Engineering Design Handbook: Value Engineering

Value engineering is, in fundamental terms, an organized way of thinking. It involves an objective appraisal of functions performed by parts, components, products, equipment, procedures, services-anything, in short, that costs money. The VE approach is aimed at harvesting necessary function for lowest cost it checks the upward spiral of costs, but locks all the essential product reliability, performance, and maintainability into the value engineered item.