ABSTRACT
Since 1999 I have made several trips to various Japanese companies. Since 2003 I have escorted others to make these visits with me. e most critical decision is to decide which companies to visit. I am sincerely grateful to the leaders and o¯cers of the Society of Japanese Value Engineering (SJVE) for their assistance in arranging the company visits. Over the years SJVE and I have established a reciprocal visitation relationship. Every year there is a SJVE delegation that attends the SAVE International Conference in the United States. For several years I arranged for the delegation to visit U.S.-based companies to learn more about the practices in value engineering. ese have been in both manufacturing-and construction-oriented business sectors. us, SJVE has been extremely helpful to set up visits to the many Japanese companies that excel in target costing and value engineering. Without their help, guidance, and contacts, it would have been virtually impossible for me to have successful visits at these companies.
