TRIZ Forum:  Conference Participation Report (17)
Personal Report of TRIZCON2007:
The 9th Annual Conference of the Altshuller Institute for TRIZ Studies
(Held at Louisville, KY, USA, on Apr. 23 - 25, 2007) 
  Toru Nakagawa (Osaka Gakuin Univ., Japan), 
  Jun. 28, 2007
  [Posted on Jul. 3, 2007]

buttons guides you to the Japanese pages.
Japanese translation of this page is not scheduled.

Editor's Note (Toru Nakagawa, Jun. 15, 2007)

This is my 'Personal Report' of TRIZCON2007, held  about two months ago in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.  After coming back from TRIZCON, I have been very busy to organize our own Japan TRIZ Symposium to be held in the end of coming August, and could not find time to review the TRIZCON papers. Now reserving the period of about two weeks, I am going to write this Personal Report.  Since all the papers presented at TRIZCON carry a lot of intellectual work by authors and their clients/coworkers/students, we should be able to learn much from them.  I will try to convey all those authors' messages to a larger number of people who are interested in TRIZ world wide. (Please refer the intention of my writing this series of 'Personal Reports' of TRIZ conferences to my Editor's Note in the 'Personal Report of ETRIA TFC 2005'.)

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Larry Smith, Richard Langevin, Bob King, and many others who made so much efforts for making this Conference successful.

I am grateful also to the authors who gave me permissions to quote their figures in this report. (Jun 28, 2007)

top of the page Agenda Overview A. Keynote B. Methodology C. Technical Applications D. Other Applications
E.TRIZ Education Concluding Remarks List of Publications TRIZCON2006 Report Altshuller Institute Nakagawa's paper Japanese page

 


Outline of the Conference

Agenda

Note: In the order of actual presentation.  The number in [ ] stands for the paper number in the Proceedings.  See the table of contents of the Proceedings at the bottom of this report. *: attended at by Nakagawa. )

Tutorials

Apr. 30
(Sun.)
Morning

TRIZ for Beginners
  Ellen Domb and
  Joe Miller
The Main "Innovation Killer" Psychological Inertia
  Isak Bukhman
Directed Evolution Workshop
  Alla Zusman and Boris Zlotin
TRIZ for IP Development
  Sergei Ikovenko
Afternoon

Conflict Solving Algorithm
  Zinovy Royzen

 --
Substance Field Analysis & Standard Solutions
  Isak Bukhman

Symposium

Apr. 24
(Tue.)

Morning

Opening (Opening Address by Larry Smith) *
Keynote Speech: The Means and Ends in the Making: Finding the Natural Pathway to Robust, Stable Business Performance
  Tom Johnson [A]*
9-Screen Analysis
  Jack Hipple [-]
The TRIZ-de Bono Interface: a Complimentary Experience
  Pat Carlisle [-] *

Education
Workshop

  Develop Carnegie Proposal

Super Effects - A Windfall of Unexpected Benefits
  Gunter Ladewig [17]*
Creative Risk Management Based on Reverse Thinking - Innovation
  Manabu Sawaguchi [9]
Analysis of Alternatives for Sequences of Migration in Services Uncovered through TRIZ: The Sequence Generator
  Cristobal Peran Estapa, Dimitri Van Nuland [1]*
The Use of TRIZ in Business Continuity Planning
   Jack Hipple, Steve Elliot [24]
Afternoon Improve the Wear of Ti Drum Edges and Simplification of Buffing Process Using Trimming
  Shinhoo Choi [7]
Classes of "Creative Problem Solving Thinking" - Experiences at Osaka Gakuin University
   Toru Nakagawa [23]*
Education
Workshop

(continued)

Designing Features for Next Generation Products - Using TRIZ Tools
   Prakasan Kappoth [4]*
What We Could Get from S-Curve
   Xiaoling (Ellen) Shi, Minyi Zhang [28]
Application of TRIZ to Wireless MAC System on Chip Design - A Case Study
   R. Govindachari, Kaylan K Banerjee [18]*
An Improved Method for Teaching the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving
   Donald Coates, Sergei & Galina Malkin [27]
Functional Modeling for the Rest of Us
   James Todhunter [30] *
--
Evening Report of Education Workshop
   Wesley Perusek *
Directed Evolution
   Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman *

 

 

 

Apr. 25
(Wed.)

Morning

Altshuller Institute Business Meeting *
  Keynote Speech:  Teaching TRIZ to Children
Alla Nesterenko [B] *
A TRIZ-based Evaluation Process for Patents and Patent Portfolios
  Tzu-Chang Chen [6]
Teaching TRIZ as a Systematic Problem Solving Method: Breaking Mindsets
  Paul Filmore [11] *
Education Workshop
  - Continued
Directed Evolution Instruments for Designing Perfect Systems
  Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman [25]
Main Parameters of Value as the Basis for Innovation
  Sergei Ikovenko [-] *
  Afternoon Trends in the Dispersion of Residential Populations
  Paul Seguin, Alla Zusman, and Boris Zlotin [19]*

Presentation of a Tool for Problem Solving Improvement: Application in Process Engineering
  Jean Marc LeLann, Guillermo Cortes Robles, Stephane Negny [16]

TRIZ Grows TRIZ
  Ellen Domb, Michael Slocum, Katie Barry [15]*

Maturity Analysis of Taylor Blank Welding Technologies
  Noel Leon, Javier Zamora-Carreno [16]

Product Knowledge Management
  Hyman Duan [22]
Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) and TRIZ
  Navneet Bhushan [29] *

 


Overview:

This is the 9th TRIZ Conference annually held by the Altshuller Institute for TRIZ Studies.  This year it was held at Louisville, Kentucky, under the sponsorship of GOAL/QPC.

The total number of participants was about 70, according to the list of Attendees.  They came mostly from USA (46), and some from Europe (including UK (2), France (1), Russia (1), Spain (1), Belgium (1), Sweden (1), and Denmark (1)), Asia (including Japan (4), India (4), China (2), Taiwan (2), and Korea (1)), Canada (2), Mexico (1), Costa Rica (1), and New Zealand (1).  

On the first day, Tutorial sessions were held in three parallel tracks, i.e., TRIZ for Beginners, Advanced TRIZ Tutorial, and Directed Evolution Workshop.  This year, the Advanced course containing four lectures in sequence had a lager audience than the Beginners course. (I did not attend any.)

On the second and the third days, we had plenary Keynote Speeches, and then double tracks of ordinary presentations and the third track of TRIZ education workshop. 

The Proceedings was provided to the participants in a CD (and in a printed form for additional payment).  The Proceedings contains 22 papers in PDF as listed at the bottom of this report, but 2 papers of them were not presented actually due to the absence of the speakers. No printed material were provided for the Keynote Speeches.  

I am now going to review all the papers presented in the Conference.  Since I am not good at taking notes of speeches/discussions and since nearly two months have already passed, I would like to limit my review mostly on the papers and some presentation materials provided to me later on my request.  I could attend less than half of the papers due to parallel tracks, so please forgive me if there might be any misunderstanding of the papers in their points . 

In this report I am going to review the presentations in the following categories:

(A) Keynote Lectures and Related Works
(B) Further Extension of the TRIZ Methodology
(C) Applications of TRIZ in Technologies
(D) Application of TRIZ in Non-technology or General Areas
(E) Creativity/TRIZ Education
(F) Miscellaneous and Concluding Remarks

Note:  The paragraphs led with the *** mark express my personal views and impressions.


(A) Keynote Lectures and Related Works

The first Keynote Lecture [A] was given by Professor H. Thoms Johnson (Portland State University, USA) with the title of "The Means and Ends in the Making: Finding the Natural Pathway to Robust, Stable Business Performance".  He talked about TOYOTA's way of production and management on the basis of his case study performed in early 90s.  The case study compared the manufacturing of car bumpers, one in Ford at Michigan and the other in Toyota at Georgetown, thinking that making bumpers was quite simple and could not differ so much.  Ford applied the standard method of 'Management by Results' focusing the results in the accounting, whereas Toyota applied their way of 'Management by Means' focusing the manufacturing process.  The results on the accounting basis differed surprisingly in a couple of years.  Toyota nurtured flexible system of manufacturing.  The differences in these management philosophies have become clear in their results in productivity and profitability.  You can see this difference much more clearly nowadays.

