Sharif Ullah, A. M. M. et al.

Paper: Au10-2-7829; 2016/2/22

Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs

A. M. M. Sharif Ullah∗ , Michihiro Sato∗ , Michiko Watanabe∗ , and Md. Mamunur Rashid∗∗
∗
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kitami Institute of Technology
165 Koen-cho, Kitami, Hokkaido 090-8507, Japan
E-mail: ullah@mail.kitami-it.ac.jp
∗∗ Bangladesh Institute of Management

4 Sobhanbag, Mirpur Road, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh

[Received October 1, 2015; accepted February 15, 2016]

This study addresses the integration of Computer-
Aided Design (CAD), Theory of Inventive Problem
Solving (TRIZ), and Customer Needs for the sake of
product development. TRIZ can generate plausible
product alternatives, while CAD can produce the dig-
ital data for those alternatives. Thus, the TRIZ-CAD
outcomes can be organized to produce a questionnaire.
When the questionnaire is disclosed to potential cus-
tomers (respondents), the individual preferences of the
respondents can be obtained. However, aggregating
the diverse preferences of all respondents and mak-
ing decisive conclusions based on these is difficult.
In this study, we introduce statements regarding the
nine fundamental human needs (subsistence, protec-
tion, affection, understanding, participation, leisure,
creation, identity, and freedom) and TRIZ-CAD out-
comes in a questionnaire. As the respondent is human,
the product exemplified by the TRIZ-CAD outcomes
should fulfill one or more of the fundamental human
need. Responses regarding statements of the nine fun-
damental human needs can be used to aggregate the
diverse opinions of all respondents and thereby make
a decisive conclusion. We have shown the effectiveness
of the abovementioned approach by using a product
development case in which the problem is the determi-
nation of a car’s external shape. Field data is discussed
showing the applicability of the proposed approach.
Keywords: CAD, TRIZ, fundamental human needs, cus-
tomer needs, product development
1. Introduction
The conceptual design phase in product development is
especially significant because the conceptual design de-
termines the majority of the total life-cycle cost of the
product, which cannot be minimized during downstream
activities such as detailed design, manufacturing, and as-
sembly [1, 2]. However, selecting the most appropriate
conceptual design from numerous candidates is difficult,
simply because the conceptual design phase entails a great
deal of epistemic uncertainty or uncertainty due to a lack
of knowledge). The decision-relevant information comes
predominantly from linguistically defined perceptions re-
garding the preferences and needs for the product [3, 4].
(Note that the phrases “preferences” or “needs” do not
necessary correlate to the “requirements” of a system.) In
practice, almost all designers perform three activities aid-
ing in conceptual design choices: patent retrieval, brain-
storming, and literature survey [5]. The objective of these
activities is the simultaneous identification of conceptual
design alternatives and crucial functional requirements for
the product. The functional requirements [6] are a sub-
set of all requirements necessary to complete the prod-
uct [7, 8]. These requirements can be classified in numer-
ous ways [7, 8] but they appear gradually when follow-
ing both theoretical processes (e.g., axiomatic design the-
ory [6]) and pragmatic approaches (e.g., parameter anal-
ysis [9]). The requirements identification process is not
just a knowledge-using process, but rather a knowledge-
creating process when pursuing a relatively creative con-
cept [10], which is desirable for product development.
The requirements identification process for creative con-
ceptual design relies heavily on the internal motivation of
the designer(s) [11].
As mentioned, most designers perform patent retrieval,
brainstorming, and literature surveys when they initiate
a product development project; they repeat these steps at
every stage [5]. This demonstrates that designers try to
learn from previously solved design problems, and then
find a way to solve current problems, by determining the
correct set of requirements and the respective solutions.
In this context, “a problem” is the satisfaction of a set
of requirements. The Theory of Inventive Problem Solv-
ing (Russian acronym TRIZ) [12–15] is noteworthy, be-
cause it has summarized the lessons learned from many
patents [12, 13]. The application of TRIZ parameterizes
a problem, and then solves conflicts among the parame-
ters by using some predefined rules, as explained in Sec-
tion 4. In this sense, TRIZ [12, 13] is a pragmatic de-
sign approach similar to parameter analysis [9]. It helps
to create design alternatives and to identify the underlying
requirements as well [14, 15]. The theory can also be inte-
grated with CAD tools [14]. The alternatives suggested by
TRIZ can be refined by performing engineering analyses
in later stages of product development. Before starting a
given refinement process, appropriate alternatives are se-

