Application of Value Analysis Methodology on a Wi-Fi Based Energy Monitor: A Case Study

An Energy Monitor is a device used for measuring energy and displaying the energy consumption. It is widely used in industrial and large commercial settings where high power is consumed. It has been observed that energy consumption can be reduced if monitored regularly and right actions are taken based on observations. There exists a need to integrate cloud technology with conventional technology in electronics product space, thus a Wi-Fi based Energy Monitor helps to achieve new heights in energy conservation. This technical paper aims to optimize cost and weight of a Wi-Fi based energy monitor to drive profitability, improve the reliability and increase the Value proposition of the product by the application of Value Analysis Methodology. A cross-functional Value Engineering team was formed to perform a case study on the Wi-Fi based Energy Monitor to identify the potential areas for optimization through Functional Analysis and Decision Matrix. The application of VAVE tools resulted in higher savings, decreased fault rate and reduction in weight of the product which led to a decrease in freight charges for the organization and increased the overall Value to the customers.


I. Introduction
Value Engineering originated during the Second World War from the efforts of Lawrence Miles, Jerry Matthew and Harry Erlicher, who were working at General Electric Company. Due to the war, there was a shortage of skilled labor, raw materials and component parts and General Electric wanted substitutes for their products, it was observed that these newfound substitutes resulted in reduced costs, increased functionality of the product or both. A technique for selecting these substitutes was framed and the technique was termed as "Value Analysis".
Value Analysis is a function oriented, systematic team approach to improve the Value of a product, system or process by the critical assessment of the product, system or service to achieve their essential functions at the lowest cost without compromising its performance, reliability, quality and safety.

II. Review of Literatures
Value is the lowest cost to reliably provide required function or service at the desired time and place with essential quality. It can be increased by reducing the cost and/or increasing the function or maintaining the function and reducing the cost. The several ways to increase the Value of a product or service is illustrated below: Britain International of Exact Sciences (BIoEx) Journal ISSN: 2686-1208(Online), 2686-1216(Print) Vol. 2, No. 2, May 2020 -490-

Phases in Value Engineering
The Value Analysis methodology consists of the following phases: 1. Selection Phase 2. Information Phase 3. Functional Phase 4. Creative Phase 5. Evaluation Phase 6. Recommendation Phase 7. Implementation Phase

Selection Phase
In the selection phase, the Value Engineering team analyses the projects on which Value analysis methodology can be applied and the project which is potentially impacted the most by Value analysis is selected. Some of the factors that affect the selection of the project are: 1) Customer complaints 2) Obsolete design 3) Highly complex assembly 4) High cost components 5) Less profitability 6) Significant failure rate. 7) Difficulty in procuring raw materials 8) High inventory cost

Information Phase
In the information phase, the Value engineering team gathers all the relevant data such as the estimated costs, design requirements, product specifications, and manufacturing methods and so on. By questioning why, what, when and how, we can secure much more information about the product in question. The collected information is recorded and documented for use in the further phases.

Functional Phase
The functional approach makes it possible to detect precise area where unnecessary cost originates. The functional approach is one of the most powerful techniques in the VA methodology. The product under study is broken down into parts to determine which part or parts perform the basic function and which part or parts perform the secondary function. The functions are identified and defined in terms of verb and noun and it's categorised between -491-basic and secondary.The costs and the worth of the functions are tabulated and the one which has more Value gap is considered in the further phases.

Creative Phase
After the thorough analysis and understanding of the functional requirements in the Functional Phase, the Value Engineering team must apply creativity techniques such as the Brain Storming technique to look for other ways to fulfil the functional requirement required from the product.

Evaluation Phase
In the evaluation phase the various alternatives, substitutes and ideas generated in the creative phase are screened and evaluated for their feasibility on the basis of a decision matrix. The alternatives that show the most cost savings and/or functional improvement are considered for the next phase.

Recommendation Phase
In the recommendation phase the Value engineering team presents the findings of the previous phases to the project stakeholders in order to convince them to implement the alternatives.

Implementation Phase
The implementation phase is the final phase of the Value Analysis Methodology; in this phase the alternatives put forth by the Recommendation phase are implemented.

