TRIZ

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TRIZ (pronounced [triz]) is a Russian acronym for "Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch" (Теория решения изобретательских задач), a Theory of solving inventive problems or Theory of inventive problems solving (TIPS) (less well known as Theory of Solving Inventors' Problems), developed by Genrich Altshuller and his colleagues since 1946.

TRIZ is a methodology, tool set, knowledge base, and model-based technology for generating innovative ideas and solutions for problem solving. TRIZ provides tools and methods for use in problem formulation, system analysis, failure analysis, and patterns of system evolution (both 'as-is' and 'could be'). TRIZ, in contrast to techniques such as brainstorming (which is based on random idea generation), aims to create an algorithmic approach to the invention of new systems, and the refinement of old systems.

[edit] Introduction

TRIZ way for creative problem solving

Soviet engineer and researcher Genrich Saulovich Altshuller believed that learning how to invent is feasible. He developed TRIZ, the theory and practice of the science of invention.

Since childhood, Altshuller showed his talents as an inventor. When he was just 15 years old he received his first certificate of the authorship of invention for an underwater apparatus. (The USSR did not issue patents to its citizens because it outlawed private property. Instead it issued certificates of authorship as a mere acknowledgement of the fact that a person is the author of an invention.) In 1946, at the age of 20, Altshuller developed his first mature invention - a method for escaping from an immobilized submarine without diving gear. In the late 1940s he worked in the "Inventions Inspection" department of the Caspian flotilla of the Soviet Navy in Baku. Altshuller's job was to inspect inventions proposals, help document them, and more importantly for the later development of TRIZ, help others to invent.

Faced with the challenge of inventing, time and again Altshuller searched literature for some kind of a method for inventing, which he believed must have existed. To his disappointment he could not find any clues as to the existence of such a method. Altshuller came to the conclusion that he needed to develop such a method himself. He started off by examining a large database of his own and other people's inventions, and soon he arrived at his most important interpretation: Inventing is the removal of a technical contradiction with the help of certain principles. To develop a method for inventing, he argued, one must scan a large number of inventions, identify the contradictions underlying them, and formulate the principle used by the inventor for their removal.

Altshuller realized that principles found while analyzing patents from one industry were applicable to problems in other industries. TRIZ also evolved by transferring strong principles from one field to another.

His results are being applied to solve creative invention problems not just within all branches of engineering, but within many other technical and non-technical fields as well.

TRIZ is sometimes used as a problem solving tool in Design for Six Sigma, (DFSS) a subset of Six Sigma which aims to design new products with 3.4 defects per million opportunities for a defect. The effectiveness of TRIZ is in dispute in many Engineering circles. For example, no innovative new product can be furnished which owes its creation to the TRIZ methodology; TRIZ products most often are existing products which have been improved marginally.

Frequently, TRIZ is sold to people outside of engineering disciplines as a way to 'produce' creativity, because many higher level managers with little hands-on engineering experience are fearful of the inherent risks of research and development..

[edit] History

Altshuller began developing TRIZ methodology while working at the "Inventions Inspection" department of the Caspian flotilla in Baku in the times of Stalin. By 1969 he reviewed about 40,000 patent abstracts in order to find out in what way the innovation had taken place. He eventually developed 40 Principles of Invention, several Laws of Technical Systems Evolution, the concepts of technical and physical contradictions that creative inventions resolve, the concept of Ideality of a system and numerous other theoretical and practical approaches; together, this extensive work represents a unique contribution to the development of creativity and inventive problem-solving.

It bears mentioning that the period in which TRIZ was developed is the period in which the Soviet Union decided not to pursue research in biotechnology and computer science, and that by the 80s the Soviet Union was considered technologically 'backward' suggesting that the methodology is not the panacea which many outside engineering disciplines believe it to be.

The tools developed under Altshuller's leadership were

40 Principles 1946-1971
ARIZ 1959-1985[1]
Separation Principles 1973-1985
Substance-Field Analysis 1973-1985
Standard Solutions 1975-1985
Natural Effects (Scientific Effects) 1970-1980
Patterns of Evolution 1975-1980

The different schools for TRIZ and individual practitioners have continued to improve and add to the methodology.

[edit] Grounds & relation with other disciplines

Foundational knowledge which TRIZ is based on are invention documents. TRIZ was created as an abstraction of the "world's best solutions", as appearing in the development of inventions.

