Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman, Coordination and Integration of TRIZ Tools.

 

Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman

Ideation International, Michigan, USA

 

Ron Fulbright, Ph.D.,

University of South Carolina Upstate, South Carolina, USA

 

February 5, 2014

 

The main deficiencies of existing tools are as follows:

1.      Multiplicity of tools; additional confusion because of different translations

2.      No clear recommendations which tool should be used for what type of problems/situations.

3.      Some tools (like 40 principles) are lacking structure; others (like Standard solutions) don’t have clear step-by-step instructions for utilization.

4.      Only a limited amount of TRIZ knowledge base had been documented and is available for study and use.

5.      Before tools can be applied, problems/situations have to be pre-formulated in TRIZ terms (contradictions, substance/fields, etc.) rather than using standard engineering terms.

6.      Complexity of certain tools (ARIZ, SF analysis); known attempts to simplify them typically resulted in significant reduction of the tools efficiency (SIT). 

7.      Tools do not provide sufficient support for all stages of the problem-solving process (like problem definition, formulation, evaluation, secondary issues, etc.). 

 

To improve the situation, the following work directions have been identified:

·         Classification of tools and its main elements

·         Integration of existing knowledge-based tools, introducing uniform structure and step-by-step utilization

·         Development of additional tools for problem definition, formulation, etc.

·         Replacing complex tools with the new ones with acceptable efficiency

·         Develop software capable to store accumulated TRIZ knowledge (examples, case studies, etc.) and to guide the user step-by-step 

 

The following results have been obtained:

1.      Tools have been divided into two groups: analytical and knowledge-based

2.      A universal term name “operator” was suggested for known elements of knowledge-based tools, i.e. inventive principles, separation principles, standard solutions as a common name.

3.      Operators were divided into several groups by the size of area of application: universal, general and specialized. Additional group included auxiliary operators (similar to standard solution from class 5) on how to introduce substances and fields in the most ideal way.  

4.      Extending number of operators over 400 with the possibility to come up with practically unlimited number of new operators for various specific purposes

5.      Numerous number of operator chains (sequential use of a number of operators) were built to guide the user from more general to more specific recommendations.

6.      Creating technique for building graphical cause-effect diagrams with transformation of the diagram into an exhaustive list of directions for solutions/innovations.

7.      Creating a graphical model of contradiction suitable for both technical and physical contradictions and based on this model formulating three basic mini-problems (alternative, elimination and resolution).

8.      Creating software for problem solving embedding all operators, graphical diagramming, questionnaire for problem definition and other elements of the process supporting all steps necessary for problem solving from problem definition to implementation plan.

9.      Short lists of operators for all three mini-problems have been identified for no-software application.