Redesign Services using Inventive Principles: A Case Study

Systematic redesign services could help to produce new service innovation. The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) with its tools such as the 40 inventive principles and matrix of contradiction developed by Genrich Altshuller and his colleagues are important tools to generate new ideas and solutions for problem solving. Although TRIZ was developed for technical problems, the 40 inventive principles still can be used in a service context. However, an accurate matrix of contradictions for the service sector does not exist. The designer would need to go through all inventive principles to find a suitable solution. That method may be confusing, complicated and time consuming. In this paper, the researchers demonstrate how grouping the 40 inventive principles into service redesign categories (SRCs) helps reducing the time needed to get the appropriate principles that can then be applied to find solutions. This study uses a case study to illustrate usefulness grouping 40 inventive principles with SRCs to generate solutions in service sector. The research shows that if service designer knows the service characteristics of a service redesign, it will be easier to identify appropriate inventive principles that may assist in finding a solution.