TRIZ is interdisciplinary and is closely related to ontology, logic, systems of science, psychology, history of technology,

[edit] References about effectiveness of TRIZ

According to commercial promoters of TRIZ, as a collage of concepts and tools TRIZ has been employed by many Fortune 500 companies in the United States and abroad to solve manufacturing problems and create new products. These promoters claim that companies such as BAE Systems, Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Company, Boeing, Philips Semiconductors, LG Electronics, Samsung and many others have used TRIZ concepts to systematically solve complex technical problems. They also claim that the use of TRIZ has been expanding into other areas, and that TRIZ has been used successfully in biomedical research, medicine, computer programming, business management, etc. These claims cannot be independently confirmed.
Inventor David Levy, whose portfolio includes work on the functional layout of the Apple PowerBook, calls the methodology "tremendous." Though he does not use TRIZ formally, Levy says his practices naturally echo those found in the discipline. "The most exciting part about TRIZ is, it's not limited to how to make a widget," says Levy. "It's how to approach problem solving, it's how to approach relationships, it's how to approach societal problems. It's really how to be creative and to observe the world and solve problems."[2]
Innovation, Soviet Style by Rich Weissman How a problem solving methodology developed in 1940s Russia helps companies today
The science of invention by Mark Wallace How Altshuller's theories can solve today's engineering problems
TIES The Magazine of Design and Technology Education about TRIZ
PROFIT Oracle's e-Business Magazine about TRIZ
Machine Design A systematic way to solve technical problems
Machine Design Inventive Troubleshooting

[edit] Mailing groups

[edit] TRIZ essentials

[edit] Basic TRIZ terms

Structure of TRIZ

Theories - Life Strategy of Creative Individual (LSCI), Theory of Creative Life Strategy (TCLS), Development of Creative Imagination (DCI)
Laws - Laws of Technical Systems Evolution
Methods - ARIZ, "Size-Time-Cost" Technique, System Analysis Technique, Inventive Principles, Modeling with "Smart Little People" (MSLP)
Miscellaneous - Level of Invention, Ideal Final Result (IFR), Contradiction, Resource, Physical effect, Inventive Problem, Maxi-Problem, System, Technical System, Operation Time, Work Tool, Main Manufacturing Process, Worthy Goal

[edit] Identifying a problem: contradictions

Altshuller believed that inventive problems stem from contradictions (one of the basic TRIZ concepts) between two or more elements, such as, "If we want more acceleration, we need a larger engine; but that will increase the cost of the car," that is, more of something desirable also brings more of something else undesirable, or less of something else also desirable. These are called Technical Contradictions by Altshuller. He also defined so-called physical or inherent contradictions: More of one thing and less of another may be needed. For instance, a higher temperature may be needed to melt a compound more rapidly, but a lower temperature may be needed to achieve a homogeneous mixture.

An inventive situation might involve several such contradictions. The inventor typically does not resolve a contradiction but trades one of the contradictory parameter for another: No special inventivity is needed for that. Rather, the inventor develops some creative approach for resolving the contradiction, such as inventing an engine that produces more acceleration without increasing the cost of the engine.

[edit] Standard solutions

[edit] Inventive principles and the matrix of contradictions

Altshuller screened patents in order to find out what kind of contradictions were resolved or dissolved by the invention and the way this had been achieved. From this he developed a set of 40 inventive principles and later a Matrix of Contradictions. Rows of the matrix indicate the 39 system features that one typically wants to improve, such as speed, weight, accuracy of measurement and so on. Columns refer to typical undesired results. Each matrix cell points to principles that have been most frequently used in patents in order to resolve the contradiction.

For instance, Dolgashev mentions the following contradiction: Increasing accuracy of measurement of machined balls without incurring in expensive microscopes and control equipment. The matrix cell in row "accuracy of measurement" and column "complexity of control" points to several principles, among them the Copying Principle, which states, "Use a simple and inexpensive optical copy with a suitable scale instead of an object that is complex, expensive, fragile or inconvenient to operate." From this general invention principle, the following idea might solve the problem: Taking a high-resolution image of the machined ball. A screen with a grid might provide the required measurement.

[edit] Laws of technical system evolution

Main article: Laws of Technical Systems Evolution

Altshuller also studied the way technical systems have been developed and improved over time. From this, he discovered several trends (so called Laws of Technical Systems Evolution) that help engineers predict what the most likely improvements that can be made to a given product are. The most important of these laws involves the ideality of a system.

[edit] Substance-field analysis

One more technique that is frequently used by inventors involves the analysis of substances, fields and other resources that are currently not being used and that can be found within the system or nearby. TRIZ uses non-standard definitions for substances and fields. Altshuller developed methods to analyze resources; several of his invention principles involve the use of different substances and fields that help resolve contradictions and increase ideality of a technical system. For instance, videotext systems utilized television signals to transfer data, by taking advantage of the small time segments between TV frames in the signals.

