Page 299 - Design for Six Sigma for Service (Six SIGMA Operational Methods)

Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) 267

Principle 17. Another Dimension
A. To Move an Object in a Two- or Three-Dimensional Space
• Make 360° appraisals.
• Use multidimensional organizational hierarchy charts. Use 3D charts to
show “hard” and “soft” relationships or 4D charts to include an element
of time or movement.
• Distribute responsibility and authority. For example, the quality
department advises on technical details and conducts audits, but
everyone is responsible for quality. Another good example of this is the
safety office.

B. Use a Multistory Arrangement of Objects Instead of a Single-Story
Arrangement
• Organizational hierarchy.
• Multistack storage systems use the height of a building and save floor
space.
• Employees “disappear” from customers in a theme park, descend into a
tunnel, and walk to their next assignment, where they return to the
surface and magically reappear.
• Standing on the shoulders of giants . . .
• “When two people meet, there are really six people present. There is
each man as he sees himself, each man as he wants to be seen, and each
man as he really is”—Michael De Saintamo.

C. Tilt or Reorient the Object; Lay It on Its Side
• Horizontal (peer) communication.
• Horizontally integrated manufacture.
• Switch from vertical to horizontal (lateral) thinking, and vice versa.
• Shift from line to project management dominance in a matrix organ-
ization (and vice versa depending on prevailing market conditions).
• Shift from a portrait to landscape report format.

D. Use Another Side of a Given Area
• View your organization from the outside, either directly or by using
consultants, and mystery shoppers, etc.
• Look at the selling process in new ways. Instead of selling carpets to its
commercial and industrial customers, Interface now offers what it calls
the “Evergreen lease.” Its customers no longer buy carpets or pay an