The second Keynote Lecture [B] was given by Alla Nesterenko (TRIZ Educator, Russia) on 'Teaching TRIZ to Children' or more specifically with the title of "OTSM-TRIZ as an Efficient Tool for Implementation of Problem Based Learning".  (No hand-outs were provided in the Conference.  But the PDF file of presentation slides with notes for presentation is now available in the Web: http://www.jlproj.org .)  How to teach TRIZ to younger generation is one of the important issues for the TRIZ community.  Last year, TRIZCON2006 invited Tatiana Sidorchuk (Russia) and William Brown (USA) on this topic and initiated the Education Workshop led by Wesley Perusek.  This year the line has been enhanced with the Keynote Lecture and a day-and-half Education Workshop in parallel to TRIZCON Symposium. 

The motive of the Keynote Lecture is that the contents of education (in general for younger generation) should be changed to make the students able to solve non-typical (as well as typical) problems so as to face with the changing world.  In the 'Jonathan Livingston Project', i.e. the OTSM-TRIZ in Education Project led by Nikolai Khomenko for more than 20 years, the Author has developed a system of Problem-Centered Education. 

Not the knowledge of facts but the understanding to the structures of the knowledge/facts is important, the Author says.  The following figure shows the data banks of arrows which the Author uses for teaching teachers.  With the aid of these figures, the students understand/find names of features (e.g., shape of the pointer, number of pointers, etc.) and values of the features.   This forms a basis of understanding the 'Element-Name-Value (ENV) Model' for objects.  This model is used for children to make riddles for themselves for guessing the Element from Feature Name-Value pairs. 

The following slide is very interesting.  Read a literature, for example, and find and think over a critical situation for the character.  The character in the novel faces a difficult situation.  Then the children/students are advised to write down the situation in the scheme of contradiction formulated below, and then to think and discuss over this problem following the steps shown in this compact format.  As you see, this form may be applicable to real problems we face with in business, in technologies, in our own life, etc.  The Author and her group have used these and other tools to teach/train their school children. 

*** The presentation slides are available in the Web.  The contents of the slides are written in a compact manner as shown above.  There seem to exist a lot of experiences behind each slide; we should study them step by step.  See some more detail in the Web site of the Jonathan Livingston Project: http://www.jlproj.org

Education Workshop was held in parallel to the Symposium with the aim at preparing a research proposal for the Carnegie Foundation Grant.  About 10 to 15 people involved for a day and half.  At the Dinner time of Tuesday evening, Wesley Perusek reported that they had a lot of discussions with different opinions/visions.  ---    Recently the Newsletter of Altshuller Institute reported that six people gathered again for 3 days at Kent State University and prepared for the proposal of teaching TRIZ to 300 middle school teachers in 6 regions in USA.  The proposal will be submitted in coming August, the Newsletter says.


(B) Further Development of the TRIZ Methodology

Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman (Ideation International, USA) [20] gave a presentation with the title of "Directed Evolution Instruments for Designing Consummate Systems".  (I missed this presentation because I failed to get the notice of change in the Agenda of the day.)  Boris Zlotin is full of energy and actually talked on the topic of Directed Evolution, also in the Tutorial (on Monday morning) and in the after-Dinner talk (on Tuesday evening from 20:45 till 23:00).  In the evening talk, he reviewed his own history in TRIZ since 1974 until 1982 (when he quitted his talk because it was so late in the evening).  The paper [20] in the Proceedings was edited by Victoria Rosa on the basis of a lot of writings by the Authors; thus even though there are various nice descriptions in the paper, the structure of the paper is not strong enough and the focus is not so clear unfortunately, I feel.

Their Abstract is as follows:

Throughout history, only a limited number of technological systems have possessed the outstanding qualities that allowed them to enjoy enormous success over an unusually long life.  Examples from the last century include: the Ford Model-T automobile, the Douglas DC-3 airplane, the Kalashnikov machine gun, the Singer sewing machine, and the squirrel cage electric motor.  These systems cannot be called "ideal" in the TRIZ sense because they were actual systems rather than visionary concepts.  Perhaps the best name for them might be consummate systems.  This paper discusses how the Directed Evolution approach, the instruments associated with it, and the Ideation Bank of Evolutionary Alternatives can help in designing future consummate systems.  [Note: 'Consummate' means 'perfect and complete'. (TN, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)]  

A consummate system can be characterized by the following features, the Authors write:

The Authors use the word of 'Idealization' for expressing the process of efforts for achieving such a consummate system. In the Appendix they show the 'Suggested Idealization Process' as follows:

1. Become familiare with the object
2. Disassemble/dissect the object
3. Define the useful functions (main, auxiliary, secondary)
4. Define the harmful and/or unnecessary functions
5. Build cause-and-effect diagrams

6. Build the ideal model of a part or small assembly

7. Build the real system based on the ideal model

8. Document the solution(s)
9. Express the evaluation of the obtained idea(s)
10. Next idealization cycle
11. Hybridization
12. Express Failure Prediction on the obtained solution(s)

*** As you see, here is nothing so special/different from the standard way of good engineering.  Since I feel the steps 6 and 7 may be the essence of this Idealization process, details of the Authors' description are quoted above.

Hyman Duan, Quentin Xie, Yunmei Hong, Leonid Batchilo, and Alp Lin (IWINT, Inc., China) [22] gave a nice presentation with the title of "Product Knowledge Management: Role of the Synthesis of TRIZ and Ontology in R&D Process".  This is a report of the philosophy installed in their 'R&D Innovation Platform', named Pro/Innovator.  Their understanding is clear in their two section titles: 'Knowledge creation role of TRIZ in R&D process' and 'Knowledge organization role of ontology in R&D process'.  In relation to the basic scheme of problem solving (see the figure below), the Authors write:

Therefore, we need to simulate the two key elements of divergent thinking and convergent thinking, association and analogy, in computer software, in order to manage and record the thinking process of engineering and supply the gap of accessing and organizing knowledge of TRIZ.  Association and analogy of human thinking root in the relations among things in human brain.  The method and tool describing universal relations among things in computer is the ontology. 

Thus in their software tool, all the technical information is accumulated in a knowledgebase powered by ontology.  For acquiring information of technical solutions, they use the Solution-Verb-Parameter-Object (SVPO) format; its default version is shown below: 

Their scheme of 'TRIZ problem solving process enhanced the ontology-powered search' is demonstrated as follows:

Their overall scheme is shown in the following figure, expressing 'Product knowledge management with CAI (Computer Aided Innovation) platform in PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) environment.

*** The software tool developed by the Authors (IWINT, Inc.) in China has been reported for these three years or so step by step in TRIZCONs and ETRIA TFC's.  I am impressed with their steady progress in the tool development and in the underlying concept formation.

James Todhunter (Invention Machine Corp., USA) [30] gave a presentation on "Function Modeling for the Rest of Us".  This paper discusses how to support problem solvers with software tools. The problem situation is stated as:

"... Among the many tools available to TRIZ practitioners, function modeling is extremely helpful to achieve a deeper understanding of the system being examined and to arrive at a clear definition of the problem.  Unfortunately, function modeling can be very difficult for the novice practitioner -- thinking functionally is unfamiliar.   ...  In a quick survey of TRIZ practitioners, experts seemed to find little difficulty with functional modeling.  Non-expert practitioners, on the other hand, reported difficulty with both system component definition and function specification.  ..."