132 Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016


lected under epistemic uncertainty [3, 4]. Unfortunately,
TRIZ [12–15] itself does not have the ability to select ap-
propriate alternatives under epistemic uncertainty.
Nevertheless, determining the set of product require-
ments, producing design alternatives, and deciding on a
design concept under epistemic uncertainty hinder the de-
velopment of a successful product. The other essential
component for developing a successful product is an un-
derstanding of the customer needs. (As mentioned, cus-
tomer needs or expectations are not necessarily product
requirements. The customer needs can be correlated to
certain product requirements, as often seen in product de-
velopment processes.) A product is intended for a group
of customers characterized by the psychographic and de-
mographic characters of the group. However, before a
customer is a customer, s/he is a human being. A hu-
man being has fundamental human needs [16, 17], as de-
scribed in Section 3. Thus, in principle, a customer is al-
ways driven by fundamental needs, although s/he may not
be able to show explicitly that her/his needs regarding a
product result from fundamental human needs. Therefore,
fundamental human needs in turn manifest the customer
needs underlying a product. In certain cases, fundamen-
tal human needs can aid in categorizing the product re-
quirements more systematically [8] than can be achieved
conventionally [7].
Although the designer can determine the product re-
quirements, produce the design alternatives, make deci-
sions under epistemic uncertainty, and elucidate the cus-
tomer needs, the product information does not necessar-
ily become meaningful to the other systems needed to
realize the actual product. In particular, a Computer-
Aided Design (CAD) model of the product must be cre-
ated using commercial or customized CAD systems [5].
The systems that perform engineering analyses, includ-
ing Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Computer-
Aided Engineering (CAE), Rapid Prototyping (RP), typi-
cally receive primary input in the form of this CAD model
and perform the intended analyses based on it [14]. This
practice is common to the automotive, aerospace, and
electronics industries [5], and has been used in the chem-
ical industry [14]. The integration of the customer needs
system and CAD systems remains a challenge that must
be addressed adequately [18].
The above description of product development is pre-
sented schematically in Fig. 1. Seven major issues are
interrelated in the early stages of product development:
1) inventive problem solving (e.g., TRIZ), 2) product so-
lutions, 3) product requirements, 4) customer needs, 5)
fundamental human needs, 6) product digital data (i.e.,
CAD models), and 7) engineering analyses and refine-
ments (CAE, CAM, RP, and alike). The interactions of
these seven issues create different types of system con-
figurations in supporting designers in the early stages of
product development. This study addresses only one of
these possible configurations. For better understanding,
the external shape of a car is used throughout the study
as an example of a product development problem. The
involvement of customers in the automotive product de-
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016
Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs
Inventive problem
Product Digital Data
solving theory (TRIZ)
(CAD Model)
Product Product
Solutions Requirements
Customer Needs
Engineering Analyses
Fundamental Human and Refinements
Needs (CAE, CAM, RP…)
Fig. 1. Highly integrated product development issues.
velopment process has become an important matter for
different manufacturers to remain competitive [19]. The
same argument is true for other major industries.
The remainder of this article is organized as follows.
Section 2 describes the system configuration. Section 3
describes fundamental human needs in relation to cus-
tomer needs. Section 4 describes the process of inte-
grating TRIZ while creating plausible design solutions.
Section 5 describes the numerical results obtained for the
problem of determining the external shape of a passenger
vehicle. Section 6 presents concluding remarks.
2. Methodology
This section describes the methodology needed for sys-
tematically integrating the three different facets, namely,
CAD, TRIZ, and customer needs.
2.1. Preliminaries
As mentioned, seven major issues appear in the early
stages of product development. Out of these seven issues,
the issues of TRIZ, product solutions, customer needs,
and digital data for the product (i.e., CAD models) create
configurations leading to systems referred to as customer
needs (CN) management systems. A plausible configura-
tion of a CN management system is illustrated in Fig. 2.
The CN management system aids the product develop-
ment team by coordinating at least four systems, namely
the CAD System, Questionnaire System, Potential Cus-
tomers System, and Preferred Model Selection System.
The CAD System creates and manages the virtual mod-
els of products. The Questionnaire System obtains the
opinions of the customers regarding a product or a family
of products. The Potential Customers System maintains
contact with potential customers and aids other systems in
acquiring customer responses. The Preferred Model Se-
lection System addresses the uncertainty underlying the
customer responses and selects the most appropriate prod-
uct alternative from the given set. This system must work
with the CAD System when product information is passed
to the downstream systems for analyses and refinements.
Fig. 2 corresponds to a case in which the Preferred Model
133
Sharif Ullah, A. M. M. et al.

Questionnaire System
Potential Customers Focus Question Fundamental
TRIZ
System (shape of a car) Human Needs
√ CAD System
× Statements
1.1. Car
Carisisessential
essential for
for
… my
mydaily
daily life
life
Solution generating 2.2. IIlike
like totodrive
drive aalot
lot
principles 3.3. ……
Virtual Models
CN Management System
RP System CAD System
…
Solutions
…

…
Preferred Model Product Development Physical Model
Selection System Questionnaire
Team

Fig. 2. A configuration of CN management system.

