Value Engineering

What is Value Engineering?

Value engineering is a creative approach that evaluates a variety of product options on a lighting project and provides the most appropriate alternate product options to meet or exceed budget expectations while still achieving the desired project criteria. Moreover, this approach provides value to the customer in that, as a result of the evaluation of the multiple lighting products, it can reduce material costs, reduce lifetime operating costs, and potentially increase the performance of the lighting at the buildings and facilities (read more on the definition in this blog post).

An important note when evaluating ANY LED lighting product: LED lighting is NOT a commodity. In fact, the LED industry is rife with manufacturers who cannot validate or flat our fabricate the technical specifications of their LED products. With the exception of warranties, all technical specifications are generated from independent testing procedures that all quality manufacturers put their products through. If a manufacturer cannot provide validation of any of the technical specs listed in their product cut sheets, you cannot consider that information valid. In the LED industry, you often get what you pay for. 

Value Engineering Process for your LED Lighting Projects

Stouch Lighting provides value engineering for our customers in three primary ways. Each of these methods includes the development of the project criteria and the product criteria in conjunction with the customer. 

Click to jump to their explanations. 

1. Value engineering during the design process of a retrofit or new construction project

2. Value engineering existing lighting product specifications 

3. Value engineering the Request for Proposal (RFP) development process 

1. Value engineering during the design process of a retrofit or new construction project

This first value engineering method typically occurs in the early stages of a project in consideration. It is during these early stages that Stouch Lighting works with end users and contractors to develop project criteria to ensure the desired lighting objectives are met. By creating a list of required criteria, the customer isn't limited to a single manufacturer, but instead can select from a competitive range of product options without having to worry about compromising on the quality of the lighting products they are purchasing. 

2. Value engineering existing lighting product specifications

This second, more traditional value engineering method typically occurs after a lighting package has already been put together by an architect or engineer. In this scenario, Stouch Lighting works with project managers, construction teams, facility teams, and energy teams to evaluate the existing lighting package and provide alternate product options that will reduce the initial and life cycle costs, without compromising on the desired quality and performance of the original lighting package. 

3. Value engineering during the Request for Proposal (RFP) development process

This third method we provide our customers occurs during the development of the Request for Proposal (RFP) process.