just acquired Mini Corp, but there are thousands of Mini Corp signs, trucks, employee uniforms and stationery floating around the country that need to be changed. The switchover in any rebranding effort can be overwhelming, confusing and expensive.

Implementix, Inc., a company that assists with new brand identity rollouts, has developed a value engineering process to streamline the minutia and complexity of replacing a company’s old brand identity on all of its branded assets, such as vehicles and signs.

Let’s say a bank acquisition assessment reveals that 2,000 signs in varying sizes exist at 350 branches in a six-state region. Without Value Engineering, local managers have to order their own signs from local vendors and oversee the installation. Not only is this time consuming, it takes focus away from the branch managers’ primary duties, increases the risk that the new brand identity is inconsistent and drives up costs.

Using Value Engineering, the varying sign sizes can be organized and consolidated into a few specific sizes and types allowing economies of scale and contracts with one or two high-quality sign companies to handle the project. Visibility goals also lead to better placement of higher impact signs.

Value Engineering is commonly used to improve construction projects and product development. But, as Implementix shows, it’s also invaluable for process improvement.

No Longer Impossible

Thu, 9 Jul 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Port of Miami Tunnel Project Florida Dept of Transportation

They committed to deliver two 42’ diameter, 4,400’ long, fixed-price, date-certain tunnels at the height of the recession, in some of the most technically challenging geotechnical conditions ever faced by a tunneling contractor.

At half the cost of the owner’s estimate.

56 VE recommendations and 26 VE design suggestions later, it happened.

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SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Upgrading Indy's Water System

Thu, 9 Jul 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Citizens Energy Group
Indianapolis, IN

Much of the water distribution system that serves Indianapolis is more than 100 years old and water main breaks are in the headlines far too often. Citizens Energy Group acquired the system in 2011 and is systematically upgrading, repairing and replacing the aging system.

As a Public Trust and not a for-profit utility, Citizens Energy is highly sensitive to rate increases and focuses intently on executing their capital investments as efficiently as possible. Using value engineering, they are rethinking the way projects are designed and built. For example, a new technology called pipe bursting allows new water pipes to be inserted into old ones to avoid more costly and disruptive excavations of streets.

Value engineering is producing better results for the citizens of Indianapolis, while achieving millions of dollars in savings.

Download Print Version (PDF)

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Minding the Public Purse

Mon, 6 Jul 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Woodrow Wilson Bridge Replacement
Maryland State Highway Administration

A quarter of a million cars each day. On a bridge designed for 75,000.

When the much-needed Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement was put out to bid, the one solitary response was 72% over budget! So a formal Value Engineering study was held to bring the cost under control.

By dividing the project into three separate contracts, attracting additional bidders and identifying $50 million in alternative savings, the bridge cost was lowered by $362 million.

Download Print Version (PDF)

SAVE Video

Mon, 8 Jun 2015 14:00:00 GMT

Check out this video discussing Value Engineering, the Value Methodology, and SAVE International.

Much Smarter than Sandbags

Mon, 1 Jun 2015 05:00:00 GMT

US Army Corps of Engineers
St. Paul District

The Fargo-Moorhead area of western Minnesota is up close and personal with the Red, Wild Rice, Sheyenne, Maple, Lower Rush and Rush Rivers. Come spring they love to flood, regularly causing significant damage and threatening life.

The St. Paul District of the Army Corps of Engineers is creating a 35-mile long diversion channel to divert floodwaters around the metropolitan area and temporarily store up to 150,000 acre-feet upstream to minimize flooding in downstream communities.

More than 100 participants in three value engineering studies and two value-based design charrettes made significant contributions to long-term operational efficiencies and effective maintenance during the design process rather than incorporating it as an afterthought.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Optimum Structures

Tue, 5 May 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Scarborough Light Rail Rapid Transit Elevated Structures Upgrade Toronto Transit Commission

The Scarborough light rail system was to be upgraded with newer, more efficient and all-round better Light Rapid Transit vehicles. But the new cars weighed twice as much and the existing elevated track had to be modified to accommodate the new vehicles.

A formal Value Engineering study compared four different solutions to look for the one that provided the optimum balance of cost and performance.

Using the rigorous Value Methodology, the team concluded that, while costs would not be lowered, adding new superstructure atop the existing piers could triple the structure’s expected lifespan.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Protecting Soldiers with Value Engineering

Wed, 1 Apr 2015 05:00:00 GMT

The U. S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center
Huntsville, AL

The U. S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), is the focal point for research, development, and engineering technology for aviation and missile platforms. And 2014 was AMRDEC’s 29th consecutive year of exceeding its value engineering goals.

While savings are important, more important is the impact these projects have on Soldiers’ lives. Obsolescence mitigation, parts availability, improved functionality, or reduction of maintenance burden, the Soldiers’ lives are much better because of the VE efforts at AMRDEC.

Director James Lackey said. “This is a great example of enabling Lifecycle Affordability and applying engineering/technical ‘smarts’ to make or do things at a lesser cost.”

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Home Run with Value Engineering

Sun, 1 Mar 2015 05:00:00 GMT

CHS Field
St. Paul, MN

When the St. Paul Saints baseball team opens its 2015 season it will be in brand new CHS Field. And when the first pitch is thrown, value engineering will have played a role in successful completion.