Case Study
The Company faced the problem of not being able to meet the company goals due to underperforming products. Thus, an inter-disciplinary Value Engineering team was formed to identify the underlying issues. The Value Engineering team conducted a Case Study on the Wi-Fi based energy monitor to identify the potential areas for optimisation by applying Value Analysis Methodology.
The Value Analysis Methodology was applied to the Wi-Fi Based Energy Monitor as follows:

Selection Phase
The Wi-Fi Based Energy Monitor was selected for the following reasons: 1) Cost of the product was relatively high due to redundant components. 2) Assembly of product was complex and increased the lead time.
3) Weight of the product was high which increased the freight charges. 4) Sourcing of components from International suppliers increased the product cost and causes production delays. 5) Failure to meet the annual demand.

Information Phase
The relevant information regarding the Wi-Fi based Energy Monitor was collected.   Table 1:

Numerical Evaluation Matrix
Major Performance-3 Medium Performance-2 Minor Performance-1

Creative Phase
The main theme of creative phase is to find out the best substitution to perform the same function reliably. In this phase, the cross-functional Value Engineering team resorted to Brainstorming techniques to formulate the alternatives to attain the function of Wi-Fi based Energy Monitor which were drawn out in functional phase.

Evaluation Phase
In this phase the ideas and alternatives generated during the brainstorming session are critically examined and evaluated based on different criteria through a decision matrix. An evaluation matrix is made to check the feasibility of the proposed alternative.
Proposal 1 : The advanced 3 phase Modbus EM1330 Energy Monitor should be replaced with a normal UART integrated 3 phase Energy Monitor which eliminates the RS485 converter and the need of additional power supply. Change ESP12 to ESP01, Integrate the 3 CT coils on a single PCB further integrating it to the 3-phase energy monitor thus eliminating the need for additional assembly and the connectors.

Proposal 2
: The 3 units of CT coil should be integrated by using a single PCB which is further assembled with advanced 3 phase Modbus EM1330 Energy Monitor. Four different criteria were selected by the Value engineering team to evaluate the alternative proposal with the existing design. The criteria are as follows Weight  A  A3  A3  A3  A2  A1  A2  14  15  B  B2  B2  B2  B1  B2  9  10  C  C3  C1  C1  C2  7  8  D  D1  D1  D2  4  5  E  E1  E2  3  4  F  F1  1  2  G 0 1

Recommendation Phase
The alternative proposal 1 and proposal 2 has been evaluated in the Evaluation Stage. Proposal 1(rating 46) was selected and preferred over proposal 2(rating 31). Proposal 1 was recommended to the management for implementation due to high overall rating in the evaluation phase.
A detailed comparison of existing Wi-Fi based Energy Monitor and the proposed Energy Monitor with the new design was presented to the management. Comparison of existing and proposed alternative is in Table 6. Cost Breakup for the exsisting and proposed alternative is shown in the following Table 7 and Table 8.

Implementation Phase
A trial run was performed with 100 samples of the proposed product, the product performed satisfactorily and it was observed that the fault rate of the proposed product was only about 2% compared to the 10% fault rate of the existing product. The proposed product was accepted by the management.A cost benefit analysis of existing and proposed Wi-fi based Energy Monitor was done to record overall savings.

V. Conclusion
Value Analysis Methodology is a well-defined systematic process that is employed by a versatile team consisting of Value Engineers and Field Specialists to improve the Value of a project, product, process or service. It is a function-oriented team approach where the critical assessment of the product, system or service is performed to achieve their essential functions at the lowest cost without compromising its performance, reliability, quality and safety. In the present competitive market where there is an abundance of Start-Ups competing for market share, budding Start-Ups always face issues due to Lack of Capital, Technological Limitations and Customer Grievances. Hence it is essential that Start-Ups employ Value Analysis Methodology to benefit immensely as shown in this Case Study.
From this Case Study it was observed that upon the application of Value Analysis Methodology to the Wi-Fi Based Energy Meter there was a cost saving of 21% per unit, a significant weight reduction of 2.2 Kg per unit and a reduction in failure rate from 10% to 2%. By procuring the new components domestically, the need for international suppliers and freight cost associated with them were eliminated. There was also an increase in the production rate from 2400 units per year to 4800 units per year thus meeting the market demand.