For solving this difficulty, the Author proposes a software tool which is supposed to help the user find proper components and their functions in the system by use of 'TRIZ Information Fund'.  With the semantic analysis of a technical document, e.g. a patent, the components of the system are listed.  By example, the case of 'a pet lead with adjustable handle' is used.  A part of the text document may be read as:

"To accomplish the objectives of the present invention in accordance with a preferred embodiment thereof, there is provided, an adjustable leash for restraining an animal.  The leash comprises a lead [handle (inserted by TN)] having a lead having a releasable clip suitable for securing the device to the animal, wherein the middle section of the leash is fitted with one or more securing receptors, and the first end has at least one securing device adapted to releasably engage one of the securing receptors so that the user can refasten and create an opening for holding the lead or securing the lead to a stationary object of varying sizes."

The Author then demonstrates the process of assisting the (novice) user in building up the functional model. The following figure shows the user interface at the moment when the user is trying to identify the function of the 'lead'.  The leftmost scrollable list shows the components in the system to be chosen; then after choosing 'handle' as the component that 'lead' acts on, the tool lists up candidates of the action in the middle column by use of the information obtained from the documents.  Then the user may select 'extend' as the function of 'lead' onto 'handle'.

The Author shows the system functional model built in this manner by use of 'TRIZ Information Fund'.  See the figure below:

*** I am not convinced that this tool will help (novice) users build the functional model smoothly.  The Author assumes that the candidate lists of component words and of action words are the keys for help and that the user can (or should) select some proper word one by one to build up the final figure like the one shown above.  I think the concept of function need to be taught some more, otherwise the criteria of which word should be chosen is not clear.  Users should be able to judge whether his/her choice in each item (component/action/etc.) is appropriate or not.  For instance, the figure shown above is not clear to me especially when the Author chooses 'lead extends handle'.  Or, in this case, 'handle extends lead', or else 'lead extends itself'?  Functional modeling often becomes confusing if one tries to write every function in one diagram.  Unfortunately, I cannot understand the structure of this extensible lead on the basis of this drawing of System Function Model.  It is better to draw multiple functional models for expressing different conditional/temporal cases separately. 

Manabu Sawaguchi (SANNO Institute of Management, Japan) [9] gave a presentation on "Creative Risk Management Based on Reverse Thinking Helping with "Innovation" ". This paper has developed a method for creative risk management and demonstrated it in a case study in the field of IT.  The Author pointed out that the conventional risk management techniques are based on the thinking 'How the failure result occurred?' and hence applicable in the environment where the change is slow.  On the other hand, in the environment of drastic change, like in the IT field, new risk management techniques are necessary; in such a situation, since we cannot depend on the former experiences, we need to make future-oriented thinking, i.e., 'How can we create the failure result?'.  The Author's method is based on the Subversive Analysis, and Anticipatory Failure Determination (AFD) developed by Ideation International, Inc.

The whole procedure is illustrated in the following figure:

By example, a case of making business with 'E-learning System for English Conversation (ESEC)' is used. As the result of Step 5 in the above figure, the following figure was made with creative reverse thinking on the basis of 'Harmful Functional Diagram'.  It's a pity that I cannot explain the content items one by one due to the limitation of space, but you may be able to understand what kind of scheme is used in this diagram.

*** In the IT field, creative thinking should be necessary indeed, as the Author says, in risk management, in new product/business development, in solving problems and contradictions, etc.

Sergey Malkin (Pretium Consulting Services, LLC., USA), Donald Coates (Kent State University USA), and Galina Malkin (Pretium Consulting Services, LLC., USA) [27] gave a fine paper on "An Improved Method for Teaching the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving to Students".  This paper is a combination of developing TRIZ methodology and teaching it.  The Authors' Abstract is quoted here first:

The vision of the authors is that TRIZ should be as popular a tool for people in business and education for solving challenging problems, as Excel is for solving spreadsheet problems.  Their experience has been that introductory training of business and university students in the United States of America on the many tools embodied in TRIZ (S-Field, Chemical-Physical Effects, Technological Evolution, ARIZ, etc) does not leave these newcomers with a ready process that they are comfortable using.  Part of the reason for this is that there is no parallel to native processes such as Scientific Method. 
A solution has been found by focusing on the core process of "Ideal-Vision-Function-Resources" where Inventive Principles are used for brainstorming ways to maximize the useful functions, minimize the harmful functions and resolve contradictions. With this process in mind, they can analyze and solve some functional problems quickly with minimal analysis and use available resources only.  Other times, inventive principles stimulate idea generation.  Once the confidence in the method develops for less complex problems, they are in a position to absorb the additional tools of TRIZ.  This approach has been used successfully with companies, university staff, and students.

The Authors' basic observation of difficulties in TRIZ teaching is illustrated in the following figure in the form of a Contradiction, and the Authors' solution concept is also shown here clearly. 

With the aim at easy accessing by beginners, the Authors focused on the use of 40 Inventive Principles and reorganized them in the following groups.  The contents of the first group is demonstrated below in a table.

By use of these reorganized or structured TRIZ Inventive Principles as a core tool, the scheme of easy problem solving is illustrated in the following figure.  The simple software is named 'Guided Innovation Toolkit', and the collaborative work by a group of people for idea generation is called 'Guided Brainstorming' by the Authors.

For solving more difficult problems, the full scheme should be learned and used as illustrated in the following:

The Functional Modeling in the Authors' way is simpler than the conventional ways.  The Authors demonstrated a brief example of using their method:  In the late 1970's a dozen of fishing boats were capsizing in rough seas and sinking in the North Sea during a storm due to ice freezing in the rigging making the boats top heavy.  The seamen melted the ice by putting a lot of sea water on icy rigging and saved their boats and their lives.  Their solution can be shown in a Function Diagram in the following way.  (Boxes is a function stated in the form of 'verb and object'.  This seems to be a easy way of showing he relationships among functions.)

*** I feel this paper proposes a nice and easy method of reorganizing TRIZ and teaching and applying it in a practical manner.  Wish to see further results of its penetration in industries and in universities.

 

Guillermo Cortes Robles, Stephane Negny, Jean Marc Le Lann (INPT-ENSIACET, Toulouse, France) [16] gave a paper on "Presentation of a Tool for Problem Solving Improvement: Application in Process Engineering".  The Authors' tool is a software tool which combines Case-Based Reasoning scheme with TRIZ Contradiction Matrix.  Their model is represented in the following figure.  *** It seems to me that one of the weak points of this scheme is the use of various cases and TRIZ knowledge only in a superficial way.

Navneet Bhushan (Wipro Technologies, India) [29] gave a presentation on "Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) and TRIZ - A Framework for Global Product Development".  This paper deals with three big topic, Toyota's design methodology (SBCE), TRIZ, and Global Product Development.  First I will quote the Author's Abstract in parts:

Continuously increasing complexity in the modern day systems call for radically different approaches to ensure high levels of functionality, quality and performance in new product development.  Increasing globalization indicates that the world will witness more of Global Product Development (GDP). ... < 5 lines skipped. >
This paper proposes a framework for GDP combining TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) and Set Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) pioneered by Toyota.  We propose that such a framework is ideally suited to be adopted and adapted for global product development. ...  <21 more lines omitted.>  

The Author introduces "Set Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE)" as a development technique invented by Toyota.  --- *** I must confess here that even though I studied several books on 'Toyota Production System' in Japanese I am not an expert in this subject.  And it is sometimes difficult for us to discuss properly on this topic because there could be differences between what we know about Toyota and its various methodologies and what you learned about them, e.g. in the words of Lean Engineering and Concurrent Engineering. 

The Author summarizes SBCE in comparison with 'Traditional Point Based Approach' by use of the following figure and the following table.

  

The Author has shown his proposal of the SBCE-based scheme of design methodology where various TRIZ tools are assigned to be used, and suggests to have used it for Global Product Development (GPD). 

