Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): HKSQ Seminar on Innovative Total Quality Improvement

2013年12月12日星期四

HKSQ Seminar on Innovative Total Quality Improvement - PKIR (問知創行) innovation model

The seminar entitled "Innovative Total Quality Improvement - PKIR (問知創行) innovation model" was organized by Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) and co-organizer by ASQ Hong Kong on 11th December 2013. In the beginning, Mr. Peter Fung (Vice Chairman, HKSQ) gave opening speech and briefed the aim of this seminar that's to introduce the first approach to innovation developed in Hong Kong, which combines the teachings of G. Altshuller's TRIZ principles and innovation guru T. Brown's People Centered Innovation (PCI) theory. This new PKIR (問知創行) innovation model is suitable in all sectors of business at all levels.

Dr. Victor Lo (Vice Chairman - Institute of Systematic Innovation, HK) is an expert in both innovation and quality management was our guest speaker. Firstly, Dr. Lo briefed different quality methodology such as Six Sigma, QCC, Quality Trilogy, etc. Then he quoted previous PRC Prime minister Wen Jiabao statement that "To act on our own innovations, methodology becomes primary". So Dr. Lo started to think about any existing innovation system or standard.

Then we discussed "what is Innovation?" and Dr. Lo showed different cases in different countries to stimulate our mind. The following diagram showed the three important elements to support Innovation. They were "Management Support", "Innovation Methodology" and "Knowledgeable Team".

The new PKIR (問知創行) innovation model was introduced as following diagram. The idea was come from Problem to Solution which considered Efficiency and Effectiveness. In order to continuous improvement for better value, four elements were used "Facts", "Knowledge", "New ideas" and "Realization". Dr. Lo defined the Innovation using feedback loop that New things plus Function to produce Value which fulfill user Needs.

Moreover, Dr. Lo's innovation was by standing on the shoulders of TRIZ and People Centered Innovation (PCI) giants. For TRIZ, he identified 5 TRIZ pillars included Functionality, Resources, Ideality, Contradiction and Evolution. In here, he introduced the idea of Idle Resources that "Anything in the system which is not being used" and Ideal Final Result (IFR). For PCI, Empathy was the most important element. PCI methodology was "Look", "Ask", "Understand" and "Try" (望聞切試).

Dr. Lo had also analyzed the strengths and weaknesses among TRIZ, PCI, CWQC and 6 Sigma. It is a very valuable knowledge that I have summarized into the table for record below.

The new PKIR (問知創行) innovation model was TRIZ plus PCI, implied 50 Flash cards in the tool box. During implementation, each card was selected by team based on the nature and separated into the Crazy Idea Zone or Practical Idea Zone. After that Dr. Lo shared some successful project in Towngas to us.