Sigma Magic Help Version 17

TRIZ Analysis

Overview

TRIZ stands for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving and was developed by Soviet engineer Genrich Altshuller and his colleagues in 1946. They studied more than 300,000 patents and discovered inventive principles were often present in the most successful cases. They found that something else gets worse when we try to improve some feature, and an innovative solution is required to overcome this contradiction. The contradictions are solved using four basic principles: supersystems, subsystems, separation of time, and space. For example, we want coffee hot enough to enjoy but not so hot that we get burned, or we desire software that is powerful but at the same time easy to use. The idea behind using TRIZ is that some common principles have been observed in several patents, and we can apply concepts to the same ideas that have worked in other areas to the problem we are having and, hence, come up with an inventive way to solve our problems. The general approach to applying the TRIZ methodology is:

• Document the problem that you are trying to address
• Translate this problem to a general problem (contradiction)
• Determine the general solution based on TRIZ findings
• Translate that into your own solution for your problem

This tool can be added to your active workbook by clicking on Project and then selecting TRIZ Solutions.

Inputs

Click on Analysis Setup to open the menu options for this tool.

Setup

A sample screenshot of the setup menu is shown below.

1	Application Area: Specify from which area you want to see the TRIZ examples. Option Description Generic Share the generic application examples for these methods. Business Share business application examples for these methods.
2	Improving Feature: Identify the feature that you are trying to improve. You will need to translate your problem objective and determine the closest match to the list of standard features. For example, if we want to increase a product's strength without adversely impacting the weight, then strength would be the improving feature.
3	Worsening Feature: Identify the feature that will get worse as a result of improving the main feature. For example, if we want to increase a product's strength without adversely impacting the weight, then weight would be the worsening feature.
4	View Example: Click on this button to open the example file. You can view the example to get an idea of how to fill out this tool, or you can use the example as a starting point and modify it to meet your project needs.
5	Help Button: Click on this button to open the help file for this topic.
6	Cancel Button: Click on this button to cancel all changes to the settings and exit this dialog box.
7	OK Button: Click on this button to save all changes and compute the outputs for this analysis.

Worksheet

In the Inputs area, you can enter a brief description of the problem. These inputs include the problem statement, your analysis's goal or objective, the feature you are trying to improve, and the feature that is getting worse. They are for your reference and are not used to generate the analysis results.

Verify

If you click the Verify button, the software will perform some checks on the data you entered. A sample screenshot of the dialog box is shown in the figure below. The software checks if you have correctly specified the input options and entered the required data on the worksheet. The results of the analysis checks are listed on the right. If the checks are passed, they are shown as green checkmarks. If the verification checks fail, they are shown as a red cross. If the verification checks result in a warning, they are shown in the orange exclamation mark, and finally, any checks that are required to be performed by the user are shown as blue info icons.

1	Item: The left-hand side shows the major tabs and the items checked within each section
2	Status: The right-hand side shows the status of the checks.
3	Overall Status: The overall status of all the checks for the given analysis is shown here. The overall status check shows a green thumps-up sign if everything is okay and a red thumps-down sign if any checks have not passed. Note that you cannot proceed with generating analysis results for some analyses if the overall status is not okay.

Outputs

Click on Compute Outputs to update the output calculations. The software will look up the inputs specified in your dialog box and list the solutions based on the TRIZ contradiction matrix. If no solution is available, you may want to relook at selecting different features/settings; otherwise, look at other principles to get ideas on resolving your issue. If the system finds some recommended solutions, you will need to read through these solutions and then try to come up with how you could apply these recommendations to your case. Make notes on the solutions you plan to deploy on the left-hand side of the worksheet. If there are no error messages, the following sample message is displayed. There are no specific results to interpret. You will need to read through the recommended solutions and develop your own solutions to deploy for the problem at hand. A note of caution is that the solutions recommended by TRIZ only imply that these were used in the past to resolve similar contradictions and are popular ways to solve the problem. There may be other ways of solving the problem, and you must keep an open mind as you develop your solutions. A recommendation for another set of feature combinations may better apply to your situation. Hence, looking at all the 40 solutions to build your solutions makes sense.

Examples

The following examples are in the Examples folder.

1. Create a solution for the problem of providing customized service to customers without impacting complexity (TRIZ 1.xlsx).

References

For more information on this topic, please refer to the following articles. Do note that if any external links are mentioned below, they are for reference purposes only.

• Triz Journal: http://www.triz-journal.com

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