The current page isHome > in Our Company > in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) > in Customer satisfaction > in Raising awareness of and embedding VEC > Page.
Raising awareness of and embedding VEC
VEC (Value Engineering for Customers) means increasing the product value for customers. Product value is expressed as the factor of function divided by cost as shown below. From another viewpoint, it is a composite of customer satisfaction and corporate satisfaction.
V : Value
F : Function
C : Cost
P : Price
VEC news, the first page of vol. 13
In fiscal 2008 we made various efforts to raise the awareness of and embed VEC including the VEC news release, holding VEC training sessions, VEC presentation meetings for our entire group, and participation in VEC case study meetings for the Ibaraki region.
We sent VEC news to all employees every other month. VEC news contains timely topics related to VEC, VE (Value Engineering) introduction, introduction of VE examples and articles written by the VEC Center manager. It is a useful tool for employees to learn about the basics and examples of VE.
We provided VEC training sessions on three occasions in Japan and once at Hitachi Construction Machinery (China) (called HCMC in the rest of this article). The purposes of the training are as follows.
- To learn the concepts and techniques of VE through practical activities
- To experience the effectiveness of VE in value assurance and making improvements, and have confidence in VE
We provide the training in the form of workshops, mainly consisting of group training, to meet the above purposes.
The training sessions have been held at HCMC since 2006. The 4th VEC training session was held at a hotel in Hefei on September 25 and 26, 2008, with the participant of eighteen employees including seven female employees.
VEC training participants
To enable HCMC to provide the training sessions independently in the future, HCMC's VEC division and design division managed the training sessions this year together with the cooperation of the VEC center. After giving a lecture on the basic of VE, group training started. During the group training, participants learned the function defining techniques that are unique to VE and practiced to make assessments and devise alternative ideas based on the defined functions. The participants vigorously debated ideas with each other, in the same way as in the workshops that took place in Japan. The passion for VE is universal.
Participants earnestly listening to a lecture
Group training
We have held VEC presentation meetings for our entire group annually since fiscal 2006 to announce the achievements and techniques of the VEC activities of our entire group for the purposes of training in VE, and to raise the awareness of VE. In fiscal 2008 we held the meeting at Tsuchiura Works on November 28. Our three divisions, four group companies and one supplier made presentations at the meeting and Mr. Aizawa from Hitachi VEC Promotion Center, Power Systems, Hitachi Ltd. made a special presentation titled "Total cost reduction activities at Hitachi works". The presentations helped to share information on VEC.
VEC presentation meeting for the entire group, presentation by Mr. Aizawa from Hitachi Ltd.
VEC case study meetings for the Ibaraki region started in 1979, when they were called VA technical study meetings. The meeting this year was the 30th meeting. The meetings are held to present technologies and exchange information about VE.
The meeting took place at Hitachinaka Culture Hall on June 11, 2008. Six premises of Hitachi Ltd., and Hitachi group companies including us made presentations. All of the reports were based on VE fundamentals such as the "principle of priority to users" and the "team design principle". Most of the reports focused on the VEC during the stages of devising ideas and development rather than on the VEC of products currently in distribution. Ms. Hirano, a designer from our Component Design Department made a presentation titled "Reduction in the number of manufacturing processes and improvements in assembly for pilot valves". Although her presentation was for VE concerning components already designed, reducing the number of manufacturing processes of pilot valves through casting core arrangement and success in uniting blocks was highly assessed. The meeting was full of liveliness, partly because Hitachi Ltd. started the "10,000 VE leaders project" last year.
Ms. Hirano, a designer, making a presentation
Currently our 1,383 staff have VE leader qualifications (as of April 2009). Centered on these staff, we will endeavor to raise customer satisfaction by increasing product value by continuing to conduct the wide range of VEC activities mentioned above.