Customers

Selection System and CAD System are connected only to
the RP System, which produces the physical model of the
preferred model by using the data available in the CAD
System.
As understood from the above description, the con-
struction of the Questionnaire System is highly signifi-
cant to the CN Management System. To better under-
stand this significance, consider the works described in
References [20–24]. First, consider the work in the refer-
ence [20]. The authors [20] have found that customers are
highly subjective and the disclosed product information
can greatly influence their responses to questionnaires re-
garding the product. In particular, they have found that
providing sufficient information regarding the ecological
attributes of a product, such as rice, can assist the cus-
tomers in selecting a more eco-friendly rice (the prod-
uct). Similarly, consider the work described in the ref-
erence [21]. The authors have described a system [21]
that usages virtual reality and discloses options for the
product to potential customers for customizing the prod-
uct. This system works well for the mass customization of
household electronics, in which the product requirements
are known beforehand. However, in some cases, the cus-
tomers may be unable to articulate their needs. Differ-
ent techniques have been developed to help customers to
articulate product-related needs, including ethnography,
empathic design, lead-user innovation, and repertory grid
techniques. For example, the work in reference [22] ap-
plies the repertory grid technique to identify hidden cus-
tomer needs for both a new product and improvement to
that product. Similarly, to determine the significance of
respective needs, the Kano model [23, 24] can be em-
ployed to identify whether a given need is a necessary, at-
tractive, indifferent, or undesirable one. Thus, the above
works [20–24] support the argument that the manner in
which questions regarding customer needs are presented
to potential respondents greatly affects the outcomes of
the customer needs assessment process. Regarding the
creation of design alternatives, TRIZ [12–15] can pro-
vide great assistance because it helps create design alter-
natives, as reported by numerous authors [14, 15, 25–28].
However, the manner of disclosure How to disclose the
Fig. 3. Methodology of questionnaire preparation.
created design alternatives requires careful consideration,
however. On the other hand, it is also true that the cus-
tomers are driven by the fundamental human needs [16,
17], as mentioned. Thus, a set of questions regarding fun-
damental human needs must be incorporated while inquir-
ing about the preferences of customers.
The above description implies that the Questionnaire
System should integrate the TRIZ-generated design al-
ternatives and statements regarding fundamental human
needs to achieve a meaningful product development pro-
cess.
2.2. Proposed Methodology
The proposed methodology for preparing the question-
naire for obtaining customer opinions is illustrated in
Fig. 3.
As seen from Fig. 3, the methodology considers both
TRIZ and fundamental human needs in the preparation of
the questionnaire. Before using TRIZ, a focus question
must be chosen. The focus question aids the identifica-
tion of the relevant principles offered by TRIZ for cre-
ating product alternatives. These alternatives are visual-
ized using a CAD system appropriate for digitizing design
data for storage and reuse. On the other hand, fundamen-
tal human needs are acknowledged by the use of certain
statements. These statements and the questions regarding
generated design alternatives are integrated to prepare the
questionnaire. Needless to say, a questionnaire underlies
a focus question. One can use as many focus questions as
possible while preparing the questionnaires. The follow-
ing two sections describe the process of creating design
alternatives by using TRIZ and setting statements relating
to fundamental human needs.
To summarize, a questionnaire is prepared by the fol-
lowing Steps 1–5, as follows:
Step 1: Determine the solution principles by using
TRIZ and a focus question.

134 Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016

 Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs

Step 2: Use CAD System to prepare the digital data for

Table 1. Max-neef’s human needs model [16, 17].
product solutions, based on the solution princi-
ples.
Fundamental Having (things) Doing (actions)
Human Needs
Step 3: Acknowledge fundamental human needs by us-
ing some statements. Subsistence (1) food, shelter, work feed, clothe, rest,
work
Step 4: Integrate statements of fundamental human Protection (2) social security, cooperate, plan,
needs and product solutions in a unified ques- health system take care of, help
tionnaire. Affection (3) friendships, fam- take care of, make
ily, relationships love, express emo-
Step 5: Obtain customer opinions by using the ques- with nature tions
tionnaire. Understanding (4) literature, teachers analysis, study, in-
vestigate
It is worth mentioning that some of the opinions ob-
Participation (5) responsibility, express opinions
tained by using the questionnaire might be unreliable and
duty, rights
some other opinions might be missing [24]. If so, a
decision-making approach based on weighted averages Leisure (6) games, parties, day-dream, have
peace of mind fun
could provide misleading conclusions [24]. Therefore,
the aggregation of customer opinions must be performed Creation (7) abilities, skills, invent, build, de-
techniques sign, work, com-
using logical computations quantifying the degree of epis-
pose
temic uncertainty [24, 29] associated with the question-
naire responses. This work uses the answers to the ques- Identity (8) language, reli- get to know one-
gions, customs, self, grow, commit
tions regarding fundamental human needs as a means to
values, norms oneself
aggregate the opinions obtained to reach a decisive con-
clusion, as described in Section 5. Freedom (9) equal rights choose, run risks,
develop awareness