*** I will not introduce you the details of this rather lengthy paper.  There needs careful examinations and trials of this kind of new methodologies.  We Japanese are very proud of Toyota Motor Company and of the people who have developed the company's underlying methodologies.  However, we should understand that various conditions and understandings are prerequisite for carrying out their methodology.  The fact that Toyota has become the world No. 1 car manufacturer in sales does not prove its design methodology will lead you best.  This paper has treated three important but controversial areas, SBCE, TRIZ, and GPD; thus it is natural that this paper needs to be read with care.  You can read the full paper in Altshuller Institute's Web site, Jun. 2007 page of 'Inside TRIZ'.

*** In Japan, TRIZ has been introduced to various fields of industries for these 10 years.  Automobile industries were the top leader in TRIZ in Japan in its very early stage.  Toyota Engineer Mr. Hiroshi Igata was the pioneer in TRIZ in Japan and introduced IM Labs to Toyota and to Japan in mid 1990s; and around 2000 Ed Sickafus was invited to Toyota to talk about his USIT.  Many other automobile/bike companies including Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Yamaha, Denso, Yanmar, etc. had and have TRIZ activities to some different extents.  But roughly speaking, TRIZ in Japan has been penetrating most widely and deeply in Electric and IT related industries and not so much in automobile industries.  You can see this clearly in the list of speakers in TRIZ Symposia in Japan  (3rd TRIZ Symposium will be held in the end of coming August).  In USA and in Europe automobile industries are much active in introducing TRIZ, I feel.  So, we are wondering why TRIZ is not accepted in Japanese automobile industries so much.  

 


(C) Applications of TRIZ in Technologies

Gunter Ladewig (PRIMA Performance Ltd., Canada) and Robert Lyn (Microbonds Inc., Canada) [17] gave an excellent case study paper with the title of "Super Effects: The Synergistic Effects of TRIZ, The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving".  This paper reports a new technology, 'Insulated Wire Bonding Technology', called X-Wire (TM) developed by Microbonds guided by the TRIZ methodology. The new technology has removed the serious limitation of the current wire bonding technology, the Authors say.

The current wire bonding technology is illustrated in the following figure.  The wires (usually of gold) have the diameter of about 25 microns and are bonded around the peripherals of chips so as not to touch one another.  The length of the inter-chip wires must be short to keep the high speed performance of the chips. 

Making the number of bonding wires small and the length of them short forces a difficult design choice.  A recent technology is Area Array Flip Chip which uses solder balls arranged in matrix under the chip (See the figure below).  But this merely transfers the problem to expensive, multi-layer substrates with long layer-to-layer connecting conductors, the Authors say.

The Authors now refer to TRIZ, especially the Trends of Evolution.  The problem of chip-to-chip interconnection is related to the 'Trends of Geometric Evolution for a Line'.  The Trend may be quoted as:

Point --> Line --> 2D Lines (planar) or curves --> 3D Lines (cubic) or curves --> 3D Complex curves

Looking at the history of wire bonding technologies, the Authors realized that the phase of 2D lines in a planar arrangement was only partially completed.  Since the wires should not touch to prevent electrical shorting, the wires are arranged only around the peripherals and leaving the whole center of the chip empty.  The current technology has moved without solving contradictions, the Authors say, to the phase of 3D lines, in the form of expensive Flip Chip design.  The Authors exploited the opportunity of the skipped '2D lines or curves' phase of evolution.

They have developed a 1 micron-thin, bond wire insulating material that is usable on standard wire bonding assembly equipment.  With this insulating coat, the wires can touch one another without shorting, and hence can be bonded densely and at any place including the center of chips.  (See the figure.)  For developing this technology, they had to overcome numerous obstacles.  For example, the coating must be thin, yet have high dielectric strength, must have high flexural strength without cracking, must not inhibit bonding, must be non-contaminating, solvent resistant, adhere to gold, and must be temperature-stable up to 250 degrees.

The Authors expect 'Super Effects', i.e. chain reactions of innovation, which they summarize as follows:

In conclusion the Authors write:

The above article is a summary of a windfall of benefits that was achieved when a technological system's fundamental constraint or contradiction was solved.  We illustrated how just one Trend of Evolution could be used as a competitive weapon.  ...

*** This is an excellent paper on developing a novel technology guided by TRIZ.  Visit their Web site: http://www.microbonds.com/ .

Shinhoo Choi, Keumhwan Cha, Youngju Kang, and Youngjun Ahn (LS Cable, Korea) [7] gave a nice presentation of case study, with the title of "Improvement of Wear Problem at Ti Drum Edges and Simplification of the System Design Using Trimming When Dry Buffing Process". This case is related to the process of manufacturing thin copper foils by using the electro deposition of copper metal onto a Titanium Drum in the electrolytic bath containing aquous solution of CuSO4 (See Figure below, left).  The surface of the Ti drum need to be polished to be smooth and clean so as to remove any oxidized-Ti contamination (TiO, TiO2, etc.). For the polishing work, a dry-type buffing is applied with a roller brush as shown in the Figure below, right.  The problem of this case study is the wearing of the Ti drum edge (shown in the dotted circle) by the buffing brush which is rotated and oscillated while applying a constant pressure onto the Ti surface.  At the drum edge, an O-ring is inserted (though not shown in the right figure) for the purpose of preventing the copper deposition in the electrolytic bath.  The wear of the drum edge causes insufficient sealing of the O-ring, deposition of copper metal at the drum's edge side, and eventually the tearing of the foil during the exfoliation process (i.e. pealing the foil off the drum) .

The paper describes the Authors' process of analyzing the problem by use of Functional Analysis, formulation of Technical Contradictions, Su-Field Modeling, Resource Analysis, and formulation of Physical Contradiction.  They state the Physical Contradiction as:

Buffing brush must be dense and rough where it is in contact with the Ti drum surface and it should be sparse and smooth where it is in contact with the drum's edges.

This analysis guided two solution ideas.  Their second, and found better, idea is shown in the figure below.  Teflon is coated on the Ti surface near the edges of the both sides; this reduces the wearing of the edge, and prevents the metal deposition on the edge part.  The Figure in the right shows the Su-Field Models of the problem situation and its standard solution actually used here.  The Authors quickly verified their idea and are now going to install it in their mass production facility.

*** This paper is a nice case study easy to follow the Authors' standardized way of applying TRIZ.  The description is concrete, practical, and detailed, just as in the few case studies previously published from this company, i.e. LS Cable, Korea.  We are thankful for their frank and generous contributions of such instructive case study publications.

Tzu-Chang Chen (Taiwan Textile Research Institute, Taiwan) [6] gave an excellent paper with the title of "A TRIZ-based Evaluation Process for Patents and Patent Portfolio".  (I missed to attend at his presentation. The Author has kindly provided me his presentation file for my present review and allowed me to quote some figures from his slides.)  This paper reports about a method of patent evaluation based on TRIZ, by using a case study in the field of functional textiles.  I notice that the paper is backed up with an intensive patent research by the Author in his specialty field and with the experiences as a TRIZ specialist. 

The Author's Abstract is quoted here first:

The value of a patent or a patent portfolio is mainly determined by their technological and commercial strength, of course also by its claim scope.  The patent evaluation process then becomes very essential for the analysis of competitive advantage of the players in the market.  A process for evaluating one patent or a patent portfolio includes normally the claim construction, analysis of embodiment and technical background, which are completed by referring to their prior arts.  The latter are usually analyzed on the basis of citation index, which implies the ideas source of the present patent(s).
Comparing with the cited prior arts, this study adopts another list of prior arts, which are developed by aid of the TRIZ methodology.  The functional analysis, ideality, trimming technique and conflicts analysis are used for generating a set of feasible concepts.  These concepts are then used to determine the non-obviousness of the concerned patents, whose value could then be made together with other information.  The study confirms the usage of TRIZ methodology for the evaluation of patents, the applied process is also validated for the evaluation of organizational intellectual properties, which are formerly lack of a consistent evaluation process.

