Advanced Value Group, LLC

Consultant Profiles Jim Rains Kenneth Crow Charles W. Stirk

Overview Value Analysis/Value Engineering Tear-down Analysis Lean Manufacturing Lean Engineering Target Costing Supplier Development Material Flow Analysis Indirect Labor Analysis Product Development Assessment Design for Manufacturability/Assembly Design to Cost and Cost Management Product Development Process Definitions and Improvement Product Launch Process Quality Function Deployment Requirements Definition and Product Planning Voice of the Customer

SAVE Certified Module I SAVE Certified Module II Train the Trainer Value Engineering and Target Costing Tear-Down Workshop Complete Summary of NPD/IPD Training Best Practices of Integrated Product Development Concept Development Design for Manufacturability/Assembly Design for Serviceability Design to Cost Design of Experiments Integrated Product & Process Development Managing Product Development Mistake-proofing by Design Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

Articles published by Jim Rains

"Whether Conducting or Exploring
Research We Learn"

Jim Rains over the years has written and presented numerous papers around the globe, including India, Japan, Canada, Hungary and the United States.

Below you will find a few of them for your reading pleasure and to expand your knowledge and thought process.

THE RECIPE FOR A SUCCESSFUL VALUE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IN AN INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

ABSTRACT

In an industrial setting the establishment of a Value Management (VM) program and department is a major undertaking. (Please note in this paper the terms Value Management and Value Analysis (VA) will be used interchangeably.) It takes a high level of commitment from the highest officers of the company. Yes, starting a new VM program is difficult. However, to keep a program together for many years is a major task.

At SAVE International's 1991 Annual Conference in Kansas City, my company Delco Chassis Division of General Motors (GM) and now part of Delphi, was awarded the "Excellence In VA/VE Award". One of the criteria for the award is that the recipient must have had a VM Program in place for at least ten years. While this program did qualify, I am sad to report that many programs in United States companies, do not. Therefore, the subject of survival is highly important for the long-term success of VM. I was honored to receive this award for my company.

This paper will discuss the important elements that must be put in place to insure that a new VM program lasts and performs in an effective and efficient manner. The six ingredients are:
1. Positive Sell
2. Success in the Program
3. Continuous Improvement
4. Management Support
5. Networking, and
6. Reputation.

Included in this paper is an expansion of new areas to apply VM. These are detailed in the third ingredient of success.

Finally this paper is written about a VM program that has lasted approximately nineteen years. However, since I am no longer part of the Delco organization, and since it is independent of General Motors (now part of Delphi), I am not aware of its exact current situation. I am aware that for many years it was considered the best VA program in all of General Motors.

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(Microsoft Word Document)

USING VA TO IMPLEMENT LEAN ENGINEERING

ABSTRACT
The value methodology was originated to improve the design of products or at least to determine if there were alternative and better ways for a product to perform its desired functions. Only recently (within the last 10 years), in the western world, it has been discovered that the actual design process itself must undergo the watchful eye of lean and synchronous concepts. Lean engineering is defined as the production of quality engineering deliverables with a minimum consumption of time and resources in a stable, capable process. The author has developed a new workshop format that takes advantage of the elimination of waste concepts and has integrated them into the value analysis job plan. Workshops have been conducted using vehicle design personnel to develop proposals that eliminate waste, shorten lead time, improve productivity, and reduce manpower and cost. The design office or what is now commonly called the "engineering factory" needs to be every bit as lean and efficient as the factory that produces what these designers create. This paper will discuss how this workshop is performed, and will provide specific examples of FAST diagrams that resulted from this effort.

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(Microsoft Word Document)

Unlocking the Power of Target Costing:

A Platform for the Strategic Use of Value Methodology

ABSTRACT
Target costing, like many of the new concepts that Western companies have attempted to adopt over the past two decades, has been largely misunderstood by most firms. Target costing is an extremely powerful concept when properly utilized. Unfortunately, most companies that have seen the value of using target costing have failed to take the time to understand the basic philosophical drivers that underlie it. Instead, they have tried to adopt the mechanics of target costing, as best they understood them, within the context of their traditional financial management processes. Not surprisingly, these firms have not received all the value that target costing could provide, and the experience has been very frustrating for those in the trenches who were held responsible for making target costing work. In a very real sense these firms have been attempting to do the financial equivalent of designing a supersonic plane while insisting on using the design requirements of a bi-plane.

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(Microsoft Word Document)

Team Building - One of the Keys to Successful Value Engineering

ABSTRACT

At the SJVE Conference in 2001 my paper titled "What is the Function of a VM Practitioner" described all the key functions that a VM practitioner or facilitator must do to get successful results in a VA/VE study. The critical path functions described in that paper where:



How?	Why?

The purpose of this paper is to explore in detail the transition from the "Form Teams" function to the "Promote Teamwork" function. Proper team structure that includes the optimum number of people and all the appropriate disciplines are essential to successfully achieve the higher order functions of "Solve Problem" and "Get Results". At the SJVE Conference in 1999 several others and I were invited to participate in a "Team Building" Forum. This paper will also describe in more detail the information that was presented during that forum.

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(Microsoft Word Document)

What is the Function of a Value Practitioner?
"Encourage Change"!

ABSTRACT
Several years ago, my department and I spent considerable time developing a FAST diagram for the role of a VM facilitator. Or in other words, what do we do? When you define the roles of a facilitator in functional terms, like everything else it takes on a new, different and improved meaning to the person using the model. This paper will explore all the functions identified in the FAST diagram; however, it will also focus on the activity of change. The reason for this is that I have identified the basic function of a VM facilitator to "Encourage Change". Change is such a difficult activity for most people to handle. A good facilitator must be able to get people to move outside of their comfort zones and help them to get the correct mindset and attitude to make change happen. After all, the reason why we need to encourage change is to solve problems and get results, which become the higher order functions. We must keep this higher order function in mind because as William Jennings Bryan quite eloquently stated, "To change and to improve are two different things."

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(Microsoft Word Document)