Value Engineering in Road Rehabilitation and Traffic Improvements by using CBR Software

Value Engineering (VE) is the systematic review of a project, product, or process to improve performance, quality, and/or life-cycle cost by an independent multidisciplinary team of specialists. VE can be utilized in highway projects in both scientific research and construction fields. Value Engineering (VE) is one tool that can counteract the growing of highway design and construction problems by providing: cost reduction, process improvement and alternative means and materials for highway construction and maintenance. This paper presents a cased-based reasoning approach to reduce the time and cost associated with VE processes. It provides a screening tool that points to high-potential improvement areas and suggests alternative options. Furthermore, it provides a useful tool to junior engineers through which they can learn from more experienced colleagues. The main purpose of VE is to deliver the necessary function of a certain facility at the lowest cost. It helps identify high cost areas of the project as well as determine the most economical combination of functions to achieve the task (design or construction). Function analysis involves thinking about why an item is necessary, rather than thinking about item itself, that is, its function-oriented rather than item oriented. The function analysis approach leads to more creative solutions than item oriented traditional cost reduction approaches.