Effective radical innovations using integrated QFD and TRIZ

Radical innovations (RIs) bring dramatic progress of existing technologies. Although the QFD (Quality function deployment) and TRIZ (Theory of innovation problem solving) integration provides a framework of innovation activities, it is a challenge to effectively use this framework for RIs. QFD is extended into two phases including a product House of quality (HoQ) and a design HoQ in this research to support design decisions for RIs. Based on HoQs, TRIZ-based methods of the function decomposition and performance analysis are developed in product HoQ to identify performance features of RIs. TRIZ tools including 76 standard solutions and trimming strategies are applied in design HoQ to decide product specifications for a systematic approach of RIs. The proposed approach is applied in the design of a wind power system. The feasibility and effectiveness of the method are proved.