Unconventional Methods for Engineering and R&D

In Unconventional Methods for Engineering and R&D, you'll learn ...

• Several unconventional methods for finding engineering solutions
• The structure of the typical processes that are used to find novel solutions, and their applications
• The limitations of the various analysis methods
• Practical examples of the applications of these methods

Overview

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Credit: 5 PDH

Length: 109 pages

It is well acknowledged that only unconventional thinking can lead to new solutions and societal progress. Moreover, seasoned engineers often assert that using problem-solving methods beyond the ones acquired during their engineering college years augments their abilities to find novel solutions to old and new problems.

This course introduces several unconventional analysis methods for finding engineering solutions. These methods increase the utility of the engineer’s toolbox, as they are bridge the technical domains with various non-technical areas for solution inspiration, including un-formalized expertise, Semantics, Biology, Project Management, etc.

They are just a few of the many methods that have been formalized in the Engineering and R&D communities over the past few decades:

• Heuristic Evaluation – “applying informal knowledge to unknown factors”
• Structured Inventive Thinking (SIT) – “thinking inside the box”
• Pre-Mortem Analysis – “determine in advance why the process has failed”
• Synectics - “trust things that are alien, and alienate things that are trusted”
• Biomimicry – “applying nature-inspired designs to solve human problems”
• Exaptation – “re-applying existing solutions and elements to new uses”

Going beyond the theory, and to help with students’ familiarization with these methods, the course presents several practical examples of the applications of these methods, as well as a few feasible approaches and suggestions for their implementation.

This Course will endow Design Engineers, R&D Engineers, Project Engineers, Engineering Project Managers and Engineering Managers with additional analysis tools that will help them find novel solutions to technical and non-technical problems often encountered in their work.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Obtained

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

• The origins and intention of the Heuristics Evaluation method and its typical uses
• Heuristic rules that have been accepted by the Engineering practitioners and can be readily applied to problems
• The application and the structure of the Structure Invention Thinking Process (SIT) of finding new, original solutions, and how it relates to the TRIZ method
• The Closed World Condition and the Qualitative Change Condition used in the SIT Process
• The Thought Provoking Operators used in the SIT method, and how they are used to find novel solutions to problems
• The limitations of the SIT method of problem solving
• The Pre-mortem analysis, its application to Engineering and R&D problem solving, and how it augments the other problem finding processes typically used at the beginning of projects
• The Pre-mortem analysis practicalities and how to use its variations
• The differences between Pre-mortem technique and other methods commonly used at the beginning of
• Projects, and how this method brings additional value to Projects
• The Synectics process of uncovering new, unexpected and valid solutions by using words and ideas analogies, associations and random stimuli
• The various types of analogies used by the Synectics method to generate new ways of thinking about problems
• How to use the Trigger Operators and Synectics Statements to find new solutions for Engineering and R&D problems, within the Synectics process
• The Biomimicry process of adapting natural solutions to technical problems, and how it can be used to solve Engineering and R&D problems
• A number of accepted Biomimicry principles, and can they be applied to technical issues
• How Exaptation functions in technical domains and how it can be used to expand the application of existing solutions to new problems
• The specifics of the Exaptation process and how to use it in Engineering and R&D projects

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 25 questions. PDH credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.