3. Fundamental Human Needs and Related In-

tegration Issues
It has long been considered that humans, as so-
cial entities, possess a hierarchy of needs, classified as
physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-
actualization [30]. Physiological needs are the physi-
cal requirements for human survival. Safety needs in-
clude personal and financial security, physical well-being,
and social security. Love/belonging needs entail family,
friendship, and intimacy. The need for esteem reflects
the value of an individual, measured by respect earned
from others. Self-actualization need brings an individ-
ual to her/his best potential. The fulfillment of one need
acts as the motivation for fulfilling the next need in the
hierarchy. Although these needs are fulfilled in a hier-
archical manner, the boundary between two consecutive
needs in the hierarchy is quite fuzzy [31]. Therefore,
more contemporary concepts state that fundamental hu-
man needs are not hierarchical and must be fulfilled con-
currently. For example, consider the classification of fun-
damental human needs listed in Table 1, according to Ref-
erences [16, 17]. Table 1 shows nine fundamental human
needs, namely, Subsistence, Protection, Affection, Under-
standing, Participation, Leisure, Creation, Identity, and
Freedom. Each need is associated with Being (qualities),
Having (objects), Doing (actions), and Interacting (set-
tings). Table 1 partially lists the Having and Doing modes
associated with the needs. A human performs the actions
to have the objects necessary to fulfill fundamental human
needs concurrently. In this study, it is assumed that a prod-
uct exists to fulfill some of the fundamental human needs.
Otherwise, it would not exist. As customers are human,
the customer needs are manifestations of the fundamental
human needs listed in Table 1.
3.1. Integrating Fundamental Human Needs with
the Product Development Process
This subsection describes a general approach to inte-
grating fundamental human needs with product develop-
ment.
Recall the second column in Table 1, i.e., the column
of “having things.” From a product development perspec-
tive, “having things” correlates to possessing a product
or a particular feature of the product that fulfills one or
more fundamental human needs. As such, a set of state-
ments can be made relating fundamental human needs to
the product or its features. For example, consider that the
product is simply a car. In this case, at least one state-
ment can relate each fundamental human need with a car
(or its features). Table 2 lists nine such statements. Each
statement in Table 2 relates one of the fundamental hu-
man needs to the product (i.e., a car). Multiple statements
relating one fundamental human need to the different fea-
tures of a car can be considered; the number of statements
is not restricted.
A respondent may choose one of the phrases from the
following, indicating the degree to which they relate to a
statement: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly
disagree. For example, consider a respondent has chosen
agree showing the degree of agreement with the following
statement: I cannot live my daily life without a car. This

Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016 135

Sharif Ullah, A. M. M. et al.
Table 2. Accommodating fundamental human needs.
No Fundamental Statements
Human Needs
1 Subsistence I cannot live my daily life without a car
2 Protection I need a reliable car insurance at a low
cost
3 Affection My car helps me make a better rela-
tionship with family and friends
4 Understanding I exactly know the type of car I want
5 Participation I lend my car to my friends and neigh-
bors
6 Leisure I often spend the weekend or vacation
driving my car
7 Creation I would like to design my own car
8 Identity My car distinguishes me very easily
from others
9 Freedom My car helps me going out anytime I
want
statement corresponds to Subsistence need, as shown in
Table 2. Numerous reasons could account for the choice
of the phrase agree regarding the statement. The respon-
dent may live in an area without a public transportation
system, or the respondent may not have access to an avail-
able public transportation system. The respondent may
not want to use public transportation because of her/his
personal preferences or limitations. In other words, if a
respondent agrees with the statement that s/he cannot live
her/his daily life without a car, the car is associated with
the Subsistence need no matter the reason for agreement.
Similar arguments hold for the other needs listed in Ta-
ble 2.
3.2. Quantifying Fundamental Human Needs
This subsection addresses a quantification process for
fundamental human needs in relation to a given product.
The idea is to identify the fundamental human needs most
relevant to a given product.
For the sake of better understanding, a survey was con-
ducted at the Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan. A
questionnaire has been prepared based on the methodol-
ogy illustrated in Fig. 3. The first segment of the ques-
tionnaire deals with the statements of fundamental human
needs as shown in Table 2. The second segment of the
questionnaire deals with the following statements: I am
living alone; I am living with my family; I will leave Ki-
tami in the near future; I will be living in Kitami for more
than two years; I would like to leave Japan forever; I don’t
want to leave Japan forever; I have a car; I don’t have a
car; My family has a car; My family does not have a car;
I will buy a car in the near future; and I will not buy a car
in the near future. The final segment of the questionnaire
concerning different external shapes for a car is described
136
Agree
Strongly agree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
9
8
Fundamental Human Needs
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Frequencies
Fig. 4. Relationship between the fundamental human needs
and the product (car).
in the following sections.
Even for a respondent answering all questions in the
three segments of the questionnaire, the respondent may
not necessarily be reliable. Only the answers reliable re-
spondents are considered for the subsequent assessment
process. Thus, an immediate question is how to distin-
guish between reliable and unreliable respondents. In this
study, the following procedure is applied to perform this
distinction.
A reliable respondent is defined as one who creates no
contradictions in answering the statements in the second
segment of the questionnaire, as mentioned above. For
example, if a respondent answers yes for the statements
“I have a car” and “I don’t have a car,” then the answers
do not make any sense and the respondent is considered
unreliable. Therefore, her/his answers are not considered
in the subsequent assessment process.
The three-segment questionnaire, as mentioned above,
was distributed to 60 respondents. Among these respon-
dents, 40 respondents were students and 20 were from
other occupations. Out of the 60 respondents, 44 re-
spondents were male and 16 female. Only 35 respon-
dents responded reliably as defined by the abovemen-
tioned reliable-unreliable respondent classification pro-
cess. The answers from these 35 reliable respondents have
been analyzed to quantify the fundamental human needs
most relevant to the product (a car). The results, expressed
as frequencies of the answers of the reliable respondents
regarding questions related to fundamental human needs
as listed in Table 2, are plotted in Fig. 4. Based on the fre-
quencies of the answers, the following analysis has been
performed to understand the preferences of the customers.
Let p1i , p2i, p3i , and p4i be the probabilities of the
answers of strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly
disagree regarding the i-th statement, respectively. In this
case, the entropy of the i-th statement, denoted as Ei , is
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016
 Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs

