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.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the origins, purpose, and typical uses of the heuristics evaluation method.
• Identify heuristic rules accepted by engineering practitioners that can be applied to problems.
• Describe the application and structure of the structure invention thinking (SIT) process for finding original solutions and its relationship to the TRIZ method.
• Explain the closed world condition and the qualitative change condition used in the SIT process.
• Apply the thought-provoking operators used in the SIT method to find novel solutions to problems.
• Identify the limitations of the SIT problem-solving method.
• Describe pre-mortem analysis, its application to engineering and R&D problem-solving, and how it augments other problem-finding processes used at the beginning of projects.
• Explain the practical aspects of pre-mortem analysis and how to use its variations.
• Distinguish the pre-mortem technique from other methods commonly used at the beginning of projects.
• Explain how the pre-mortem method brings additional value to projects.
• Describe the synectics process for uncovering new, unexpected, and valid solutions using word and idea analogies, associations, and random stimuli.
• Identify the types of analogies used by the synectics method to generate new ways of thinking about problems.
• Apply trigger operators and synectics statements to find new solutions to engineering and R&D problems within the synectics process.
• Explain the biomimicry process for adapting natural solutions to technical problems and its use in engineering and R&D problem-solving.
• Describe accepted biomimicry principles and how they can be applied to technical issues.
• Explain how exaptation functions in technical domains and how it can expand the application of existing solutions to new problems.
• Apply the exaptation process to 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.