Emerson Exchange 365

The first question any company usually asks when deciding whether to upgrade a complex system is, “How much will it cost?” In the process automation world, the expense involved in modernizing a control system often must be weighed against the demands of users who want better functionality and vendors who won’t support outdated technology.

Jan de Rijke, an engineering manager at Momentive Specialty Chemicals, B.V., says he has found an innovative solution that everyone can be happy with. It's called value engineering, or VE. But as Mr. de Rijke explained today at the 2014 Emerson Global Users Exchange in Stuttgart, VE is not just a fancy new name for cost cutting.

“Value engineering is not something we already do in the design process,” de Rijke said. “VE is a multi-disciplined, systematic method. It applies analytical, creative, and evaluative techniques to identify ways to maintain functionality while minimizing cost. To put VE into practice successfully, project managers must be willing to commit to specific targets, exchange information openly, accept ideas for unusual procedures and solutions, and assign responsibility for meeting value enhancement goals.”

In most cases it can be done in a single day, de Rijke said. Momentive has held several one-day VE workshops attended by project stakeholders including process control engineers, operations personnel, quality control officers, and automation contractors. A facilitator and scribe are appointed to preside over the proceedings, and the site manager is usually invited to introduce the project and set the cost reduction goals at the beginning of the meeting.

Detailed percentage breakdowns should be prepared ahead of time to show the costs for each functional component, company, building, activity, and engineering discipline involved in the project. Pie charts are useful for visualizing the various cost categories. These breakdowns are essential to the VE process, as they help single out disproportionately high cost factors that need to be addressed during the workshop, de Rijke said. “Sometimes just seeing the numbers is all that's needed to get a project off the ground.”

“Once these cost outliers are identified, it's time to start brainstorming and discussing different kinds of potential solutions. Some examples are things like skipping or combining functions, leasing rather than buying equipment, breaking up a project into phases, or eliminating redundancies. Unconventional—even controversial—ideas are highly encouraged.” He says Post-It notes are the best way to keep track of all the ideas that come out of the brainstorming session.

Suggestions are entered into a spreadsheet along with notes and scores based on feedback for each idea. The ideas are then grouped into solution scenarios, with suggestions involving changes in functionality set aside for later economic analysis. These results are then evaluated by ranking the ideas according to technical feasibility, value improvement potential, and schedule impact. Finally, the project management team reviews the workshop's recommendations and commits to a plan of action.

“Four one-day VE sessions created millions of dollars in added value for Momentive’s DCS modernization projects in Europe and the USA,” de Rijke said. “We're currently looking at how we can apply the process earlier in the planning and execution phases. We've seen how VE can be essential in resolving the cost-versus-functionality dilemmas that are typical with DCS modernization projects, but theoretically VE could be applied to almost any kind of project. It has the potential to be a real game changer.”