The pre-technical session this month will be Conducting Measurement System Analysis which will start at 5:00. I will walk you through the process of doing an MSA and discuss the associated analysis.

Our main Speaker is Professor Don Coates from Kent State University. His topic is An Innovation Process and The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). TRIZ is the theory of inventive problem solving and was created in Russia in 1946 by Genrich S. Altshuller. Altshuller reviewed over 200,000 patents and was able to separate the patents? different degrees of inventiveness into five levels. He found that almost all invention problems contain at least one contradiction; in this context a contradiction is defined as a situation in which an attempt to improve one feature of the system detracts from another feature. He found that the level of invention often depends on how well the contradiction is resolved. TRIZ is a combination of methods, tools, and a way of thinking. The ultimate goal of TRIZ is to achieve absolute excellence in design and innovation.

Professor Coates teaches courses on innovation, energy power and industrial controls at Kent State University?s College of Technology. Previously he was Vice President of Engineering at the Speed Queen Division of Raytheon, Director of Corporate Primary Development and Director of Dishwasher Engineering at the Frigidaire Company of AB Electrolux, Director of Research for the Hoover Company of the Maytag Corporation and Manager of Whirlpool Automatic Washers at the Whirlpool Corporation. He received a Ph.D. and MSME for Purdue University and a BSME from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also received the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus and Outstanding Mechanical Engineer awards from Purdue University. He holds 21 patents with another 8 pending and has authored eight papers. He is member of the American Society of Quality and the National Society of Professional Engineers.