The expression TRIZ comes from the Russian word " ТРИЗ ", which is the acronym for " Theory of Solving Inventive Problems ".
TRIZ is a systematic method to increase creativity, based on the study of patent evolution models and the application of standard solutions of the method to various problems, be they technical, social, administrative, etc.
People who solve problems intuitively will find that the TRIZ method provides additional insights. People who solve problems in a structured way will find that the TRIZ method provides systematic guidance.
Scientific or technical creativity is the set of reasoning procedures that aim to solve problems with innovative solutions efficiently.
The scientific or technical name refers to creativity to differentiate it from artistic creativity, although it can handle criteria of ergonomics, aesthetics and is applied to education, the environment, etc.
This methodology began in the area of Engineering, product and process design, and service improvement, to spread to other Fields of Knowledge.
A problem is understood as a circumstance in which the current situation does not coincide with certain expectations. This broad definition indicates that technical creativity can be used for almost anything, although the main applications are in companies and in research, where it is used for solving problems of strategy, management or technology.
This theory seeks to obtain low-probability, novel and innovative ideas that would not be accessible otherwise.
Most of the existing creative techniques use an alteration of the usual reasoning by a procedure typical of each technique. This large group of techniques, based on Intuition, psychology and imagination, voluntarily dispenses with previous patent knowledge of the element under study and search for alternative solutions at random and by trial and error, which is inefficient.
On the other hand, TRIZ is based on the Knowledge of patents of similar elements and on the Management thereof even though they come from a field of Knowledge totally different from ours.
TRIZ surprises with the speed and quality of the results obtained and thanks to them important advances have been made and problems of extreme difficulty have been solved in the Basic Sciences and Industries. No other creative method has the extensive number of applications in the Processes, Products and Services that TRIZ has, check it out by researching the files of the Triz journal at www.triz-journal.com.
This problem solving technique is different and unique in its conception since it arises from a different approach, which consists in using the maximum amount of knowledge available on a specific problem and reaching its solution by adapting patents with solutions previously applied to other problems.
TRIZ is the first technique that has been defined as “knowledge-based” and forms part of Knowledge Management, which is, together with Quality and continuous improvement, the basis of the Research, Development and Invention (R&D) departments. + I) of companies.
On the other hand, at the same time as TRIZ, Altshuller, its creator, developed ARIZ, an algorithmic procedure, which gives Creativity and Innovation an exact science character, based on the study of problem solving standards.
The creator of the TRIZ method, Genrich Altshuller, was a Russian Jewish engineer who developed the theory through the analysis of more than 1.5 million invention patents, from 1946 to his death in 1989. He realized that despite the fact that the inventions he analyzed solved different problems in also very different fields, the applied solutions could be obtained from a relatively small set of invention principles.
Altshuller published his first article in 1956. Between 1961 and 1979 he wrote the basic books, exposing the method in an orderly fashion and introducing the name TRIZ in the text "Creativity as an Exact Science." This last book was the first to be translated into English and was published outside the Soviet Union in 1984, although it did not attract attention due to the complexity of the theory presented and a poor translation.
Altshuller and TRIZ achieved international recognition in 1990, when the book “And suddenly the inventor appeared” was published in the United States, in which the method is explained in a more understandable way.
The TRIZ method had already been recognized in the Soviet Union as a very valuable contribution since 1970. The first TRIZ seminar was held in 1969, the first school was established in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in 1974 and the Russian association of TRIZ was established in 1989.
The method began by being applied in solving technological and scientific problems, but after the immense number of these problems solved effectively, today it is the inventive and innovative technique most used by companies, research institutes and universities.
Genrich Altshuller continued his life working on the method, making new contributions and forming a group of TRIZ teachers, main development continuators.
TRIZ is based on eliminating contradictions and it is precisely contradictions that in all walks of life reduce efficiency.
Because ultimately a contradiction, be it administrative, technical or physical, is a problem that affects the business, and therefore the company itself, since another company can occupy part of the market if it finds, eliminates and works without contradictions.
There are numerous inventive examples in history, all derived from eliminating physical, technical, or administrative contradictions.
Let's see some:
-The carts, in Sumerian times, 4000 years ago, used totally solid wheels to transport goods.
But the Greeks needed to wage war and streamline logistics, and so they invented spokes on wheels to make them lighter, and added metal rims to make them more durable. In other words, they eliminated the contradictions of weight and wear.
