Innovation and TRIZ methodology along the product development process: study cases in the textile and medical fields

During these last years, methodologies and tools for systematic innovation and problem solving are assuming more and more importance in order to make companies able to innovate their products and processes. A Triz-based methodology and related tools can be employed to manage and support simultaneously several phases of the product lifecycle, from concept design, to manufacture, assembly, marketing and disposal. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems can provide a valid support for the coordination and integration of processes and applications used to define and manage the virtual product with those used to manufacture and maintain the real product. In this paper we describe the integration of TRIZ and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) methodologies and tools along the different phases of the product lifecycle. Two successful case study, related either to product development or company’s process, are presented. In the first one, several studies have been carried out on a weaving loom focusing on design, production, marketing, disposal and intellectual property rights. Technical knowledge has been retrieved and several functional models have been done to represent the product. Models were used as a starting point for following analysis and as a tool to uniform and spread knowledge between different company’s departments. An iterative procedure has been adopted to find a set of solutions improving the final product and, at the same time, taking into account other phases of product lifecycle, such as production, marketing and disposal. The other field of investigation concerned the introduction in a medical manufacturing company of a methodology based on the Triz approach and in particular of the AFD (Anticipatory Failure Determination) technique that allowed to create a new organizational paradigm for concurrent product and process development with particular attention to quality and risk management. The integration between FMEA and AFD procedures was successfully tested and represent a new method to manage quality and risk of industrial products