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Date(s) - October 15, 2022
7:00 am - 9:00 am

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29th Monthly Presentation 

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Value Planning of Capital Projects

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Project owners often evaluate a number of design concepts for capital projects before selecting a preferred concept or alternative. This can raise important questions. Is the selected concept the “best” alternative? Was any important consideration missed in the project planning? Does the concept compromise any functional needs of the project engineering? Were all reasonable alternatives identified for an environmental impact statement? Does the concept satisfy stated objectives?

Value Planning gives owners sound and defensible answers to these questions. It applies the Value Engineering methodology at the earliest stages of conceptual planning for a program or
project. Value Planning objectively tests project goals necessary for success. This proven tool validates business and economic decisions and identifies alternative approaches for delivering
the best project at the lowest cost.

For capital projects, Value Engineering studies are typically conducted at the 30 to 90 percent level of design. They address technical requirements and provide remarkable cost savings for
most projects. However, SVS’s experience has shown that many good Value Engineering recommendations are not accepted. These missed opportunities are often due to the belief that
the changes would modify or compromise the project’s basic planning level criteria. Key decision makers often see significant changes at this level of design as delays that can unravel the project. To reduce the potential of these missed opportunities, SVS developed the Value Planning approach to help clients achieve the maximum benefit from Value Engineering. There are two basic approaches to Value Planning, both can provide a clear understanding of what it takes for a project or program to succeed.

  • Function-Based Project Planning. This approach develops a planning concept from a function-based understanding of project needs.
  • Preferred Alternative Testing. This approach tests an already-selected alternative against true functional needs.

This presentation will share how these approaches work and share examples of where it has been used.

John Robinson is a Principal and Executive Vice President of Strategic Value Solutions, Inc. John’s experience includes planning, design, value engineering, and construction of public and private capital projects across the continent. Over 30 years of his career has been spent participating in and leading value engineering studies, with over 500 VE studies to his credit. He is a registered professional engineer (PE) and a Certified Value Specialist (CVS), the highest level of certification in value engineering.

John’s value engineering study experience includes projects with water and wastewater, flood control, transportation, hydropower projects, hazardous materials facilities and remediation, military projects, and buildings. The projects and programs that John has conducted VE studies on have ranged from a few hundred thousand dollars in capital costs to as high as $50 billion. John is past President of SAVE International® and Chairman of the SAVE International® Certification Board.

John has a B.S., Mechanical Engineering degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

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