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Lean and TRIZ: From the Problems to Creative and Sustainable Solutions

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Proceedings of the 6th European Lean Educator Conference (ELEC 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 122))

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Abstract

Lean Thinking philosophy pursuit continuous improvement and continuous innovation towards economic and eco-sustainable growth by new solutions. Such solutions involve eco-efficient products (goods and/or services) and cleaner production to produce them. Nevertheless, sometimes, there are technical contradictions that inhibited companies to achieve good solutions. TRIZ is a methodology capable to solve such contradictions and Lean could use it. Lean and TRIZ are on the road to achieve sustainable development goals, directly, the Goal 12, responsible consumption and production. This paper presents some case studies where this alliance is recognized and credited. These case studies were collected and synthetized by: type of work developed, company/sector, main TRIZ and Lean principles and tools used, problem(s) to solve and products/solutions designed. Building on the results, the authors systematized that Lean and TRIZ impact the design of creative solutions. Many of such solutions were developed in students’ master dissertations that reveals the importance of teaching Lean allied with TRIZ.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. The author from FCT NOVA acknowledges Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT—MCTES) for its financial support via the project UIDB/00667/2020 (UNIDEMI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production and Systems, School of Engineering, ALGORITMI R&D Center, University of Minho, 4800-058, Guimarães, Portugal

    Anabela Carvalho Alves & Paulo Sousa

  2. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, UNIDEMI, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Helena Navas

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  1. Anabela Carvalho Alves
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Correspondence to Helena Navas .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Monica Rossi

  2. Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Matteo Rossini

  3. Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Sergio Terzi

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Carvalho Alves, A., Sousa, P., Navas, H. (2020). Lean and TRIZ: From the Problems to Creative and Sustainable Solutions. In: Rossi, M., Rossini, M., Terzi, S. (eds) Proceedings of the 6th European Lean Educator Conference. ELEC 2019. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 122. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41429-0_11

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