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VAVE for Leaders: the one-page playbook

The essentials of value analysis and value engineering for senior leaders.

VAVEhub

The hour in one minute

  • What it is: a structured way to remove cost that customers aren't paying for, while keeping everything they are.
  • What it's worth: a first proper study usually finds 8–15% of a product's cost, and every pound saved is worth many pounds of new sales.
  • What it asks of you: a sponsor, a mixed team with protected time, quick decisions and a monthly check on real savings.
  • What AI changes: analysis that used to take weeks now takes minutes, so teams spend their time on decisions. The judgement stays with people.

Why it pays

70–80%of lifetime cost is decided by design choices, before purchasing gets involved
8–15%of product cost is usually found in a first proper study; 3–5% a year after that
£12.50of new sales earns the same profit as £1 saved, at an 8% margin

Five things only leaders can do

  1. Sponsor it visibly. Agree the scope and attend the decision meeting.
  2. Set targets based on evidence. Work back from the market price and the margin you need.
  3. Protect the team's time, and fund the engineering time to make the changes.
  4. Decide quickly. Yes, no, or "more data by a date", recorded at the meeting.
  5. Track real savings. Review the funnel monthly; count only savings in production, checked by finance.

Questions to ask your team

  • Is the starting cost agreed with finance, and dated?
  • Which functions cost far more than they're worth?
  • Who owns each idea, and by when?
  • Has finance checked the savings?
  • Did every idea get a yes, a no, or "more data by a date"?
  • Has every change passed testing and the required approvals?
  • Did people check any AI estimate before we relied on it?

Your 90-day plan

Days 1–30: set up

Name a sponsor and a facilitator. Choose the pilot product. Fix a dated starting cost with finance. Write the scope and a target based on evidence.

Days 31–60: run the study

Run the 3–5 day workshop. Hold the decision meeting and sign the decision log. Give every approved idea an owner and a date.

Days 61–90: deliver and learn

Start the monthly funnel review. Get the quick wins into production. Report the first checked savings. Choose the next two products.

The numbers to watch

  • Checked savings in production (L4) against the target
  • Ideas implemented: the share of approved ideas that reach production
  • Time to savings: months from approval to production
  • Average payback

Two rules for AI

  • Keep confidential cost and supplier data out of public AI tools.
  • Never approve a saving based only on an AI estimate.

A good first product

Fairly simple, high volume, designed by your own engineers, with at least two years of production left.