4. Value analysis in an industrial context

4.1 VA in the company structure; its introduction

While it's desirable for AV to be widely known in the company, and for many people to use its methods in their day-to-day work, it's essential that the AV treatment of important problems be entrusted to specialized people, as is the case for marketing or management control, for example. This is the price of real professionalism.

The AV function helps to find optimized solutions, taking into account commercial, design, manufacturing and other imperatives. It must therefore be independent of the corresponding functions, but its hierarchical attachment will pose a problem if there is no provision for direct attachment to a division or "branch" manager. This is, however, what large Japanese groups do, where there...