Value analysis

A value analysis is conducted to minimise the costs associated with a component according to a plan and with due consideration of numerous different aspects. The first step involves calculating the costs for the individual parts that are incurred as a whole or in part with regard to the task at hand. These function costs are used to develop variants.

Aspects such as the following are placed under critical scrutiny:

• Sales and marketing factors (Are the functions absolutely necessary?)
• Design factors (Are the functional structures logical? Are there other solution concepts? Are the essential sub-functions in place?)
• Production factors (How can individual parts be designed?)

Answering questions such as these helps to uncover findings that can be translated into significant cost reductions when searching for new solutions. Because value analysis - as a retrospective examination - uses the same tools as design engineering, the two processes complement each other.