The Author's process of (patent or patent portfolio) evaluation is illustrated in the following figure, where the yellow/orange colored steps are enhanced with the TRIZ methodology. 

(Step A): The identification of key patents is done with patent citation analysis and patent family analysis.  In the latter analysis the patents from a company are analyzed in their relationship of continuation (in part) applications for revealing the company's intention of obtaining a strong patent portfolio.  By example for a case study, the Author uses a family of patents of electric heating fabric technology of a company.  The patents provide electric heating/warming fabric with electric heating yarns woven in the fabric.

(Step B): The problem to be solved is revealed in the form of 'Conflicts diagram for major components', as shown below in the figure.  This diagram is a kind of functional analysis in the problem situation, where harmful functions are written with X marks.

(Step C): Then the solution by the patent(s) is examined by using the Functional Analysis.  The Author shows the following Functional diagram to represent the patent solution.  The insert drawing at the bottom right is taken from the patent and shows the cross section of the fabric prebody having the raised surface (i.e. fleece) and the embedded electric heating elements.  By comparing this Functional diagram with the Conflict diagram, we can understand that the heating element is embedded in the fabric prebody for insulating the heating elements and for uniformly heating the human body by virtue of the raised surface.  We also see the Barrier is introduced to block sweat for preventing it from short circuiting the electric heating elements and from wetting the fabric prebody.  

(Step D1): To study 'How others solved the problem', prior arts and relevant patents are surveyed and summarized.  This is a step using ordinary survey methods. 

(Step D2): Then, using TRIZ we consider 'How could it be solved otherwise'.  For this purpose, starting with the functional analysis, we apply Conflicts analysis, Su-Field analysis, and Trimming, the Author says.  For example, the following figures may be able to stimulate you to consider the conflicts and to generate new ideas.  Actually the Author has generated various alternative ways of solving the problem (please refer to the paper). 

(Step E): With all the information obtained so far, the patent (or patent portfolio) is evaluated, with the criteria of patentability, defensibility, and offensiveness.  The Author advises to examine the offensiveness of the patent by using TRIZ Trimming method, i.e., eliminating a component in the patent and think of any new solution without it. The following figure show the process of Trimming.  An important component 'Fabric prebody' in the patent is eliminated here to think any alternative way of solving the problem without the component. -- *** This figure is a little shocking to me.  In the trimming process we think to eliminate a component, thus this figure is nothing new conceptually.  But seeing an explicit drawing of the Functional diagram with a vacant component and suspended functions is quite new. With this diagram we are encouraged to manipulate the functions with/without insertion of a new component.

I would like to quote here the two slides of Authors 'Observations' in concluding this paper:

*** This paper is excellent in showing the process of analyzing (or evaluating) the patents.  In addition to ordinary ways done by IP specialists, the evaluation process is much enhanced by TRIZ.  In several big industries in Japan, their IP divisions are actually leading the promotion of TRIZ.  This paper should be a useful case study for them (and for others, of course).

Raghunath Govindachari and Kaylyan Kumar Banerjee (MindTree Consulting Ltd., India) [18] gave a presentation with the title of "Application of TRIZ to Wireless MAC System-on-Chip Design: A Case Study".  The Authors, working for a provider of short-range wireless interface solutions, are interested in the next generation products of wireless handset terminals.  They have applied TRIZ tools, including S-curve analysis, Trends of evolution, and Contradiction matrix.  Their main interest is located in the merging/convergence of various wireless technologies in a seamless manner in the handset design.  But it raises a conflict of performance (in processing speed) and device complexity especially at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer.  As a possible solution for this conflict, the Authors are interested in the 'Software Defined Radios (SDR)' architecture, i.e. basic circuits are mapped to micro instructions and the complex handling is achieved with programs using these micro instructions.  

In the conclusion the Authors talk about 'Logical Systems' as a distinct class of technological systems, in contrast to physical systems.  Logical Systems contain both hardware and software.  They are thinking to convert TRIZ principles and tools to be more applicable to such Logical Systems. 

*** This presentation is worthy of reading as a case study in the IT field.  However, since the Authors write in a too IT specific way, I would not explain the paper in detail here.  

Javier Zamora Carrerio (IMSA-MEX, Mexico) and Noel Leon Rovia (CIDYT, ITESM, Mexico) [25] talked on "Maturity Analysis of Tailor Blank Welded Technology".  This paper analyses 400 patents (or 132 patents more closely) related to the Tailor Welded Blank (TWB) Technology for car/truck frames.  According to the paper, "TWB uses laser welding to avoid increasing weight in the resulting blank.  It is also the only welding process that reduces the heat affected zone to a minimum and it is also convenient for welding different types of steel.  The disadvantage is that it requires high quality edges that are not usually accomplished in typical blanking processes and therefore edge preparation processes are required."  The Abstract writes:

... The present paper describes the analysis performed regarding the convenience of introducing this technology for the design and manufacturing of automotive frames in one Mexican Enterprise. 
TRIZ evolution patterns have been used for this analysis, especially the pattern 1 "Technology follows a life cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and decline".  More than 400 patents related to blank welding technologies were analyzed for identifying the maturity of this technology and positioning it along its S-curve.  Minimal quadratic regression analysis was used to identify the shapes of the different life cycle curves.

Skipping the detailed descriptions of the analysis, I would like to quote Authors' Conclusions:

At the first stage of this study, was concluded that it is convenient to introduce TWB technology in Mexico, whether buying own equipment or through association with a current TWB manufacture provider.  Although only small savings in stamping will be achieved considerable savings in hydroforming and in weight reduction thanks to smarter use of material justify this decision.
At the second stage of the study this idea was further reinforced because the technology is entering in its growth stage and?that means that further possibilities for continue improving the technology will arise. ...    < 9 lines skipped >
Summarizing, TWB is critical for the future of truck frame Industry, due to market trends regarding safety, fuel consumption, and customer satisfaction.


(D)  Application of TRIZ in Non-technological or General Areas

Cristobal Peran Estepa (De Valck Consultants, Spain), Luis Miguel Cipres Bandres (Altran SDB, ), and Dimitri Van Nuland (De Valck Consultants, Belgium) [1] gave a nice presentation with the title of "Analysis of Alternatives for Sequences of Migration in Services Uncovered through TRIZ: The Sequence Generator".  The Authors are working for consultation to big industries and public organizations.  I will quote their Abstract first:

It is a common need when deploying new service centers where management, control and billing of system occurs) to develop a sequence of migration and implantation of services (especially for 24/7-services where service level has to be maintained).  The number of constraints and events that can happen during such a transfer makes planning almost an impossible task.  This results in improvisation, fast decision making, and normally a high risk at a decreased Service Level. 
During our project we used a set of tools coming from TRIZ in order to tackle this complex problem that can potentially happen in any company. The problem analysis uncovered a number of contradictions.  Resources and Constraints were identified for the real case and a thorough functional and ideality analysis was performed.  The goal was being able to determine all the possible sequences and dynamically adapt the real transfer sequence at any given time instead of having one single, static one.  The result was the definition of a tool based  on the MCDA (Multi Criteria Decision Analysis) technique which can adapt, re-plan, and regenerate the sequence of migration at any given time of the process taking into account and preserving the rules at all times. 

The paper reports a real case carried out for a client (not named) responsible for managing large transport infrastructures on an international level.  The client wanted to implant a new transport management center, i.e. their main neural center, having the scale of involving 80 different IT systems to be integrated and having the severe requirement of non-stopping the service during the moving period.  Before the Authors got involved, the client mostly used the 'classic' engineering perspective and prepared for all possible events that might occur normally but was not prepared for all possible variations or alternations that might occur in reality.  Thus the Authors introduced TRIZ-based method into this project planning.  In the first phase, they have analyzed the problem by using 9-Windows, Functional analysis, Contradictions and the 40 Inventive Principles, and Ideal Final Results.  The conclusions from the analyses were (1) We must be able to modify the sequence of migration in real-time whatever the reason of the user, and (2) We must foresee which factors may cause the user to take the decision to change something and what impact it might have on the sequence.

