Valeri Sushkov
University of Twente
Computer Science Department
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands
Published in The TRIZ Journal, February 1997. © copyright by the author, 1997
“Until the beginning of 1990s, worldwide competition was simple; manufacturers of “more, cheaper, and better” products win… Nowadays, however, competition is not like the good old days. We must be able to achieve quicker delivery of more innovative products.”, wrote Professor Tetsuo Tomiyama of Tokyo University in his article “A Japanese View on Concurrent Engineering”. This interesting point highlights what drives today’s and tomorrow’s product manufacturers. And of course, those who are aware of TRIZ, especially TRIZ-based commercial services will definitely like this trend.
It looks like evolution of modern society has reached the point where so-called”technosocial competition” comes to arena. This is not social competition between people and not technological competition between corporations: this is something different. As a matter of fact, this is a competition to develop technology which makes the person’s life more comfortable, productive and better. Recently I have noticed that I tend to buy a new photocamera every two years. Why? Because of two factors: first, I know the new camera can do better shots and second, I can afford it. Corporations have probably recognized these two factors faster than me. And those who did, would definitely win over my savings…
Today, technologically developed and wealthy societies are ready to invest in improved products more and more, and the value of product costs becomes less important than quality. But how can manufacturers quicker develop innovative products? Using mathematics or logics? Or something totally different – brainstorming? Logics is useless unless we have something to reason about. Brainstorming is nothing but chaotic scanning of associations that too heavily relies on personal creative capabilities. To develop new products corporations are in desperate need for new knowledge. This is the point where TRIZ comes.
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