1
Table 3. Parameters of TRIZ.

0.75 No Parameters No Parameters

1 Weight of Moving Object 21 Power
0.5 2 Weight of Stationary Ob- 22 Waste of Energy
ρ

ject
3 Length of Moving Object 23 Waste of Substance
0.25
4 Length of Stationary Ob- 24 Loss of Information
ject
0 5 Area of Moving Object 25 Waste of Time
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 Area of Stationary Object 26 Amount of Substance
Fundamental Human Needs
7 Volume of Moving Object 27 Reliability
Fig. 5. Ranking of fundamental human needs for cars.
8 Volume of Stationary Ob- 28 Accuracy of Measurement
ject
9 Speed 29 Accuracy of Manufactur-
given as follows: ing
4  
1 10 Force/Torque 30 Harmful Factors Acting on
Ei = ∑ p ji log4
p ji
. . . . . . . . . (1) Object
j=1
11 Tension/Pressure 31 Harmful Side Effects
As such, Ei is a quantity in the interval [0, 1]. A two- 12 Shape 32 Manufacturability
dimensional space can be considered using the coordi- 13 Stability of Object 33 Convenience of Use
nates (pai , Ei ), pai = p1i + p2i , i = 1, 2, . . .. The point 14 Strength 34 Reparability
(pai , Ei ) = (1, 0) means that all respondents “at least
15 Durability of Moving Ob- 35 Adaptability
agree” with the statement i. This is an idealized case in ject
which the fundamental human need underlying the i-th
16 Durability of Stationary 36 Complexity of Device
statement is strongly related to the product. Therefore, a
Object
ranking index denoted ρi can be derived that shows how
17 Temperature 37 Complexity of Control
far the opinions of the respondents are from the ideal case,
i.e., (pai , Ei ) = (1, 0), for the i-th statement. The expres- 18 Brightness 38 Level of Automation
sion defining the ranking index ρi is as follows: 19 Energy Spent by Moving 39 Productivity
 Object
(1 − pai ) + Ei2 20 Energy Spent by Station- - -
ρi = √ . . . . . . . . . . (2) ary Object
2
Therefore, the ranking index ρi takes a value in the in-
terval [0, 1]. Lower ranking index values indicate higher
relationships between the fundamental human need and respondents can be ignored, as their needs are not con-
the product. Fig. 5 plots the ranking index values of cerned with the most relevant fundamental human needs.
the nine fundamental human needs regarding a car as the In summary, the ranking index provides a mechanism for
product. selecting the most relevant human needs, and, thereby, the
Needless to say, the answers of the 35 reliable respon- respondents whose opinions must be considered (see Sec-
dents out of 60 respondents have been used to obtain the tion 5).
results shown in Fig. 5. As seen from Fig. 5, the value
of the ranking index is very large, far from the ideal
case at which the value would be equal to zero. This 4. TRIZ
indicates that fundamental human needs and the prod-
uct (the car) are loosely correlated. However, the po- This section describes the role of TRIZ in creating de-
sitions of the needs in ascending order of ranking in- sign solutions or product alternatives. As previously men-
dex are as follows: Protection, Freedom, Understanding, tioned, TRIZ provides 39 parameters, listed in Table 3, to
Affection, Subsistence, Creation, Participation, Identity, solve technical problems by using some principles from
and Leisure. Therefore, the first few listed fundamental the set of 40 listed in Table 4 [12–15, 25–27]. The param-
human needs, Protection, Freedom, and Understanding, eters and the principles are organized as a matrix known
are more strongly correlated with the product (car) than as a contradiction matrix [12–15, 25–28], as shown in Ta-
the other needs. The respondents strongly agreeing with ble 5. To use the contradiction matrix, contradictions
statements related to Protection, Freedom, and Under- must be established between two or more parameters [12–
standing are those whose views (regarding the other seg- 15, 25–28] of the 39 listed in Table 3. Solving a technical
ments of the questionnaire (see Section 5)) must be used problem entails solving all contractions among these 39
for the customer needs assessment. The views of other parameters by using some of the 40 principles [12–15, 25–

Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016 137

Sharif Ullah, A. M. M. et al.

Table 4. Principles of TRIZ. Table 5. Contradiction matrix of TRIZ.

```
No Principles No Principles ```Improving → 1 . . . 33 . . . 39
Worsening ↓
```
1 Segmentation 21 Skipping ``... . . . Convenience of Use . . . ...
1 ... ... ... ... ... ...
2 Taking out 22 Blessing in Disguise
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
3 Local Quality 23 Feedback
12 Shape ... ... 15, 34, 29, 28 ... ...
4 Asymmetry 24 Intermediary
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
5 Merging 25 Self-Service 39 ... ... ... ... ... ...
6 Universality 26 Copying
7 Nested Doll 27 Cheap Short-Living Ob-
jects
8 Anti-Weight 28 Mechanics Substitution
9 Preliminary Anti-Action 29 Pneumatics and Hydraulics
10 Preliminary Action 30 Flexible Shells and Thin
Films
11 Beforehand Cushioning 31 Porous Materials
12 Equipotentiality 32 Color Changes
13 The Other Way Around 33 Homogeneity
14 Curvature 34 Discarding and Recovering (a) original product (b) pneumatic lifter
15 Dynamics 35 Parameter Changes
16 Partial or Excessive Ac- 36 Phase Transitions
tions
17 Another Dimension 37 Thermal Expansion
18 Mechanical Vibration 38 Strong Oxidants
19 Periodic Action 39 Inert Atmosphere
20 Continuity of Useful Ac- 40 Composite Materials
tion

28]. For example, consider the case highlighted in Ta-

ble 5. In this case, the contradiction between a worsening
feature (12th parameter, Shape) and an improving feature
(33rd parameter, Convenience of use) is considered. The
contradiction matrix [12, 13] recommends the principles
of Dynamics (15), Mechanics Substitution (28), Pneumat-
ics and Hydraulics (29), and Discarding and Recovering
(34) to eliminate the contraction. A product developer can
choose one or more principles of these four (15, 28, 29,
and 34) in order to resolve the contradiction between the
shape and the convenience of use. By resolving the con-
tradiction, new or modified solutions are created. For the
sake of better understanding, consider the example shown
in Fig. 6. Fig. 6(a) shows the original configuration of
a product (a projector). To improve the projector, by in-
creasing the ease of use, the focusing device can be re-
placed with a new one. In this case, the shape of the
focusing device may worsen. To solve this contraction,
the principles 15, 28, 29, and 34 can be applied, as men-
tioned above. Figs. 6(b)–(d) show three plausible solu-
tions generated by applying only the principle of Mechan-
ics Substitution (28). In the subsequent step, the product
developer can choose one of the generated alternatives, by
considering either customer opinions or her/his judgment.
In doing so, a decision-making procedure addressing the
epistemic uncertainty is required [3, 4, 11, 24], but this is
not part of TRIZ.
(c) hinged stand (d) magnetic holder
Fig. 6. Creating product options by using the principle
called Mechanism Substitution underlying TRIZ.
Nevertheless, using the above procedure offered by
TRIZ, new solutions for solving the technical problems
are found, thereby creating new product alternatives.
4.1. Integrating TRIZ with the Customer Needs As-
sessment Process
From the above description, it is clear that TRIZ pro-
duces numerous alternative versions of a product or its
components. If these alternatives are disclosed to poten-
tial customers, then the customers’ preferences can be ob-
tained, as schematically illustrated in Fig. 3. While doing
so, a focus question must be considered. The focus ques-
tion ultimately refers to a parameter of TRIZ, as listed in
Table 3. For example, consider a product developer who
is interested in the external shape of a car. As such, the
focus question is the external shape of the car. This focus
question refers to the Shape parameter of TRIZ (param-
eter number 12 in Table 3). However, it is not known
whether the parameter is an improving or worsening fea-
ture. Therefore, the parameter underlying the focus ques-

138 Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016

 Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs

Table 6. Frequencies of TRIZ principles when Q =Shape. Table 7. Examples of three-principle combinations.