[edit] ARIZ - algorithm of inventive problems solving

Main article: Algorithm of Inventive Problems Solving

ARIZ (Russian acronym of Алгоритм решения изобретательских задач - АРИЗ) - Algorithm of Inventive Problems Solving [3] - is a list of about 85 step-by-step procedures to solve very complicated invention problems, where other tools of TRIZ (Su-field analysis, 40 inventive principles, etc.) are not applicable.

[edit] Alternative approaches

Main article: Creativity techniques

3 strategies for problem solving or creativity

There are several other approaches that purportedly help develop inventive power. Most of them are quite heuristical:

Trial-and-error
Brainstorming
Morphological analysis
Method of focal objects
Lateral thinking
ASIT (Advance Systematic Inventive Thinking)

[edit] See also

[edit] General

[edit] Evolution of technical systems

[edit] Development of creative personality

[edit] TRIZ honours

In the last year of his life Altshuller established a two-level form of certification:

a "TRIZ Master" Diploma, issued and signed by Altshuller; he granted it to several most proven persons in TRIZ community (according to his own list).
a "TRIZ Specialist" and "TRIZ Expert" Certificates, issued by International Association of TRIZ and signed by a TRIZ-master; these certificates are intended to be granted to people which need a confirmation of their credentials as TRIZ teachers (because people complained that without a certificate they faced obstacles in teaching TRIZ)

Some of the TRIZ-masters interpreted their title as a confirmation of their outstanding contribution to TRIZ, whereas others claimed that it was not exactly Altshuler's intent.(rus) The latter claim is based on the fact that the original list of masters [4] did not include the well known outstanding contributors to TRIZ such as his wife Valentina Zuravliova, the co-author of SuField Analysis Irina Flikstein and many others simply because they have not been teaching TRIZ and have not been needing any kind of certification.

After Altshuller's death some of TRIZ masters started promoting the first interpretation of the title and claiming to be heirs to TRIZ with a right to pass their diploma to their disciples (possibly saving an overall number of masters) and even claiming their entitlement to financial support from International Association of TRIZ (V. V. Mitrofanov is the most outspoken representative of such claimants (rus).) Others considered these claims as a devaluation and discreditation of the TRIZ-master title.

To counter the inflation of a prestige of the TRIZ-master title and to foster the real TRIZ research, Anti TRIZ-Journal established Altshuller Prize for outstanding contribution to TRIZ. The Altshuller Prize Committee decided not to announce winners for 2006.

[edit] References

Altshuller, Genrich (1973). Innovation Algorithm. Worcester, MA: Technical Innovation Center. ISBN 0-9640740-2-8.
Altshuller, Genrich (1984). Creativity as an Exact Science. New York, NY: Gordon & Breach. ISBN 0-677-21230-5.
Altshuller, Genrich (1994). And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared, translated by Lev Shulyak, Worcester, MA: Technical Innovation Center. ISBN 0-9640740-1-X.

[edit] External links

[edit] Examples of TRIZ

TRIZ in Fortune Magazine
TRIZ in the Process Industry - Toru Nakagawa, Dec. 17, 2001
TRIZ in the Pharmaceutical industry
Integration and use of TRIZ to solve some of industry's most difficult problems
Approaches to Application of TRIZ in Japan - Prof. Toru Nakagawa
40 Inventive Principles Business Examples, Social Examples, Architecture Examples, Food Technology Examples, Software Development Examples, etc.
40 Inventive Principles with Applications in Universe Operations Management
The bio-effects and their guide in TRIZ - A.Yu. Likhachev
Interactive TRIZ matrix with comments and examples in various fields
Applying TRIZ in Information Technology Outsourcing

[edit] Organizations

Official G.S. Altshuller foundation
International TRIZ Association
European TRIZ Association
Altshuller Institute for TRIZ studies
TRIZ Developer Summit
Technical Innovation Center (TRIZ.org)
IMechE Institution of Mechanical Engineers TRIZ Network
TRIZ-Guide On-line TRIZ studying courses
Iran Research Center for Creatology, Innovation and TRIZ
Taiwan TRIZ Association Taiwan TRIZ Association
Iranian Institute of Innovation and Technological Studies Iranian Institute of Innovation and Technological Studies

[edit] Periodicals

TRIZ journal
Anti TRIZ-Journal Critiques of 'TRIZ-journal' by the former close associates of Altshuller. Please note the site is not about Anti TRIZ, the site clearly states that it is Anti 'TRIZ-journal'.
Journal of TRIZ in Engineering Design

[edit] Free TRIZ software

Interactive TRIZ Matrix Free TRIZ toolset in English, French and German languages.
Skidbladnir Free German TRIZ software

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