Page 259 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

228 Chapter Nine

thickness of walls to allow for greater insulation in homes or increasing the
distance between the front skis on a snowmobile for greater stability. These
solutions may represent good engineering, but contradictions are not
identified and resolved.

Level 2. Small Invention Inside Paradigm: 45 Percent; Improvement
of an Existing System, Usually with Some Compromise
Inventions at level 2 offer small improvements to an existing system by
reducing a contradiction inherent in the system while still requiring obvious
compromises. These solutions represent 45 percent of inventions. A level 2
solution is usually found through a few hundred trial-and-error attempts and
requires knowledge of only a single field of technology. The existing system
is slightly changed and includes new features that lead to definite impro-
vements. The new suspension system between the track drive and the frame of
a snowmobile is a level 2 invention. The use of an adjustable steering
column to increase the range of body types that can comfortably drive an
automobile is another example at this level.

Level 3. Substantial Invention Inside Technology: 18 Percent; Essential
Improvement of an Existing System
Inventions at level 3 significantly improve the existing system and represent
18 percent of the patents. At this level, an invention contradiction is resolved
with the existing system, often through the introduction of some entirely
new element. This type of solution may involve 100 ideas, tested by trial
and error. Examples include replacing the standard transmission of a car
with an automatic transmission, or placing a clutch drive on an electric drill.
These inventions usually involve technology that is integral to other
industries but is not well known within the industry in which the invention
problem arose. The resulting solution causes a paradigm shift within the
industry. A level 3 invention is found outside an industry’s range of accepted
ideas and principles.

Level 4. Invention Outside Technology: 4 Percent; New Generation
of Design Using Science, Not Technology
Inventions at level 4 are found in science, not in technology. Such break-
throughs represent about 4 percent of inventions. Tens of thousands of
random trials are usually required for these solutions. Level 4 inventions
usually lie outside the technology’s normal paradigm and involve using a
completely different principle for the primary function. In level 4 solutions,
the contradiction is eliminated because its existence is impossible within the