Friday, December 06, 2013

 

Altshuller Institute TRIZCON2013, Waterbury CT USA Dec. 5, 2013


Our global TRIZ travels took us to Waterbury, CT, USA on Dec. 5 for the Altshuller Institute’s TRIZCON2013 at the campus of Post University.    This was a hybrid meeting with about 15 people present at the university and another 20 on-line live, and about 40 more registered to listen in later to the recorded event.    There were a lot of lessons learned for future applications of webinar technology to this kind of meeting.   Everyone (well....) handled the problems with patience and good humor.

The program was a nice mix of TRIZ case studies and papers and panels about what’s happening now in TRIZ.     Keynote speaker Larry Smith (Past President of the Altshuller Institute)  presented history of TRIZ, an overview of TRIZ methodology, and some very nice non-traditional TRIZ cases.   I was particularly impressed by his function modelling of US government small business programs, where the congressional staff got so much insight from the model, they didn’t even want to learn problem solving skills!  The application of TRIZ to revising the education system for the American Society for Quality produced radical changes in the business, rapid implementation, and a very useful case study of business application of TRIZ.  

Dave Conley, Isak Bukhman, and I were the panelists for “Utilization of TRIZ in the World” organized by Don Coates.   Readers of this blog are familiar with the active world conference schedule and adventures like the Dunavision series of seminars along the Danube River Valley, so I won’t repeat those stories here.    Personal observations were offered of the differences in TRIZ training and applications in different world regions.

The afternoon case study was 5 case studies.    The agenda follows, with a very brief summary of each paper.    Check www.aitriz.org  next week to find out how to access recordings of the webinars.    

David Conley
Wireless Power System Improvement – Su-Field Analysis Application.  Comprehensive case study, and a neat technique for looking at a system by means of both Su-Field modeling and Subject-Object-Action modeling, then using the standard solutions and scientific effects to solve a real problem that all traveling technology users understand—powering devices without wires.  
Victor Fey & John Cooke
From Strategy to Real Business Impact.   This is the story of the Flavia single cup coffee machine, and it showed comprehensive use of TRIZ to understand the business situation, the competition, and the development of the details of the design of the machine itself.   Importing technology from other industries (using entrained air in a water jet to avoid having a nozzle that touches the milk and needs to be cleaned) became the foundation for an entire product line.
Robert Joseph
Relationship of TRIZ Principles to Deformity Correction in Surgery.   Some participants were a bit queasy from Dr. Robert Joseph’s pictures of deformed feet and the surgical procedures used to correct the problems, but all were fascinated by the demonstrations of many of the 40 principles for problem solving in these surgical protocols.  
Noel Leon
 “Research on the future of TRIZ: Steps toward the Integration of TRIZ and Design Thinking”    was the title but the work ranges much wider, encompassing Blue Ocean Strategy, QFD, and other elements of Design for Six Sigma as well.   The group at TEC in Monterrey MX is conducting research in many aspects of strategy, particularly focused on product development, and Professor Leon will be creating a new curriculum based on this research.  
Tim Brewer
Crowd sourcing and Crowd funding business models.  The TRIZ complete (technical) system model (both the 5 element and 6 element versions) and the nine windows model were used to study these emerging business models that greatly accelerate product development and radically change who bears the risk in the invention process.   Other participants were signing up as “influencers” and sponsors before Tim finished speaking!

 The day concluded with a short business meeting of the Altshuller Institute, and with thanks to Post University for hosting the event.

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