An Innovative Product Design Approach Based on TRIZ’s Inventive Principles

Abstract

A systematic design approach with effective and efficient guiding principles is pivotal for developing versatile and innovative products, which then lead to product success. This research aimed to propose an innovative product design approach that incorporates TRIZ principles. This newly proposed approach started with identifying design issues or problems by conducting a comprehensive literature review with respect to the targeted product. The revised three-step inventive problem solving procedure of Shulyak’s then formulated potential design problems to generate the problem statement in a structured way. The three steps for solving an inventive problem were: determining product’s characteristics that should be improved or eliminated, stating characteristics needed to be improved to locate the potential contradictions of the problems, and eliminating the contradictions by employing contradiction matrix to identify the proper inventive resolutions. The solution concepts, as suggested from TRIZ’s principles, were generated after working through the procedure. They can serve as design directions to improve and re-design the original product. Case studies were conducted to demonstrate how this approach works. Study results show that the proposed approach can help product designer or relevant profession develop innovative products effectively and efficiently, resulting in gaining better competition in the marketplace.