Thus their basic solution was to create a tool for the sequence generation.  The flow of the sequence generator is shown in the following figure:

The main part of explaining their 'Sequence generator is quoted here:

For the purpose of this project the sequence generator was set up in Excel (but any software that is programmable can work). In the figure below, you can find a snapshot of the starting window of the sequence generator.  The result of the sequence generator is a possible sequence as shown in the figure of 'Project Window'.
Once a sequence has been determined, one can assign migration weight (effort required to migrate) to each service, as well as assign the real workforce (human resources) to each working day of the migration in this Project Window.  This then results in a realistic planning, where based on the available resources of a specific day, even simultaneous migrations (overlap) can be carried out. 
The Project Window is also very dynamic; simply by changing capacity or weights the planning and sequence is immediately adjusted.

*** This sequence generator seems to be very effective and flexible. The Authors write that this idea was obtained from the analysis using TRIZ tools.

The presentation [19] is a case study of applying Directed Evolution to foreseeing the future trends in a large scale.  The paper is: "Future Residential Dispersion as Influenced by Three Contributing Technologies: Probabilities Derived from the Directed Evolution "Bank of Evolutionary Alternatives" " by Boris Zlotin, Alla Zusman (Ideation International, USA) and Paul Seguin (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) [19].  The paper was presented by the third author.  The Abstract is as follows:

This paper presents a review of some historical patterns in human residential settlement, along with analyses of contemporary lines of evolution in three related technological areas: Transportation, Energy, and Construction.  The results demonstrate a probable future with an ever-expanding pattern of residential dispersion, and also show the value of looking holistically, rather than just separately, at mutually interacting lines of evolution.

*** The scope of this research project is so large that it is hard to evaluate whether the main trends in transportation, energy, public construction, etc. are introduced with proper weights or not.  As written in the Abstract, the Authors accumulate the information of predicted trends in various topics and areas, to form the "Bank of Evolutionary Alternatives".  Probably such accumulation of information is much significant for policy making by industries, local and national governments, and global organizations.  Differences between TRIZ-based predictions and other ordinary predictions will become clear in 10 to 20 years of time.

Prakasan Kappoth (MindTree Consulting Ltd, India) [4] gave a talk on "Designing Features for Next Generation Technology Products -- Role of TRIZ Tools". This paper reports a case of developing a service product for managing the vehicles and drivers at a fleet management company and explains the process of development by use of TRIZ-based tools.  Four TRIZ tools are used in the following way, according to the description in the Abstract:

The process itself seems not new or novel.  The paper writes: "The objective of this project was to create a process that can be re-used in product development using TRIZ techniques in the similar scenario."  This case study has fulfilled the objectives.

Ellen Domb (PQR Group, USA), Michael Slocum (Air Academy Associates, USA), and Katie Barry (TRIZ Journal & Real Innovation, USA) [13] talked with the title of "TRIZ Grows TRIZ".  This is an introduction of the early history of "The TRIZ Journal", which was established in November 1996 and have played an very important role for penetrating TRIZ in the Western World for these 10 years, as you know. 

Before starting the TRIZ Journal, Ellen Domb and James Kowalick, Founding Editors of "The TRIZ Journal", wanted to solve a contradiction: "We want a Journal and we do not want a Journal".  Publication of standard, conventional academic journals needs a lot of efforts, money, and time, and yet is not suitable for conveying quick communication among interested people.  They formulated multiple levels of Ideal Final Results:

Combining these insights with the resource analysis generated the concept of the TRIZ Journal as a web site.  The monthly email announcing that the new issue is ready was created to replicate the experience of receiving a print magazine, the Authors write.  -- Conclusion of the paper is quoted below:

The TRIZ Journal has grown from the first issue, written and read solely by the editors, to tens of thousands of readers each month, in more than 100 countries.  Dr. Michael Slocum joined as co-editor after Dr. Kowalick's retirement in 1999.  The TRIZ Journal has published more than 1,000 articles.  In October 2006, CTQ Media LLC acquired The TRIZ Journal.  CTQ Media created the portal Real Innovation (www.realinnovation.com) - the new home of The TRIZ Journal.  The new site's design has improved the readability, added a discussion forum and a commentary section to enhance communication - all managed by editor Katie Barry.

*** We are very grateful for all the contributions done through The TRIZ Journal for over 10 years.  When we started to learn about TRIZ in Japan in 1997, The TRIZ Journal was one of the main information sources, regarded non-commercial and hence most reliable.  Having such a public Web site as a hub, besides international conferences, has been a significant factor for the world TRIZ community to establish itself and grow steadily.

*** I started my Web site in November 1997 as "TRIZ Home Page in Fujitsu" in an intranet with the assistance of a young research Mr. Hirohisa Naitou.  Then after moving to Osaka Gakuin University, I started "TRIZ Home Page in Japan" on Nov. 1, 1998 in Japanese and on Nov. 15, 1998 in English as well, and have been editing and operating it all by myself.  "TRIZ Home Page in Japan" is a public Web site, especially based in Japan and wishing to be one of those global hub sites in TRIZ and Creative Problem Solving. 

*** I would like to show you a photo of these authors and myself, taken on Apr. 24 and provided by Valery Krasnoslobodtsev.  From right to left: Toru Nakagawa, Katie Barry, Michael Slocum, and Ellen Domb.

Jack Hipple (Innovation-TRIZ, USA) and Steve Elliot (Elliot Consulting, USA) [24] gave a presentation on "The Use of TRIZ in Business Continuity Planning".  I will quote Authors' Abstract in the following.

The principles of TRIZ continue to find applications in fields outside their original application in engineering and technical problem solving.  The past few years we have reported applications in management and organizational problem solving, ergonomics and human factors, and consumer product design.  This year we want to review an application of TRIZ and its normal algorithms and tools, as well as its "reverse" version in an important new area --- business continuity planning (BCP). 
TRIZ in "reverse", sometimes called Predictive Failure Analysis or Anticipatory Failure Determination, inverts the traditional algorithm and provides a mental process for identifying potential failure mechanism that may not be found via normal "check list" processes, in wide spread use, such as HAZOP (Hazardous Operations Analysis) or FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis).  Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) has identified failure routes that were not able to be identified via these processes in the banking, chemical, and food processing industries.  PFA and its application to business continuity planning (BCP) are discussed.  BCP is a particularly important current concern given present day severe weather and terrorist concerns.

The paper writes that the Authors used the TRIZ tools in the processes of (a) Risks and vulnerability assessment, (b) Crisis management and mitigation, (c) Communication, (d) Risk management, and (e) Business recovery.  -- *** This paper is good to learn the general framework, but no case study is shown. 


(E) Creativity/TRIZ Education

Paul R. Filmore (University of Plymouth, UK) [11] gave a presentation on "Teaching TRIZ as a Systematic Problem Solving Method: Breaking Mindsets".  The Abstract by the Author is quoted here first:

Present education has often a dysfunctional approach in that it gives students knowledge and examples of how to solve problems using that knowledge, and then assumes that the student will somehow by a process similar to osmosis understand how to solve further problems in that domain.  In reality there appears to be little focus on 'teaching' how to solve problems systematically, particularly real life problems that are 'messy' and extend into a number of domains. This paper shares experience and knowledge which is based on six years of teaching systematic problem solving in the UK and the special place that TRIZ has in this arena.  Key areas covered are:-

The Author seems to have a lot of experiences and interesting examples for guiding students.  His introduction is interesting, so I will quote his quiz:

How is it possible to stop students starting to immediately solve a problem?  My approach is to get the students to gain the awareness of this danger by attempting to solve some simple problems that they cannot solve.  Key to this is that the examples must be simple, and the students have fun.  A minimum of two different types of problems need to be used before the 'message' sinks in (i.e., take the students twice around the learning cycle).  As an example, the first problem I give students is shown in Figure 2. 


