Overview/Description
Creative solutions to problems are easily recognizable, after they have been created. But how does one arrive at the solution in the first place? This course examines how TRIZ and axiomatic design have been developed to aid design decision making and related problem solving. It looks at the work of Genrich Altshuller, an engineer born in the former Soviet Union in 1926, who worked in the Soviet Navy as a patent expert in the 1940s. Altshuller's curiosity about problem solving led him to discover that over 90% of the problems engineers faced had been solved somewhere before. If engineers could follow a path to an ideal solution, starting with the lowest level - their personal knowledge and experience - when working their way to higher levels, most of the solutions could be derived from knowledge already present in the company or industry, or in another industry. Altshuller distilled the problems, contradictions, and solutions in these patents into a theory of inventive problem solving which he named the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ). Axiomatic design is a general methodology that helps designers to structure and understand design problems, thereby facilitating the synthesis and analysis of suitable design requirements, solutions, and processes. This approach also provides a consistent framework from which the metrics of design alternatives can be quantified.
Target Audience
Candidates for Black Belt certification; managers/executives overseeing personnel involved in the implementation of Six Sigma in their organization; consultants involved in implementing a Six Sigma proposal; and organizations implementing a Six Sigma project.