TRIZ wins a tender: designing a crash barrier

This paper presents a case study on the application of TRIZ tools of Situation Analysis and Method of the Ideal Result by a small team of engineers that led to a design of a novel mobile crash barrier. It compares the design outcomes achieved by engineers using a traditional way of product development, to the product created during the TRIZ-assisted design process. This case study originates from the engineering division of Singapore Technologies Kinetics, a company that has been traditionally involved in automotive systems' and vehicular design. A crash barrier, intended to stop a certain class of vehicles within a designated distance, has never before been designed and built by the company. Company management decided to participate in a tender for a crash barrier trying to gain new business during an economic downturn. Eventually, the novel mobile crash barrier passed the patent examination effortlessly and the design team has also secured a contract after winning a tender. This paper uses the mobile crash barrier example to discuss the influence of the detrimental effect of expertise on creativity of engineering solutions and importance of systematic problem solving methodologies in engineering design. It suggests that exposure to designs of others prior to idea generation can result in design fixation. It also suggests that design fixation can be removed by application of the appropriate TRIZ tools