- Look at the double entry accounting summaries of the Middle Ages of the Templars, who were the predecessor of the banks. They eliminated the contradiction of using one variable instead of two and founded efficient accounting.
They also developed a whole system of chasquis from one country to another with bills of exchange, that is, without carrying cash, which in the face of frequent thefts was an ingenious solution.
-The Egyptians 5000 years ago, to build their pyramids they needed large blocks of rock and to make them easily transportable over long distances, they invented wooden platforms with waxed logs to slide on the sand, that is, they saw the contradiction between doing a lot of work mechanic by rubbing the rocks to the floor and they minimized it in their own way.
-Any invention from the industrial era was improved in order to eliminate contradictions and countries such as England, Germany and the Netherlands were the spearhead of innovations.
TRIZ is being disseminated outside of Russia, there are several countries, including the United States, Israel, England, France and Japan, which have distinguished themselves by acceptance and promotion with applications in all kinds of industries.
Some Russian experts have established their residence in the United States and it is in this country where, in addition to Russia, the greatest progress is currently being made.
Also in Russia there have been important advances since 1980 in bringing this methodology to the education of children from the age of six in fifteen of the most important cities.
In the various creative workshops of primary schools in Argentina, we have selected different didactic exercises that teach in a simplified way the systematic TRIZ methodology, which is opposed to the way of looking for solutions by trial and error or simply at random.
Some suitable exercises turned out to be the following:
1-The problem of slippers in children of ten years.
Many times a child at night needs to go to the bathroom or fetch water from the kitchen.
When doing it without lights, even though they know the way, they get hurt by stepping on toys and they are afraid.
What simple solution can be implemented?
2-The problem of plastic bags in eight-year-old children: The Holi festival is an Ancient Indian tradition, where every year for the middle of March, millions of children and adolescents color their faces, and fill plastic bags with colored water, and throw them between them.
Those bags were thick plastic years ago, which hurt people's faces and bodies.
The Hindu government imposed fines for using lighter bags and that solved part of the problem.
Then people were asked not to carelessly throw the bags anywhere, but the problem continues.
After the party, thousands of bags of thin, polluting plastic block the water drains and damage the entire storm system.
What can be done to solve this problem with minimal cost?
3.Captain Hook in six year olds
Captain Hook has found a great treasure on Devil's Island.
He cannot bury him there because he must take him to Spain and collect part of the treasure there for himself and his men.
But he knows that his ship can be caught by the enemy fleet and then everything is lost.
How to carry the treasure and at the same time not be found by enemies if it is caught in the sea?
4-The problem of number six with two people facing each other, in children of six years.
A drawing is shown where two people are facing each other, and on the ground the number six is written from the position of a person, but it is also possible to see the new number from the position of the person facing each other.
5-The problem of the giraffe in children of six years
It turns out that a giraffe wants to build his house next to an airport. The house must be high so that the giraffe can enter but it must be low so that the planes do not crash it.
How can this contradiction be resolved, and the giraffe have its home?
6-The farmers are already planting the wheat in the fields, but the nearby birds begin to eat the seeds sown. What is the real problem and what can we do to scare the birds away?
This problem was presented to eight-year-old children and they knew how to follow appropriate deductive reasoning.
Now let's see a little more in detail what was the chosen path to have several alternative solutions and then select the most appropriate one.
1-The slippers problem was solved using a simplified system based on TRIZ. In each step the closest thing to the objective is identified.
a-Pose the correct problem: The child needs to see at night to get to the bathroom sure not to fall or step on toys.
b-Define the correct objective:
-I don't need to go to the bathroom at night
-The child needs to go to the bathroom and can see the road safely
C-Analysis
-If you turn on the light, wake up others
-If you walk in the dark you can fall
-The child needs to go to the bathroom seeing the road
d-Creativity: Investigate the inventive principles, alternative solutions to increase improvements or neutralize harmful actions.
A guide to the 40 inventive principles is distributed among the attendees. It is a matter of applying each of them and the following principles are found to be useful:
Principle 5 Combination Intensify eyesight with night glasses
Principle 10 Preliminary action Go to the bathroom before sleeping
Principle 2 Extraction Put light where it is needed
Principle 3 Local Quality Put light close to where it is needed
Principle 13 Investing Make sure all toys are put together before going to sleep
Principle 16 Partial action Put a pot under the bed so you don't have to turn on the light but after cleaning it
e-Resolve the contradiction by Principles of separation in condition, space and time:
Separate by structure: generate light when walking
Separate in space: put light close to my foot
Separate in time: put light only when I need it
The three principles apply together.
f-Develop solution concepts based on the above. In each step the closest thing to the objective is identified.
