Using TRIZ to Un-fuzzy the Fuzzy Front End

Description

Abstract

Over the past few years, innovation research has focused much of its efforts on what is now called the fuzzy front end . The term was originally coined by Peter Koen, a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology. It refers to the creation of new ideas and product concepts that go into what is traditionally called the stage-gate process , where ideas are evaluated and pruned for eventual commercialization.

Introduction

From the mid 1990s to 2003, the industry focused on tools and processes such as Six Sigma , Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), Quality Function Deployment ( QFD ) and other enterprise tools designed to eliminate waste in both processes and product design. After many successes in these areas, however, corporations discovered that in the age of innovation, they had not created a process for producing totally new process and product ideas. In addition, their hiring and personnel policies had minimized the number of creative individuals who did not fit into a Six Sigma mold.

The basics of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) contain many simple and profound predictive lines and patterns of product and technology evolution that can be used to provide structure and guidance to fuzzy front end activities.

New Product Development: The Tire Industry

No business can survive without the development of new products. Even the most ironclad patents only protect an invention for 20 years from the time of disclosure. During this time, competitors are working hard (sometimes using TRIZ tools) to find ways to circumvent these patents or by offering a better, less expensive way of providing the same result or function. The developer of the new product or service begins efforts to improve it, optimize it and protect these new incremental improvements through additional patents, though none of these are as ...

Original URL

http://www.triz-journal.com/archives/2009/10/03/

http://www.triz-journal.com/archives/2009/10/03/