Guillermo Cortes Robles

Eco-innovative design method for process engineering

Due to the environmental issues, innovation is one way to challenge eco-friendly technologies, create new process options which are needed to meet the increasing demands for sustainable production. To accelerate and improve eco-innovative design, there is a need for the computer aided eco-innovation tools to support engineers in the preliminary design phase. Currently, several computer aided innovation tools with a clear focus on specific innovation tasks exist but very few of them deal with the eco-innovation issues. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to present the development of a computer aided model based preliminary design methodology focused on technological eco-innovation for chemical engineering. This methodology is based on modified tools of the structured TRIZ theory. The general systematic framework gives the same level of importance, to the technological and environmental requirements during the conceptual design phase. Integrating environment oriented design approach at the earliest, in the design phase, is essential for product effectiveness and future development. The methodology employs a decomposition based solution approach in hierarchical steps by analysing the problem faced, formulation of the problem and the generation of possible and feasible ideas. At each step, various methods and tools will be needed. In this paper some existing tools are adapted to chemical engineering and some tools of the structured TRIZ theory are modified and improved to build a specific methodology oriented towards the increasing technological complexity and environmental issues of current designs. Undoubtedly, the selection of materials and substances for a particular generated concept, mainly affects the structure, mechanical factors (processability and dimensions) and the environmental impact. In order to deal with these environmental criteria, the resources and their impacts are considered in the upstream phase of the design process and are introduced as constraints in our model. To highlight its capabilities, the methodology is illustrated through a case study dedicated to tars and ashes issues in biomass gasification.

Innovation and knowledge management: using the combined approach TRIZ-CBR in process system engineering

In this article, a TRIZ based model is proposed to support the innovation and knowledge capitalization process. This model offers a knowledge base structure, which contains several heuristics to solve problems, synthesized from a large range of domains and industries and, also, the capacity to capture, store and make available the experiences produced while solving problems.

The TRIZ-CBR synergy: a knowledge based innovation process

Today innovation is recognised as the main driving force in the market. This complex process involves several intangible dimensions, such as creativity, knowledge and social interactions among others. Creativity is the starting point of the process, and knowledge is the force that transforms and materialises creativity in new products, services and processes. In this paper a synergy that aims to assists the innovation process is presented. The synergy combines several concepts and tools of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) and the case-based reasoning (CBR) process. The main objective of this synergy is to support creative engineering design and problem solving. This synergy is based on the strong link between knowledge and action. In this link, TRIZ offers several concepts and tools to facilitate concept creation and to solve problems, and the CBR process offers a framework capable of storing and reusing knowledge with the aim of accelerating the innovation process.

Collaboration Framework for TRIZ-Based Open Computer-Aided Innovation

In the current industrial context, there is an increasing interest in the collective resolution of creative problems during the conceptual design phase. With collaboration, companies can expect to facilitate aggregation of multi-intelligence and knowledge for the proposal of new inventive solutions. Recent advances in theoretical approaches to innovation management as well as in information and communication technologies provide a more structured knowledge-driven environment for inventors, designers, and engineers. As a result, a new category of tools known as computer-aided innovation (CAI) is emerging, with the goal of assisting designers in their creative performance and of effectively implementing a complete innovation process. This chapter proposes a next evolutionary step for CAI, arising from two major recent developments: one coming from the advances in information and communication technology possibilities commonly referred to as “Web 2.0” and the other coming from a strategic paradigm shift from closed to open innovation. To go further, in this work we introduce an information-based software framework to collaborate for inventive problem solving. This framework proposes the implementation of techniques from the collective intelligence research field in combination with the systematic methods provided by the TRIZ theory. While collective intelligence focuses on the intelligent behavior that emerges in collaborative work, the TRIZ theory concentrates its attention in the individual capacity to solve problems systematically. The framework’s objective is to improve the individual creativity provided by the TRIZ methods and tools, with the value created by the collective contributions. This contribution highlights the importance of knowledge acquisition, capitalization, and reuse as well as the problem formulation and resolution in collaboration.

The Impact of Advertising in Emergent Economic Context: A System Dynamics Simulation Approach

The continual changes in the current market have increased complexity in business strategies. Under such dynamic conditions, enterprises need new tools, methods and methodologies to deal with uncertainty, ambiguity and a huge number of interactions. This phenomenon presents important differences in emergent economies but also similarities: the success of a product in the market will depend on product design, an efficient supply chain and also upon the right advertising campaigns in order to improve profit. In parallel, enterprises in emerging economies are involved in a global business where it is necessary to consider the challenging conditions for better decision-making. System dynamics simulation is a tool that can helps enterprises to analyze and observe the effect of business strategies over global performance. Marketing and advertising considered as a business strategy is not an exception to this statement. Thus, in this article is described a methodology and a study case where system dynamics simulation helps a motorcycle distributor enterprise to assess the impact of their advertising strategies in the market share, in order to chose the most suitable strategy through a sensitivity analysis.