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Value Engineering
Value Engineering methods were initially perfected in the United States in the military environment; the "Public Law 104-106", approved by the American Congress in 1996, imposed its use by all the Federal Agencies.
The law defines Value Engineering as “an analysis of the functions of a programme, project, system, product, a part of equipment, building or system, a service or supply, carried out by qualified personnel or suppliers, aimed at increasing the efficiency, reliability, quality and safety thereof and reducing costs for its entire lifecycle”.
The meaning of “function” being the service or mission which any product must accomplish, these methods analyse a wide range of project options, assessing the “value” thereof, that is, the relationship between such function (or performance) effectively used and the costs.
The results normally obtained are:
increased profits;
improved products;
increase client satisfaction; less wasted resources;
reduced costs.
On the basis of the aforesaid Value Engineering techniques, Italferr has developed a method for analysing various project solutions, aimed at maximising the relationship between the services used and the costs of investing in railway infrastructures. The alternative solutions for the projects have been studied and perfected starting with the analysis and amendment of the initial technical-functional specifications.
From 2005 to date Italferr has applied this method to projects for railway lines and nodes, both in relation to High Speed/High Capacity and traditional lines. Starting from a project of reference and analysis of railway functions, there have been changes to the designs, basically concerning the initial technical-functional specifications, which have led to an average saving of over 10% of the initial value of the works.
With a view to performance/cost relationship of the designed works, on one hand Value Engineering makes the engineering produced by Italferr more competitive (on equal terms of engineering costs the Client is given a more advantageous solution) and on the other, it minimises the financial resources required from the Client in order to undertake the established investments. A Value Engineering activity is an effective way to continue with the modernisation, maintenance and development of the Italian railway network despite the reduced resources of investment and possible normative amendments which can lead to higher costs in infrastructural investments.
