Editor’s Voice – March 2017

By Muthiah Kasi, PE, SE, CVS-Life, FSAVE

Larry Miles was discussing the belief in the importance of Value in his book Techniques of Value Analysis and Engineering. In his discussion below, he discussed the conflicting values. We came across this situation in almost in all of our studies. This includes Stage construction versus Maintain Traffic, Maintain Traffic versus Increase Access in transportation studies. HR in companies call it as Work/Life and environmentalists struggles with progress versus sustainability. My article in this issue is about managing conflicting functions.

Belief in the Importance of Value

Starting with certain native inclinations and modified by childhood and business experience, any person develops interest in certain lines and disinterest in others. In essentially all cases, human beings are interested in food, although in some cases of unusually unfortunate environments, even loss of interest in food is developed by people. Some individuals are interested in flying, while others vow that they will resist it to the death. Similarly, some people develop an interest in providing new products through the development of new functions which their ingenuity can translate into a practical product. Other individuals develop an interest in making products more economical so that distribution may be widened with resultant benefits, not only to the company involved in selling the products, but to mankind in general, through more universal use. At the present stage of experience with value work, it appears that there exist marked degrees of difference in the beliefs of various individuals in the importance of low cost-or its equivalent, high value-in the general sense. Experience has shown that men who have strong belief in the importance of value are much more likely to be sufficiently motivated to develop the initiative, self-drive, and enthusiasm necessary to accomplish their work well. Such strong belief also seems to be an important factor in creating emotional stability in this very frustrating type of work. Hence the conclusion that ”belief in the importance of value” is a significant trait.

(Ref: Page 270, Techniques of Value Analysis and Engineering)