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IQPC (International Quality and Productivity Center)
London, England - May 21, 22 & 23rd, 2002
Report by Don Masingale, Chair for the Conference
IQPC were the sponsors of this conference. The organization,
facilities and support for the conference was excellent, enabling the attendees
the opportunity to relax, enjoy and absorb all that was discussed and presented,
making this a very successful conference.
The conference was preceded by a half-day Workshop on Basic
TRIZ. It provided a good brief overview of TRIZ, it's potential and history. The
two instructors from Oxford Creativity, Karen Gadd and Henry Strickland,
demonstrated the various tools within TRIZ and provided example applications of
innovative thinking using TRIZ. The workbook provided was well organized and
provided the student with TRIZ fundamentals, many depicted with examples for
clarity, enabling the student to actually see the steps of TRIZ innovation. A
laminated chart provided to each attendee consisted of the Forty Inventive
Principles, the Contradiction Matrix and a Road Map for path selection in
problem solving. Another booklet included further explained the Forty Principles
by means of examples provided for each. A well organized and excellent workshop.
The conference attendance was optimally sized to provide the
opportunity for a great deal of interaction and networking, certainly one of the
best TRIZ conferences I have attended in the past seven years. Many major global
industries and institutions were represented: BAE Systems, Agilent Technologies,
Siemens, Ford Motor Company, Whirlpool Europe, Ilford Imaging, DSM, Heidelberg,
MARS (Masterfoods), Boeing, Roll-Royce, Proctor & Gamble, Invention Machine
Europe, Toyota Motor Europe, SHIPLEY, ROHM and HAAS, PSA Peugeot Citroen (who
couldn't attend due to pressing issues at work, but his presentation was
included with a brief review by another attendee who was familiar with the TRIZ
effort at Peugeot) and others. The presentations, interactions and discussions
enabled each to see how TRIZ was introduced and is being used in each
application and what challenges were overcome to implement TRIZ in their
respective organizations. More importantly, presenters provided an outline of
where they plan to take TRIZ next within their organizations.
One of the overall themes of the conference centered around
the "Implementation of TRIZ;" the challenges, the marketing of TRIZ internally,
the pitfalls experienced, the corporate support or lack of it, costs associated
with TRIZ training, the attitude of the TRIZ trained, how training was conducted
and what seemed to work best for learning and retention, and how TRIZ was being
applied. A significant part of this discussion was the necessary development of
a "Culture of Innovation" as part of the TRIZ implementation process. In
general, most of the attendees agreed that it was very important for the TRIZ
student to acquire a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of TRIZ prior to
using a computerized version of TRIZ. Again, most agreed that computerized TRIZ
was an important tool in the application of TRIZ for the practitioner, once the
understanding of TRIZ was entrenched.
Using TRIZ to analyze the "Evolutionary Trends" of products
and processes always draws a lot of attention, and this conference was no
exception. Everyone wants to be able to not only predict the future better, but
also try to pull the future product back to be implemented earlier, today, if
possible. Although touched upon by several presenters, one presentation in
particular discussed accelerating the evolution of products in more detail.
University level TRIZ education gained a great deal of
attention and support. Denis Cavallucci from ENSAIS (National School of Arts and
Industries of Strasbourg, France) introduced his proposed program for a Graduate
Degree - Master's in Innovative Design based upon the Theory of Inventive
Problem Solving (TRIZ) and the General Theory of Advanced Thinking (QTSM-TRIZ).
Denis has been a strong supporter of TRIZ in Europe and continues the effort by
means of providing Russian to English translations of TRIZ writings as well as
his academia level effort. Industry has recognized the need to not only train
their existing technical communities in TRIZ Innovation, but to also help
establish the TRIZ Innovative thinking early in the training (academia) and
career of the technical people they hire, with further Innovation cultivation
after entering industry. Internal training cost is a major concern for companies
considering the implementation of a new methodology, such as TRIZ.
The TRIZ community is becoming acutely aware that TRIZ is not
a stand-alone application within the Culture of Innovation for most Enterprises.
It must complement and be complemented by other methodologies that perform other
functions better than TRIZ or, in some cases, that TRIZ does not perform. Hence,
several presentations discussed the value of TRIZ and Six Sigma, QFD, Axomatic
Design, TOC, Taguchi, etc. It was also pointed out that the acceptance of TRIZ
is much easier to attain if introduced as a complementary to another already
embraced methodology within the organization. What better way to prove the value
of TRIZ than to show how TRIZ will complement that already proven and accepted
system?
In all, the presentations were excellent. The breaks between
sessions were sufficiently long to allow good discussion and networking. A few
misconceptions were openly discussed and cleared up in several areas, allowing
for a closer alliance and understanding between attendees and organizations. The
result will be a stronger global TRIZ community!
Fellowship and good exchange prevailed throughout the
conference and is extended by follow up communication between the attendees in
supporting each others TRIZ effort and working together on TRIZ projects for
common objectives.
Contradictions are "opportunities" for Improvement - Analogy
is the "vision" of Inventors & Innovators!
Don Masingale (316) 526-5777 e-mail: don.masingale@boeing.com
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