Paul Johnson of NTH Inc., the city of St. Paul’s owner’s rep on the project tells how the executive offices had originally been designed on the second floor. “We had some budget issues and some unused ‘entombed’ space down on the service level, and we thought, why not save the costs of all that structure, all that steel, all that exterior skin, and put them in there?”

By combining design-build construction with the value engineering process, the design and construction team kept a very tight schedule and budget in line and made changes possible on the fly.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Simplifying Cincinnati's Sewers

Sun, 1 Feb 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati
SCADA & IT Security Improvements

The Cincinnati Sewer District is upgrading its Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for seven waste treatment plants to allow remote control. The original plan was overly complicated and redundant, risking ineffective security and unmanageable ‘alarm storms.’

Following a formal Value Engineering study, the redesigned and much simplified design eliminated a costly fiber optic ring and consolidated numerous data servers. The system will be far more efficient and reliable and will save in excess of $1million.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Uptime is up, Overtime is Down

Thu, 1 Jan 2015 05:00:00 GMT

The older equipment in a major manufacturing facility was causing significant down-time issues, production schedule disruptions, excessive overtime and missed customer shipments.

A value analysis team that included skilled trades and production staff as well as representatives from process and industrial engineering was asked to develop a new maintenance system that would improve machine uptime.

Just one year into the new planned system machine uptime had improved from 72% to 89%, in-process inventory and overtime had been reduced and missed shipments were eliminated.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

VE Makes a Big Splash in Alabama

Thu, 1 Jan 2015 05:00:00 GMT

Value Engineering helps the little guys too

There’s a lot going on in Pell City, AL. The Honda plant, a new industrial park, expanded residential areas the recently built veteran’s nursing home and the new hospital.

But if you’re under 12, there’s nothing more exciting than the new splash pad that the city will open next year. It hasn’t always been a sure thing. The original budget was too much for the growing city and Council members struggled to bring it under control.

By applying a rigorous value engineering approach, costs for the 32-feature splash pad were reduced by about $250,000. That allowed those responsible for balancing the city’s budget to feel much better about giving the project the green light and completion is expected in early 2016.

Value engineering isn’t only for major projects. Small municipalities across the country are hanging on to their fiscal responsibility while still finding ways to deliver the amenities and services their citizens want and need.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

New York Tax System Simplified

Thu, 1 Jan 2015 05:00:00 GMT

New York City
Department of Finance

The New York City Department of Finance operates an incredibly complex tax software system integrating 40 major systems, 3,000 programs, and 1,400 job streams into seven subsystems. The data processing requirements were exceeding the capacity of the technology.

A formal value engineering study analyzed the system architecture, hardware, software development, implementation plan and staffing requirements. The result was a change in the program to reduce computer capacity requirements, a revised implementation and staffing plan and monthly savings of $325,000.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Your Check is in the Mail

Thu, 1 Jan 2015 05:00:00 GMT

City of New York Mail
Handling Operations

The City of New York has 128 separate agencies. Between them, they literally send tons of mail.

Recognizing an opportunity for increased efficiencies, the City invited personnel from many of the agencies to participate in a formal Value Engineering study with the goal of reducing mailing and postage costs.

A variety of recommendations, including taking advantage of bulk rates, have led to millions in annual savings.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Finding Value in the Cloud

Wed, 1 Jan 2014 05:00:00 GMT

Enterprise savings in cloud computing

Larger organizations collect, store, manage and interpret data from all their business activities using their ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning software. But many IT departments are too stretched to keep their systems up to date and are looking for alternatives.

In a set of value engineering studies, 31 institutions compared the cost of running an in-house ERP against a subscription-based solution in the Cloud. The studies went even further and analyzed the value of disaster and security risk as well as downtime prevention. The savings they could realize ranged from 29 to 76 percent. One 700-employee, 64-bed hospital based in Minnesota identified half a million dollars that could be saved in a five-year period from reductions in hardware, infrastructure and resources by leveraging the cloud rather than upgrading on-premise.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

And the Fish Love it Too

Tue, 1 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Blue River Channel Modification Project
US Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District

The original flood control proposal for the Blue River Channel was a massive, unattractive and expensive concrete structure in the middle of a national historic landmark. So the US Army Corps of Engineers held a formal Value Engineering study. After rigorous review, including extensive flood modeling, the study team developed a more natural, aesthetically pleasing, and significantly less expensive approach. The result is river recreation, natural vegetation, ease of maintenance and 86% savings on construction costs.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.

Lighter Engine Gearbox also Costs Less

Sun, 1 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

A prominent aircraft engine supplier wanted to improve the design and reduce the cost of some of its components. A multi-team Value Engineering workshop was held, in which one of the teams was tasked with reducing cost and weight while maintaining the safety of a gearbox assembly. The team developed three suggestions to be implemented over the next 10 years. The first resulted in a $4.5 million annual savings. The second, a more radical hybrid electric gear design would bring additional annual savings of $1.5 million. The final phase would implement an electric main shaft design and result in an additional annual savings of $6 million.

SAVE International® is the premier international society devoted to the advancement and promotion of value engineering. VE benefits include decreasing costs, increasing profits, improving performance and improving quality.