Contemporary Issues of TRIZ
to be a Scientific Method
The Fourth TRIZ Symposium in Japan,
September 2008
KUROSAWA, Shinsuke
The SANNO Institute of Management(C) The Author and Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

About the word “Scientific”• If there is a principle and you can find infinite
number of events that correspond with it, theprinciple is called Scientific. (A definition based on
the idea of Martin Heidegger)• Ex. Neptune was found on the basis ofcalculations in accordance with Newtonianmechanics. (The principle that was applicable toall other planets led to the discovery of anotherplanet.)(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Issue 1: The TRIZ fundamental postulates
I.
II.

Technological systems evolve in accordance with objective laws.
The laws can be used for the purposes to solve newtechnological problems in a systematic manner.

Example of the laws：
Systems
evolve tothedirectionof Ideality

System elements
develop unequallySystems evolve in
expense ofresources

Some resources runshort

Inevitable
emergence ofconflicts• Importance of the postulates is underestimated.
(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Solution ofconflictsand birth ofnewgenerationof systems

Logics of TRIZ studies
History of Systems’evolution
Analysis
1. Extraction of patterns of inventions
2. Records of sequences of events
Basic study

Study of applications

Laws of Systems’ evolution
and the structure of thelaws(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

1. Patterns (trends) of evolution
2. Operators (Principles)
3. The system of substance/fieldresources

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Issue 2: Laws of Systems’ evolution•••

G. Hegel ⇒ K. Marx/F. Engels + C. Darwin ＝ Evolutionist approach tosystems history
Variations of empirically-defined laws before TRIZ
Altshuller put the foundation for scientific theory of Systems’ evolution.

KINEMATIKA
DINAMIKA

Vladimir Petrov
Boris Zlotin/Alla Zusman
Yuri Salamatov• Absence of open constructive discussions(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Systems inventedby amateurs

STATIKA

Leading TRIZ
teachers in ‘80s

Altshuller’ssystem (1970s)

Early theories(1956 - 1970s)

Development of TRIZ system of laws:Issue 3: Methodology of studies••

We are talking about the evolution of the systems which are used by people.
Proper object of TRIZ studies should be systems in the communities. (Not the systems
that were conceived and recorded in patent documents.)
Patent documents should be only auxiliary materials to fill gaps of the history.

•Study of thehistory
Auxiliary
information

Analysis ofPatents

Discovery oflaws

Classical TRIZ

Proper approach

Stumbling block for early TRIZ:
Study of thehistory
Analysis ofPatents

Discovery oflaws• Analysis of patents are easy to execute and it led to many interesting
discoveries which witness tendencies of human psychology but do notnecessarily reflect laws of Systems’ evolution.
(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Issue 4: Illusion of a panacea• The second part of TRIZ postulate led TRIZ to this misunderstanding.
“If you know laws of evolution you can solve any problems.”• It was a Marxist simplification of the History.

Gödel's first incompleteness theorem
There are problems that can not be solved by using TRIZ in the spaceof problems which are conceivable under TRIZ assumptions.

• TRIZ is a product of the history and not its creator although TRIZ cansometimes facilitate the course of the history.
• Searches for an all-round algorism are destined to fail. (Efforts toimprove useful tools are valuable.)(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Issue 5: Basic tools• We use the words “basic tools” for the tools which have beendeveloped directly from the laws of Systems’ evolution in order todistinguish them form other tools which are used for practicalapplications of the laws.

A model of the structure of the basic tools
The laws

OpatersoeRescurs
or

Ideality
Conflict

Patterns andlines(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society• Tools of the Classical
ＴＲＩＺ areaccumulated products
through its history.
They do not makeanything like an entity.
• The system of TRIZ
basic tools is still tobe constructed.

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet BiwakoIssues 6: Functional analysis (oneof the TRIZ auxiliary tools.)••

S=F analysis was made to analyze an elemental function. It does not fit foranalysis of functional structures of a complicated system because it does notshow INPUT/OUTPUT relations between functions.
There were efforts to adopt ideas of Value Analysis from late ‘70s to ’80s
but they were not properly digested by the TRIZ community.

A tool for analysis of functional structure is a must for practical applicationsof TRIZ. S=F=S structures reflect the present physical structures (in the boxstructures), which limit the out of the box thinking.

• Aren’t there the “Not invented here” symptoms in the TRIZ community?
(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Issue 7: Wider needs for TRIZ
applications• There are 4 basic needs;– Introduction and/or improvement of functions– Root cause analysis– Prediction of risks– Identification of opportunities• Classical TRIZ did not see needs other than“Introduction and/or improvement of functions”.

• TRIZ should and could be a general tool for different types of problemsolving.
• Isn’t there a tendency that keeps TRIZ to be a tool of the trade?
(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Issue 8: TRIZ dissemination
1. Who are the beneficiaries of TRIZ?
–

Think “who are the beneficiaries of physics?”

2. TRIZ is difficult to learn!
––Is physics difficult to learn?
There is a need to improve the system of TRIZ education•Teach TRIZ part by part, for example!
–Ideality/Conflicts → Operators → Resources → Laws

3. Difficulties to gain consent of the management!
–Let them use TRIZ!

4. They do not understand TRIZ!
– Do you understand it yourself?
(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako

Thanks!

(C) The Author & Japan TRIZ Society

4Th TRIZ Symposium in Japan Sept.10-12,2008 at Laforet Biwako