The World According to TRIZ
Blue-chip American companies are embracing a 60-year-old innovation theory pioneered by a Russian inventor
With "innovation" such a hot buzzword in business circles
these days, companies are scrambling to find the magic
formula for creating inventive products and services. One
method that's gaining converts -- and breeding skeptics -
- is a 60-year-old theory known as TRIZ.
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TRIZ is the brainchild of late Russian inventor Genrich
Altshuller (1926-98), who worked as a patent inspector. In
the process of observing invention after invention,
Altshuller sought to identify a consistent formula for
innovation. In 1946, he published an article laying out his
theory of structured innovation, which he titled "Teoriya
Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch." That translates
roughly into "Theory of Inventive Problem Solving," or TRIZ,
for short.
Fast-forward to 2006. The list of American companies that
have applied Altshuller's recipe for innovation includes
Boeing (BA), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), IBM (IBM), Motorola
(MOT), Raytheon (RTN), and Xerox (XRX), among others.
HAPPY OUTCOMES. In the U.S., one of the main
evangelists for TRIZ has been Brooklyn (N.Y.)-based
futurist and innovation consultant Andrew Zolli of Z +
Partners, who has advised such blue-chip companies as
General Electric (GE). The TRIZ gospel is also being
spread through a newly published book, Insourcing
Innovation, by innovation coach David Silverstein, author
Neil De Carlo, and TRIZ Journal editor and scientist
Michael Slocum.
Here's a brief tutorial on TRIZ. Begin by defining your ideal
outcome -- what function you want the product or process
to perform. The next step is to figure out how to best
utilize your organization's resources to work toward that
goal. Next, run scenarios and devise models to try to
achieve the desired outcome.
To help guide the process, Altshuller devised a matrix of
39 basic problems and 40 possible solutions. The former
includes such tech-y considerations as "energy spent by
non-moving object" or "tension, pressure." But others are
more general, like "speed" or "level of automation." The
list of possible fixes include categories such as
"pneumatics and hydraulics," but also more common-
sense principles such as "other way around" (as in, why
not try the opposite of the approach that isn't working?).
MIX AND MATCH. One company that successfully applied
TRIZ to arrive at an innovative product is San Diego-
based OnTech. In 2004, OnTech debuted a single-serving,
self-heating container that can be used as packaging for
soup, coffee, tea, or even baby formula. Among the
brands that have licensed the technology are a line of
gourmet coffees produced by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck
and Hillside soups and coffees.
OnTech's product developers faced more than 400
technical and engineering dilemmas in trying to devise a
sturdy, yet portable container that could warm drinks and
stews, but could also contain and withstand the chemical
reaction used to generate heat. The team surveyed TRIZ's
list of 39 problems and identified those that applied, and
then selected fixes from the parallel list of 40 inventive
principles.
For example, they chose No. 14 from the first list --
"temperature" -- and applied No. 30 from the second list,
"use of composite materials," as well as No. 40, "flexible
shells and thin films." By using TRIZ's mix-and-match lists
as a springboard, the engineers quickly arrived at a
suitable material for their container: a ceramic and carbon-
fiber composite that's both durable and conducts heat
efficiently. Presto, a new product was born.
ASIAN ACCEPTANCE. Although TRIZ has been around for
half a century, it's only in the past decade that it began
to infiltrate the research & development departments of
American companies. Silverstein recalls that he first
learned of TRIZ six years ago, during a consulting gig with
Navistar International (NAV), a manufacturer of heavy-duty
trucks. "One of their PhDs introduced me to a Russian
group in Detroit, and they told me about TRIZ. And I
thought, 'This could be a parallel to Six Sigma,'" he says,
referring to the system for gauging defects and boosting
quality pioneered by Motorola (MOT) in the mid-1980s and
later popularized by companies like GE.
Silverstein acknowledges that TRIZ has found greater
acceptance in Asia than in the U.S. His Asian client base
has more than doubled in the past 18 to 24 months, he
says. "It's hard for some companies to see innovation as
something that can be structured," he says. "People want
to think that innovations occur as the result of really smart
people's ideas. When you structure that and say anyone
can innovate, well, this idea becomes threatening."
Still, TRIZ is making inroads stateside. Davin Stowell,
founder and chief executive of New York-based Smart
Design, a leading product-design firm, only recently
discovered TRIZ. Although he has yet to put the theory
into practice, Stowell admits that he sees its merits. "When
I first read about TRIZ, I found it a little offputting at first. I
was a slight skeptic," he says. "Then I saw that it wasn't
that different from what we do in product design."
COOKIE-CUTTER SOLUTION? According to Stowell, the
main difference between TRIZ and the methods used by
design-cum-business-strategy firms such as Smart
Design, Palo Alto (Calif.)-based IDEO, or Boston's Design
Continuum, though, is that they also rely heavily on
another trendy concept: ethnography (see BW, 6/5/06,
"The Science of Desire"). In other words, they engage in
intensive consumer research to figure out whether their
inventions will be well-received or not.
When asked if "structured innovation" à la TRIZ is a
contradiction in terms, Stowell defends the general idea.
"You need structure to step out of the box. While TRIZ is
clearly much more applicable for engineering and science,
its core principles are helpful. Innovation absolutely needs
to be structured to finish a project. Or else you wander all
over the place," he says.
Some product-design firms approach TRIZ with caution.
One of them is Design Continuum. "It seems to me that
TRIZ is trying to create an equation for innovation," says
Harry West, the company's vice-president of strategy &
innovation. "I think it's a great aspiration. But if there's an
equation for innovation out there, your competitor can do
the same -- which means the competitive challenge can
easily be lost."
TRIZ's proponents contend that they aren't trying to sell a
modern-day version of snake oil. Says Silverstein: "Look,
TRIZ is not the answer to everything. It's just one
approach to innovation." And it's an approach more
companies are turning to.