(Copyright: Paul Filmore)

The approach is to gradually illicit more and more ideas and for the ideas to get more and more 'creative'.  Students then start to realize that they have been making assumptions which have been limiting their ability to solve the problem. 
Common assumptions: depth of moat (it may be 1cm), it is a moat rather than blue glass, the moat has sharks in it, i.e., they must not get wet, the moat goes right around the back, they have to use both planks, they have to use one plank (NB common assumption is that if a 'resource' is available then it must be used), have to get into the castle (key mistake of not reading the question/brief).
When all the student assumptions have been listed, it is a good idea to introduce the (TRIZ) idea of resources available and list these.  Examples are: planks, air, shouting to get someone in the castle to lower the drawbridge, the moat edging. At this point it is useful to point out that symmetry, dimensionality etc. may be resources and even drop a loaded hint that the solution would not be possible with a perfectly circular moat.
The solution of putting one plank across the right angle of the moat and then the other on top and to the far side is not really of importance.  It is getting the students to see that it is their thinking that gets in the way of solving a problem, otherwise there would not be a problem!

Then the Author discusses how to break the mindset, or the Psychological Barriers.  Please read the original paper.  I will close this review by quoting his conclusion:

This paper shares experiences from many years of teaching problem solving and TRIZ.  It shows that making people aware of their limiting thinking preferences, their assumptions, their initial limiting problem understanding and definition, greatly enhances their problem solving abilities.  The paper then continues to show how the TRIZ tools can be appreciated more widely by recognizing their mindset breaking potential.

Toru Nakagawa (Osaka Gakuin University, Japan) [23] gave a presentation with the title of "Classes of 'Creative Problem Solving Thinking' -- Experiences at Osaka Gakuin University --".  I will quote the Abstract:

Experiences of the classes of 'Creative Problem Solving Thinking' at Faculty of Informatics of Osaka Gakuin University are reported. A course of 15 lectures has been given to 2nd year (and over) students with the theme of 'Methodologies for Creative Problem Solving'. Since the students do not have much background knowledge of technologies yet, the course is taught by giving basics of doing research and thinking and basics of concepts of systems and functions. Processes of problem solving were explained step by step showing various examples and different methods mostly of TRIZ and USIT. In the Seminar Classes, small groups of students were trained on the theme of 'Creative Problem Solving Thinking' at about 27 classes for 3rd and for 4th year students. Training is mostly done with group practices by using published or new case studies. Students have solved various everyday-life problems as their thesis works. A new Web site "TRIZ Home Page for Students by Students" has been established in March 2006, posting their thesis woks and discussions on their findings with TRIZ/USIT. Some case studies of solving everyday-life problems are demonstrated.

In my Web site "TRIZ Home Page in Japan", I have already posted the full paper and the presentation slides in PDF.  So please refer to them for the detail.  The results obtained by my students were also reported in The Second TRIZ Symposium in Japan, 2006, last August.  See their presentation slides in English and my introduction to Students' Web site .

Here I would like to show the outline of my course of 15 lectures (1.5 hr each), because it represents my current understanding of 'Methodologies for Creative Problem Solving' especially based on TRIZ and USIT:

Table 2. Lectures on Methodologies of Creative Problem Solving

(1) An easy introduction: Flexible ways of thinking are necessary for innovation
(2) Three principal approaches of studying and applying science and technology: From observation, from principles, and from problems
(3) Finding the problem, focusing on it, and collecting information
(4) How come up with ideas? Trial and error, enlightenment, and creativity
(5) What are 'Systems': Components and their relationships, hierarchy of systems, and technical systems
(6) Analysis of problems (1) Finding root causes of the problem (or difficulty)
(7) Analysis of problems (2) Analyzing functions and attributes of a technical system
(8) Extra: Task of the report for this class; How to construct and write a report.
(9) Analysis of problems (3) Analyzing space and time characteristics; Making an image of the ideal solution
(10) Generating solutions (1) Fully utilizing knowledge bases
(11) Generating solutions (2) How to break through the barriers
(12) Generating solutions (3) A system of solution generation methods (USIT Operators)
(13) Case studies of everyday-life problem solving
(14) Summary of a methodology for creative problem solving (1) USIT
(15) Summary of a methodology for creative problem solving (2) TRIZ; Conclusion of the Class

Xiaoling Shi, Minyi Zhang (IWINT, Inc., China) [28] gave a presentation on "What We Could Get from S-Curve".  This paper from IWINT does not convey any new insights, unfortunately.


(F) Miscellaneous and Concluding Remarks

There were three presentations actually given but were not published in the Proceedings, because they were substitutions of cancelled talks, or for some other reasons.  I will just list those presentatons here without reviewing (because of no published materials available to review):

Jack Hipple (Innovation-TRIZ, USA): 9-Screen Analysis

Pat Carlisle : The TRIZ-de Bono Interface: A Complementary Experience

Sergei Ikovenko (GEN3 Partners and MIT, USA): Main Parameters of Value as the Basis for Innovation

There are two papers which were published in the Proceedings but were not presented actually. 

[5] Balancing Customer Satisfaction and Strategic Organizational Development Activities -- An Application of TRIZ Techniques
Nagendra B.S., Prakasan Kappoth (MindTree Consulting Ltd., India)

[12] TRIZ and Software Innovation: Historic Perspective and an Application Case Study
Darrell Mann (Systematic Innovation Ltd., UK)

I personally miss Darrell Mann's presentation, but I do not have enough time to review the two papers here.

Technical Innovation Center (TIC), GOAL/QPC, etc. had exhibits of their publications.  Among the books, I would like to mention specially about the Draft Edition of the following book:

"TRIZ Principles for Information Technologies" by Umakant Mishra (  , India),
Draft Edition, Technical Innovation Center, Apr. 2007, 355 pages.

The Author was a director of CREAX's research institute in India during 2000-2004 when the big research project was carried out for analyzing all the US Patents of 1985-2003 with the TRIZ views.  In the book the Author listed up 1000 items of innovative/improving ideas (in 1-3 lines each) in the IT (some hardware-ralated but mostly software-related) field, and further descibes 100 patenats and 100 techniques in some more detail (10-20 lines each).  The Author viewed all these items in connection with TRIZ Inventive Principles and classified and arraged them in the order of 40 Principles.  The main body of the book is organized by 40 Chapters, explaining the Inventive Principles and their sub and sub-sub principles in a hierarchical way to show actual cases of IT ideas. 

*** I had a chance of reading first three chapters a year ago, and have seen the whole volume for the first time at TRIZCON2007.  I have found the Author's explanation/ adaption/ extensions/ modifications of TRIZ Principles so as to match the IT/software field are excellent. Reading this book, you will find that various innovations/improvements which we know well in IT can be well explained in the TRIZ Principles.  In Japan we have a plan of translating this book and making it published in Japanese.  I have been communicating with the Author to address this book not to the small TRIZ market (as the Author's oiginal intention) but to the much larger IT market.  For these 10 years we have often heard IT/software people say 'TRIZ is not applicable to IT/software field', but after knowing this book those IT/software people would say 'TRIZ is nothing new to IT/software field, we have made all these improvement without TRIZ'.  But the IT/software people who read this book seriously and who are really innovative will get much power in their way of thinking by the TRIZ Principles.  Thus my suggestion to the Author of this book has been to change the title into something like "Innovative Ideas in IT/Software Technologies Classified with TRIZ Inventive Principles". 

