Page 311 - Design for Six Sigma a Roadmap for Product Development

Chapter
9

Theory of Inventive Problem
Solving (TRIZ)

9.1 Introduction
TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelskikh Zadatch) is the theory of
inventive problem solving (TIPS) developed in the Soviet Union starting
in the late 1940s. TRIZ has been developed based on 1500+ person-years
of research and study over many of the world’s most successful solutions
of problems from science and engineering, and systematic analysis of
successful patents from around the world, as well as the study of the
psychological aspects of human creativity (Darrell Mann 2002).
In the context of the DFSS algorithm, TRIZ can be used in concept
generation and solving problems related to coupling vulnerability as
discussed in Chap. 8. In essence, when two functional requirements
are coupled, TRIZ may suggest different design parameters to uncou-
ple the two, resulting in decoupled or uncoupled design.
Genrich S. Altshuller, the creator of TRIZ, initiated the investigation
on invention and creativity in 1946. After initially reviewing 200,000
former Soviet Union patent abstracts, Altshuller selected 40,000 as
representatives of inventive solutions. He separated the patents’ dif-
ferent degrees of inventiveness into five levels, ranging from level 1,
the lowest, to level 5, the highest. He found that almost all invention
problems contain at least one contradiction; in this context a contra-
diction is defined as a situation in which an attempt to improve one
feature of the system detracts from another feature. He found that the
level of invention often depends on how well the contradiction is
resolved.

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