They say history repeats itself, and that certainly is true when comparing material shortage trends. In the 1940s, it was World War II that left a scarcity of raw materials and products, as well as labor. In the 2020s, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that halted the supply chain and altered the labor pool. If material trends repeat themselves, perhaps value lessons reoccur too.
Value engineering was born by General Electric Co. executives in the 1940s because they needed to find acceptable material alternatives in order to create G.E. products during the war. The concept founders, Lawrence Miles and Harry Erlicher, called their model “value analysis,” and it changed how G.E.—and other corporations—created and delivered products and services.
For Miles and Erlicher, the process was about finding substitutes that lowered costs, improved products or did both. Other G.E. executives went on to teach a value engineering course to keep these principles alive at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. That course now has morphed into an ongoing Value Engineering Workshop at the university.
While some, like the university, are keeping the concept of value and quality alive, others have redefined “value” into meaning “cheaper,” sacrificing performance and longevity. This new process is no longer about creating actual value, and that trend has not sat well with us at Dri-Design.
We introduced the EN-V Collection in 2019. With the launch, we aimed to restore the true meaning of value. We did not cheapen anything about the EN-V metal panel system, but rather we optimized the manufacturing process to find cost savings without ever sacrificing performance. This system provides multiple design possibilities, with palette of colors, finishes and materials.
In 2023, value engineering meant even more to us. Not one segment of the metal construction market—and the greater construction industry at large—was sheltered from the supply chain disruption during the past three years. While materials and products are once again available, price adjustments have not necessarily followed suit. That is in part why the EN-V Collection has been expanded to now include five series instead of the standard A80 offering. With the launch of this expansion, construction and design teams, along with building owners, have the opportunity to reassess value because we looked at our manufacturing processes.
An example is the EN-V A50 Series. By selecting optimized sizes manufactured from lighter gauge aluminum, we can reduce raw material costs and bring savings without compromising performance and longevity. With a standard 20-year warranty, the A50 series raises the bar for value in aluminum rainscreens. The concept of the EN-V Collection is to provide the best value for a fully tested architectural rainscreen system. We also were conscious that value doesn’t have to equal boring. The EN-V G Series uses a new ultra-matte finish on a galvalume substrate to create a product that has a unique and beautiful finish and the lowest price of any EN-V panel. There are four standard colors with custom colors available, and they come with a 20-year finish warranty standard.
We do not deny that price matters at every company and for every project, but we will not accept that value should be redefined as simply cheaper. That is one trend that we hope does not repeat itself at this moment of history or any other.
Tyler Fowler is Dri-Design’s director of sales, North America. He can be reached at tfowler@dri-design.com. Discover more about the company at www.dri-design.com.