Now, I would like to make some remarks for conclusion:

  1. In the field of Further Extension of TRIZ Methodologies, papers by Hyman Duan (China) [22], and by Sergey Malkin et al. (USA) [27] are nice; these two try to make TRIZ easier to understand and apply by developing new software tools.
  2. In the field of TRIZ Application in Technologies, we had an excellent case study paper by Gunter Ladewig et al. (Canada) [17] on a novel wire bonding technology, a nice and frank presentation by Shinhoo Choi et al (Korea) [7], and another excellent paper by Tzu-Chang Chen (Taiwan) [6] on the evaluation method of patents and patent portfolios. 
  3. In the field of TRIZ Application in non-technological areas, I would recommend the case study paper by Cristobal Peran Estepa et al. (Spain) [1].
  4. In the field of education based on TRIZ, the Keynote Lecture by Alla Nesterenko (Russia) [A] is nice to learn.  On teaching TRIZ in universities, I may not be unfair to mention the report by Toru Nakagawa (Japan) [23].
  5. Even though there were good presentations as reviewed in this report and mentioned briefly in the above items, my general impression of TRIZCON2007 is that TRIZCON is losing its power of integration of TRIZ community and attracting new people to TRIZ.  The number of abstracts submitted for publication is reducing and the number of participants is also reducing for these several years. 
  6. One of the weakpoints is that no papers are reported by US industry people on their promotion activities, application case studies, and methodology developments and that no papers are contributed by US (and other) academia people on real research of TRIZ methodology and its related area (except education papers).  Without these papers/contributions TRIZ and TRIZ community will not grow in a healthy way.
  7. Another weakpoint in TRIZCON, I feel, is that the activities by US TRIZ leaders (mostly TRIZ consultants) are not well integrated.  For example, the Education Workshop was conducted in parallel to the Symposium, resulting in disintegration instead of integration of the power of participants, I feel. 
  8. A positive side of this year's TRIZCON is the increase in the contributions by Asian countries, including India, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. 

We are thankful to Larry Smith, Richard Langevin, Bob King, and many others for their so much efforts for making this Conference successful. 

Here is a snapshot of the neighborhood of the conference hotel in downtown Louisville (with courtesy of Valery Krasnoslobodtsev).

At the end of this Personal Report, I would like to remind you of the following three conferences to be held in the near future:

"TRIZ Fest 2007" to be held by the International TRIZ Association (MATRIZ)
on Jul. 7-12, 2007, in Moscow, Russia

"The Third TRIZ Symposium in Japan" to be held by 'Japan TRIZ CB' ('Collaborative Board of TRIZ Promoters and Users in Japan')
on Aug. 30 - Sept. 1, 2007, at Toshiba Kenshu Center, Yokohama, Japan   

ETRIA World Conference "TRIZ Future 2007" to be held by ETRIA (European TRIZ Association)
on Nov. 6-8, 2007, at Frankfurt am Main, Gemany

As being the Program Chairperson of Japan TRIZ Symposium, I wish to make the Symposium active and successful with receiving presentations and participation from many of you.

 


List of Papers in the Proceedings

Note:

--:  Published but not presented,
--&: Not published but presented with a handout,
--#: Not published but presented with no handout.
[1] - [30]: Paper number in the Proceedings (there are some numbers missing).

[A] Keynote Speech: The Means and Ends in the Making: Finding the Natural Pathway to Robust, Stable Business Performance
Tom Johnson (Portland State University, USA)

[B] Keynote Speech: OTSM-TRIZ as an Efficient Tool for Implementation of Problem Based Learning
Alla Nesterenko (TRIZ Educator, Russia)

[1] Analysis of Alternatives for Sequences of Migration in Services Uncovered through TRIZ: The Sequence Generator
Cristobal Peran Estepa (De Valck Consultants, Spain), Luis Miguel Cipres Bandres (Altran SDB, ), and Dimitri Van Nuland (De Valck Consultants, Belgium)

[4] Designing Features for Next Generation Technology Products -- Role of TRIZ Tools
Prakasan Kappoth (MindTree Consulting Ltd, India)

[5]-- Balancing Customer Satisfaction and Strategic Organizational Development Activities -- An Application of TRIZ Techniques
Nagendra B.S., Prakasan Kappoth (MindTree Consulting Ltd., India)

[6] A TRIZ-based Evaluation Process for Patents and Patent Portfolio
Tzu-Chang Chen (Taiwan Textile Research Institute, Taiwan)

[7] Improvement of Wear Problem at Ti Drum Edges and Simplification of the System Design Using Trimming When Dry Buffing Process
Shinhoo Choi, Keumhwan Cha, Youngju Kang, and Youngjun Ahn (LS Cable, Korea)

[9] Creative Risk Management Based on Reverse Thinking Helping with "Innovation"
Manabu Sawaguchi (SANNO institute of Management, Japan)

[11] Teaching TRIZ as a Systematic Problem Solving Method: Breaking Mindsets
Paul R. Filmore (University of Plymouth, UK)

[12]-- TRIZ and Software Innovation: Historic Perspective and an Application Case Study
Darrell Mann (Systematic Innovation Ltd., UK)

[13] TRIZ Grows TRIZ
Ellen Domb (PQR Group, USA), Michael Slocum (Air Academy Associates, USA), and Katie Barry (TRIZ Journal & Real Innovation, USA)

[16] Presentation of a Tool for Problem Solving Improvement: Application in Process Engineering
Guillermo Cortes Robles, Stephane Negny, Jean Marc Le Lann (INPT-ENSIACET, Toulouse, France)

[17] Super Effects: The Synergistic Effects of TRIZ, The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving
Gunter Ladewig (PRIMA Performance Ltd., Canada) and Robert Lyn (Microbonds Inc., Canada)

[18] Application of TRIZ to Wireless MAC System-on-Chip Design: A Case Study
Raghunath Govindachari and Kaylyan Kumar Banerjee (MindTree Consulting Ltd., India)

[19] Future Residential Dispersion as Influenced by Three Contributing Technologies: Probabilities derived from the Directed Evolution "Bank of Evolutionary Alternatives"
Boris Zlotin, Alla Zusman (Ideation International, USA) and Paul Seguin (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

[20] Directed Evolution Instruments for Designing Consummate Systems
Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman (Ideation International, USA)

[22] Product Knowledge Management: Role of the Synthesis of TRIZ and Ontology in R&D Process
Hyman Duan, Quentin Xie, Yunmei Hong, Leonid Batchilo, and Alp Lin (IWINT, Inc., China)

[23] Classes of 'Creative Problem Solving Thinking' -- Experiences at Osaka Gakuin University --
Toru Nakagawa (Osaka Gakuin University, Japan)

[24] The Use of TRIZ in Business Continuity Planning
Jack Hipple (Innovation-TRIZ, USA) and Steve Elliot (Elliot Consulting, USA)

[25] Maturity Analysis of Tailor Blank Welded Technology
Javier Zamora Carrerio (IMSA-MEX, Mexico) and Noel Leon Rovia (CIDYT, ITESM, Mexico)

[27] An Improved Method for Teaching the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving to Students
Sergey Malkin (Pretium Consulting Services, LLC., USA), Donald Coates (Kent State University USA), and Galina Malkin (Pretium Consulting Services, LLC., USA)

[28] What We Could Get from S-Curve
Xiaoling Shi, Minyi Zhang (IWINT, Inc., China)

[29] Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) and TRIZ - A Framework for Global Product Development
Navneet Bhushan (Wipro Technologies, India)

[30] Function Modeling for the Rest of Us
James Todhunter (Invention Machine Corp., USA)

 

top of the page Agenda Overview A. Keynote B. Methodology C. Technical Applications D. Other Applications
E.TRIZ Education Concluding Remarks List of Publications TRIZCON2006 Report Altshuller Institute Nakagawa's paper Japanese page

 

General index New Information Introduction to TRIZ TRIZ References TRIZ Links TRIZ News & Activities TRIZ Software Tools TRIZ Papers and Tech Reports TRIZ Forum General index
Home Page New Information Introduction to TRIZ TRIZ References TRIZ Links TRIZ News & Activities TRIZ Software Tools TRIZ Papers and Tech Reports TRIZ Forum Home Page

Last updated on Jul. 3, 2007.     Access point:  Editor: nakagawa@utc.osaka-gu.ac.jp