Wikipedia

TRIZ

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 205.207.66.3 (talk) at 18:31, 13 November 2006 (→TRIZ honours). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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 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.

Introduction

File:TRIZway.jpg
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 finding: 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. Sayed Mahdi Golestan Hashemi, developer of Creatology, believes that TRIZ is an important sub-discipline of science of Creatology, named TRIZical Creatology.

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.

The tools developed under Altshuller's leadership were

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

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, history of culture and more.

TRIZ in the world

TRIZ essentials

Basic TRIZ terms

Structure of TRIZ

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 dissolving the contradiction, such as inventing an engine that produces more acceleration without increasing the cost of the engine.

Standard solutions

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.

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.

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.

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 [2] - 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.

Examples of TRIZ

Quotes

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."[3]

Alternative approaches

Main article: Creativity techniques

File:TRIZ3approaches.jpg
3 strategies for problem solving or creativity

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

  1. Trial-and-error
  2. Brainstorming
  3. Morphological analysis
  4. Method of focal objects
  5. Lateral thinking

General

Evolution of technical systems

Development of creative personality

Commercial TRIZ software

A number of software packages exist today to reduce the time needed to solve innovative problems successfully. One has been developed by Valery Tsourikov of The Invention Machine in Boston, Massachusetts, another one by Zlotin, Zusman and Malkin for Ideation International in Southfield, Michigan, and a third by Yevgeny Karasik of Thoughts Guiding Systems Corporation.

TRIZ honours

In the last year of his life Altshuller compiled a list of the so called TRIZ-masters. The purpose was to confirm the credentials of a person as a TRIZ teacher (because people complained that without a certificate they faced obstacles in teaching TRIZ). However, some of the TRIZ-masters interpreted this title as a confirmation of their outstanding contribution to TRIZ, whereas that was not Altshuler's intent. The latter is evident from the fact that the list did not contain the well known outstanding contributors to TRIZ such as his wife, Valentina Zhuravleva, the co-author of SuField Analysis Irina Flikstein and many others simply because they have not taught TRIZ and did not need such a sertificate.

After Altshuller's death some of TRIZ masters started promoting the false interpretation of the title and claiming to be heirs to TRIZ and even claiming their entitlement to financial support from TRIZ associations all over the world. (V. V. Mitrofanov is the most outspoken representative of such claimants.) The title of TRIZ-master was further devaluated by desicion of this group to start confering the title on their cronies.

To counter the wrong impression of the infamous title of TRIZ-master and 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.

References

  • Altshuller, Genrich (1973). Innovation Algorithm. Worcester, MA: Technical Innovation Center. ISBN 09640740-2-8.
  • Altshuller, Genrich (1984). Creativity as an Exact Science. New York, NY: Gordon & Breach. ISBN 067721305.
  • Altshuller, Genrich (1994). And Suddenly the Inventor Appeared. translated by Lev Shulyak. Worcester, MA: Technical Innovation Center. ISBN 0-9640740-1-X.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TRIZ&oldid=87580650"