The Early Years:

• Born: April 21, 1904 -- Harvard, Nebraska.
• Parents: Delos Daniel Miles, Superintendant of Harvard School, and Vinetta Conkle Miles, elementary school teacher.
• 1906-1918: Moved to Dorsey, NE. Completed elementary school in Dorsey in May 1918.
• 1918-1921: Moved to Lincoln, NE. Attended University Place High School and completed in three years instead of the usual four years.
• 1921-1925: Attended Nebraska Wesleyan University; received AB degree, majoring in education and minoring in business.
• 1925-1928: Served one year as a teacher and as the Principal of Winnebago High School. Served next year as an assistant cashier of First National Bank of Winnebago, NE. Served third year as teller at the Security National Bank, Creighton, NE.
• 1932-1938: Worked as a design engineer at GE under W.C. White, Manager of the Vacuum Tube Engineering Dept. In six years, he earned twelve patents for his new designs of vacuum tubes and related circuits.
• 1938-1944: Transferred to GE Purchasing Dept., working under Harry Erlicher, VP Purchasing. Worked with vendors to obtain lower costs, then with change of emphasis to procure adequate quantities for the war effort.
• 1944-1947: Transferred to Locke Insulator, Baltimore, MD, a subsidiary of GE, as manager of Purchasing. Saw first-hand both the productive and destructive force of human attitudes and practices, and their effect on appropriate designs and appropriate costs. Fall 1947: Returned to Schenectady, NY to Mr. Erlicher's staff and was placed under William Sredenscheck who gave him full support to produce an approach for GE to improve cost and productivity.
• In December 1947, the basic Value Analysis Functional Approach was born.

The Later Years:

1948-1953: Mr. Winne, VP of Engineering for GE, and Mr. Du Chemin, VP of Manufacturing, both supported the establishment of Mr. Miles' program, which achieved the following results:

• trained 1,000 people a year; 
• used a revolving team of six to eight people for training;
• moved training out into plant locations;
• reported $10 million saved in first four years;
• in 1953 - at request of Admiral Leggett, made a presentation to the Bureau of Ships, which led to establishment of a program in the US Navy.

1954-1958: GE sales people saw in Value Analysis a way to be of additional benefit to customers and thereby earn additional orders. For example:

• GE's Jet Pump Motor orders from Flint & Walling Co. increased from $11,000 to $313,000 in one year after F&W personnel received VA instruction in applying the techniques to their products;
• 1956 - the 2,500th seminar trainee graduated;
• GE manager's turned to VA to cure lost business and falling profits.

1959-1964: The technique spread from the Navy throughout the Department of Defense. Highlights of this period include:

• 1959 - The Society of American Value Engineers was formed;
• 1960-1962 - Mr. Miles served as first SAVE President;
• 1961 - Mr. Miles wrote the definitive book, Techniques of Value Analysis and Engineering, McGraw Hill Co. publishers. It is now in its 3rd edition and is printed in twelve languages;
• 1962-1964 - Mr. Miles was a much sought-after speaker. GE sales managers set up meetings with customers, suppliers, company managers, organizations, professional societies and other groups for Mr. Miles to acquaint them with the powerful new VA/VE technology;
• 1964 - Mr. Miles retired from GE;
• 1965-1980 - Mr. Miles spoke at more than a dozen training seminars, workshops and conferences around the world each year. He did this for private companies, public bodies and government agencies with equal diligence;
• and on August 1, 1985 - Larry Miles passed away. Delegations of value engineers from all over the world attended services for him in Easton, Maryland.

Learn more about Larry Miles's Life. Order the book Lawrence D. Miles Recollections