By C. Todd Lopez
WASHINGTON (June 26, 2015) -- Six teams and individuals from the Army, as well as a team and individual from the Army Corps of Engineers, were named as recipients of the 2015 Department of Defense Value Engineering Achievement Awards, June 25, at the Pentagon.
"Value engineering is identifying and eliminating unnecessary costs while maintaining or improving performance -- as measured in the eye of the end user," said Stephen Welby, deputy assistant secretary of defense for systems engineering. "It's about eliminating unnecessary cost and identifying ways to shape our products to be the most effective in the environment we will use them."
Welby said that value engineering is especially important in the face of declining budgets. He said dollars saved through value engineering can be used to fund combat operations, readiness, or modernization to ensure America's military is ready to defeat future threats.
"Everyone involved in the value engineering program today, especially those we are going to honor ... add value to the DOD's force structuring capability," he said. "Those being honored today worked to analyze the functions, systems, equipment, facilities, services, and supplies that they were responsible for, they asked critical questions about the performance of the material they were working on and the associated cost of the individual components and systems -- analyzed those systems with an eye towards cost savings with a goal of maintaining and sustaining performance even at the lower cost. Value engineering changes allow the DOD to deliver systems that provide essential functions at the lowest lifecycle cost."
He said by asking the questions associated with value engineering, those involved in value engineering have achieved more than $55 billion in cost avoidance over the lifecycle of the value engineering program -- which began in 1980. That comes to about $1.5 billion each year.
"That's no small change," Welby said. "Value engineering also ensures our warfighters are equipped to face the diverse emerging threats that they deal with around the world today. In concert with sound acquisition practices, value engineering helps ensure the equipment, and material we provide, and the construction that we perform is the best in the world. "
Army recipients of the 2015 Department of Defense Value Engineering Achievement Awards include:
Department of the Army recipients:
-- Program/Project Award: Utility Helicopters Project Office
-- Team Award: Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, Aviation Engineering Directorate, Maintenance Engineering Division
-- Organization Award: U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command
-- Individual Award: James Todd, lead engineer, PMTRADE
-- Special Award: U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Command
-- Special Award: Program Executive Office for Missile and Space, Lower Tier Project Office
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recipients:
-- Individual Award: Leighann Ryckeghem, Detroit District Value Engineering Officer
-- Special Award: Lower Granite Lock and Dam Barge Moorage Facility, Snake River, Washington
