TRIZ For Dummies

Chapter 14

Trimming for Elegant, Low-Cost Solutions

In This Chapter

Getting more with less

Developing elegant solutions

Creating strong intellectual property

Generally, when you try to make something better, you do so by adding something else: Trimming is the TRIZ way of making your system better by removing things while keeping all the useful actions.

While the logic behind why Trimming works may seem complex, in practice the steps are easy. You need to start with a system that you fully understand and complete a good Function Map: all you need to do then is pick a component, and question whether you can remove it using the prompts in the Trimming Rules. You’ll find that Trimming gets easier the more you remove – and sometimes removing one troublesome component opens up the opportunity to remove a handful of others.

In this chapter I give you my hints and tips for Trimming your way to success.

Making Things Better and Cheaper

Trimming is radically different to traditional problem solving – you start with the idea that you’re going to improve your system by taking things away, and get more of what you want with less. When you follow the Trimming Rules, you systematically remove ...