-a small light comes on when I need it
-the light is close to my foot and the floor, and lets me see if there are objects in my way
-the light is small and does not awaken others
-the light leaves me more hands free
g-Optimal solution: Light in front of my slippers, which light up only when I walk
2-The Holi party problem exemplifies how to try to reach an ideal final solution, but the first thing that arises is the contradiction of the problem.
The main contradiction that children find is usually one of these:
-How to clean the garbage without cost (RFI Ideal end result)
-How to make the bags do not block the drains
-How to make the bags disappear after the party
We chose the first contradiction as the main one, but then this leads us to the fact that the bags scattered everywhere, must be collected by the people and disappear with minimal changes to the system.
With which we can deduce that the bags must go from being valuable to nothing of value, or from nothing of value to valuable.
That is to say that they do not cost anything when they are used for the party and that they are or acquire much value after the party, so people do not throw them anywhere.
The key to TRIZ is that it leads one to think of a large amount of garbage that turns into money, applying the ideal Final Result.
By what method can people get large sums of money? The lottery is the answer. With the lottery, so we put in the bags an advertisement from the lottery agency with a draw number, and the people, after using the bags at the party, take them home and wait for the draw. We have improved the situation with minimal cost.
Also, if we know that there are algae that eat household garbage and consume carbon dioxide eliminated oxygen, what can we do?
Indicate in the advertising of the bags that they are suitable for incorporating algae that improve the environment, since they act like plants and vegetables that consume carbon dioxide and return clean oxygen to us.
3-In the problem of Captain Hook, the solution found in several creative workshops was to melt the gold on Devil's Island, and mold it as the ship's anchor and coat the gold anchor with pitch or any dark paint, so that when arriving at the destination place the paint is separated and the anchor melts again and the gold is distributed.
The systematic followed was to pose the contradiction of the problem and then begin to ask ourselves how to reach an ideal final solution.
In each step, the closest thing to the objective of hiding the gold must be identified.
4-For the exercise of the confronted people the existing contradiction is written there. They are asked to exemplify other cases of daily contradictions, for example what happens if at the same time, some people want to cross a busy street and the vehicles also want to drive.
There are so many more examples.
5-For the exercise of the giraffe's house we see to resolve the contradiction applying some of the Principles of separation in the structure, space or time.
Let's see to identify what is closest to the objective of always having, day and night, a suitable house.
If we separate the house according to its structure, we force the giraffe to build his house away from the airport, which he does not want.
If we separate the house in space, we can build a tall house so that the giraffe can enter, but we bury it so that the planes do not hit it and it protrudes slightly from the ground.
If we separate your house in time, we build the house so that the giraffe only uses it at night which is when the airport is closed and we undo it during the day, so that the planes do not crash it.
We see that the best alternative is to bury the house to always have a house.
6-In the problem of farmers, we follow a system of asking ourselves what purpose farmers have, what they want!
We agree among all that the farmers only want to scare the birds, but how to do it?
Bringing a predator, which may be a hunter or dogs or another animal, but is this practical?
In each step the closest thing to the objective is identified, without killing the birds you can only scare them.
Ideally it is not convenient to kill the birds because they are many and because they help the ecosystem, so we can bring a substitute for predators, such as the noise of a shotgun or the barking of dogs.
In children aged eleven and over who already know the laws of physics with gravity and its effects, it is proposed:
7-The problems caused by the non-existence of gravity in a spacecraft that rotates around the earth.
How will the astronaut's hair be cut?
Where will plants grow?
If you take a pet, for example a cat, what will happen?
Can the problem be reduced if the ship is spinning continuously?
How do astronauts drink liquids?
Other exercises for these children are about:
8-In the swimming pool the children practice ornamental jumps from 4 meters high, but sometimes they do not fall well into the water and they are injured.
Can anything be done to lessen the shock with the water? Apply the principles of separation.
9-The normal nails usually turn inside the wall and fall off easily. What can be installed or how to modify the nail to avoid this, without altering the manufacture of the same?
Apply the inventive principles and the separation principles.
10-The drawers of your desk usually get stuck and do not slip. What can be done economically to solve this?
Apply the principles of separation.
Bibliography
-Electronic edition of the book Generación y Desarrollo de Ideas creativas at:
www.ideas-marketing.com.ar/
-Electronic edition of the TRIZ basic course at: www.innovacion-sistematica.net.