Principle# number (k) fkQ Principle# number (k) fkQ X Y Z fX Q fY Q fZQ

1 20 21 3 17 18 4 4 4
2 9 22 7 5 26 30 5 5 5
3 4 23 14 15 35 17 17 17
4 11 24 4 13 40 11 11 11
5 5 25 2
6 3 26 5
7 3 27 2 relate to the technical problems of determining the exter-
8 3 28 8 nal shape of a car. As understood from the values of the
frequencies (Table 6), these principles are not equally re-
9 1 29 14
lated to the focus question (Shape) [32]. Some can be ne-
10 18 30 5 glected in solving the technical problems related to Shape.
11 1 31 This practice is desirable because the creation of many al-
12 1 32 12 ternatives by using many principles leads to a much longer
13 11 33 1 questionnaire. By nature, respondents will not respond to
14 17 34 13 a lengthy questionnaire simply because it is more difficult
15 17 35 17 to comprehend and takes a longer time to respond prop-
16 3 36 1
erly, relative to a shorter questionnaire [5, 24]. Therefore,
to achieve effective communication, few principles must
17 4 37 2
be used in generating the alternatives. As a result, only
18 4 38 highly relevant and equally important principles are used,
19 2 39 2 while others are ignored. This suggests the immediate
20 40 11 question of how to determine a small set of few princi-
# See Table 4. ples that are both highly relevant and equally important.
A procedure to identify highly relevant and equally im-
portant principles is described below.
Suppose that one wants to identify a three-principle
tion can be treated as either an improving feature or a combination of highly relevant and equally important
worsening feature. principles. The following formulation is applicable.
To specify, let P be the set of parameters listed in Ta- Let U be the set of all non-zero-frequency principles.
ble 3 and Q be the parameter underlying the focus ques- Let X, Y , Z be the three unique principles drawn from U,
tion, i.e., Q ∈ P. Let Ri be the i-th parameter in the i.e., X ∈ U, Y ∈ U − X, and Z ∈ U − X −Y . The frequen-
improving feature row of the contradiction matrix, i.e., cies of X, Y , and Z are assigned such that fkQ > 0. Let
Ri ∈ P. Let S j be the j-th parameter in the worsening fXQ , fY Q , and fZQ be the frequencies of X, Y , and Z, re-
feature column of the contradiction matrix, i.e., Si ∈ P. spectively. X, Y , and Z are highly relevant, meaning that
Let Ti jk ∈ {0, 1} be a binary digit showing whether the the summation of their frequencies, fXQ + fY Q + fZQ , is
k-th principle is associated with the combination (Ri , S j ) very high compared to that of others. In addition, X, Y ,
in the contradiction matrix. If the k-th principle is asso- and Z are equally important, meaning that they have al-
ciated with the combination (Ri , S j ), then Ti jk = 1, oth- most equal frequencies, i.e., fXQ ∼ = fY Q ∼
= fZQ . Table 7
erwise Ti jk = 0. If Q is an improving feature, then the shows some three-principle combinations, where the fre-
combinations (Q, S j ), ∀S j ∈ P − Q, appear. In this case, quencies are taken from those listed in Table 6. As seen
the binary digit corresponding to Ti jk is denoted as TQ jk . from Table 7, all four (three-principle) combinations are
However, if Q is a worsening feature, then the combina- equally important, because their frequencies are the same.
tions (Ri , Q), ∀Ri ∈ P − Q, appear. In this case, the binary However, the combination (X = 14(Curvature), Y = 15
digit corresponding to Ti jk is denoted as TiQk . Therefore, (Dynamics), and Z = 35 (Parameter Changes)) is the most
the frequency of the k-th principle with respect to the fo- relevant, because the summation of the frequencies of the
cus question Q, denoted as fkQ , is given as: principles (17 + 17 + 17 = 51) is the highest compared to
those of the others. Thus, the three principles of Curva-
fkQ = ∑ TQ jk + ∑ TiQk . . . . . (3) ture, Dynamics, and Parameter Changes, are those used
∀S j ∈P−Q ∀Ri ∈P−Q
for generating numerous external shapes of a car.
Table 6 shows the values of fkQ when Q =Shape. Note Table 8 shows some of the CAD models created using
that Q = Shape refers to the focus question, the external the above principles. As seen from Table 8, 12 CAD mod-
shape of a car, as mentioned above. As seen from Ta- els have been created by changing the radius of curvature
ble 6, only six principles (k = 20, 21, 23, 24, 31, 38) do not of the external shapes of a car (i.e., the TRIZ principle
apply to problem-solving related to Shape (here, the exter- Curvature).
nal shape of a car). This indicates that 34 TRIZ principles Some of the models exhibit concavity, others convexity,

Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016 139

Sharif Ullah, A. M. M. et al.
Table 8. CAD models based on a three-principle combination.
Principles CAD Models
Curvature
Dynamics
Parameter
Changes
others flat surfaces, others exhibit high variabilities in the
radius of curvature along the length, while still others ex-
hibit opposite characteristics. In addition, five CAD mod-
els have been created based on the principle of Dynamics
in Table 8. These models represent different shapes un-
derlying different drag coefficients [33], namely, conven-
tional form (three-box, drag coefficient [0.4, 0.55]) open
coverable (drag coefficient [0.5, 0.7]), wedge shape (drag
coefficient [0.3, 0.4]), station wagon (two-box, drag co-
efficient [0.5, 0.6]), and optimal streamlining (drag coef-
ficient [0.15, 0.20]). Regarding the drag coefficient, the
shape providing optimum streamlining is the best, fol-
lowed by the wedge shape, conventional form, station
wagon, and open convertible, respectively. Six other
shapes in Table 8 are based on the principle of Param-
eter Changes. These have unusual shapes, as prescribed
by the theme of the principle (“changes”): a UFO-shaped
car, apple-shaped car, three-wheel car, and truck-shaped
car. One can create as many shapes as preferred. The
shapes shown in Table 8 can be used to create a question-
naire to send to some respondents. The answers of these
respondents can be analyzed to elucidate customer needs.
The following section describes this issue.
5. Desirable Shapes
This section describes the results from the last segment
of the questionnaire regarding the external shapes (Ta-
ble 8) of a car, as mentioned in Subsections 3.1-2. As
reported in Section 3.2, 35 respondents out of the 60 total
have been reliable. The answers of the reliable respon-
dents are considered in this case, as follows.
Based on the answers regarding fundamental human
140
Table 9. Preferences for curvature-based shapes.
Like
dislike
needs, relating to the first segment of the questionnaire
(see Table 2 and Fig. 4), some answers are classified as
useful, while others are less useful. The classification of
useful/less-useful answers is described as follows.
As the objective is to integrate fundamental human
needs with the customer needs assessment process, the re-
spondents who strongly agree with the (relatively) highly
relevant fundamental human needs statements are classi-
fied as useful respondents and their answers as useful an-
swers. These answers are considered for the subsequent
assessment process. The (relatively) highly relevant fun-
damental human needs have (relatively) low ranking in-
dex values (see Section 3). Meanwhile, the respondents
who do not strongly agree with the (relatively) highly rel-
evant fundamental human needs statements are classified
as less useful respondents, and their answers as less useful
answers.
In this study, the three fundamental human needs of
Protection, Understanding, and Freedom have earned (rel-
atively) low (see Fig. 5) ranking index values. As a result,
the answers of the respondents who strongly agree with
the statements of Protection, Understanding, and Freedom
are useful and, thereby, considered for the subsequent as-
sessment process, as follows.
Among 35 reliable respondents, only one respondent is
found who strongly agrees with statements of Protection,
Understanding, and Freedom. Note that the respondent
also strongly agrees with statements of Identity, Leisure,
Affection, and Subsistence, but strongly disagrees with
the statements of Participation and Creation. Tables 9–11
show the preferences of this respondent.
As seen from Table 9, the convex-shaped cars are not
preferred by the respondent, but concave and flat shapes
are preferred. Therefore, the Curvature principle is effec-
tive in linking the customers’ preferences with the fun-
damental human needs. In other words, varying the ra-
dius of curvature of the external shape of a car is an effec-
tive tool for developing more customer-focused cars. As
seen from Table 10, cars having the smallest and largest
drag coefficients, optimal streamlining (drag coefficient
[0.15, 0.20]), wedge shape (drag coefficient [0.3, 0.4]) and
open coverable (drag coefficient [0.5, 0.7]) are not pre-
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016

Table 10. Preferences for dynamics-based shapes.
Like
dislike
Table 11. Preferences for change-based shapes.
Like
dislike
ferred by the respondent. This means that this respondent
is not likely to choose to purchase a car based on its aero-
dynamic performance. Instead, the respondent can deter-
mine whether the external shape resembles the preferred
ones listed in Table 9. Therefore, the customer prefer-
ences pose a challenge to the product development team.
The team must work out a solution that will preserve
the aerodynamic performance of the car while maintain-
ing a preferable external shape that is either concave or
flat. Meanwhile, the preferences regarding the shapes in
Table 11 (Parameter Changes) clearly show that unusual
shapes are less preferable. However, a certain degree of
unusualness in the shape is allowed (compare the shapes
in the Like categories in Table 11).
In summary, the assessment of customer needs leads
to a decisive conclusion if one integrates the fundamen-
tal human needs with the TRIZ-CAD outcomes. The
challenges ahead in the CAE stage or manufacturing
stages are also clearly manifested by the presented assess-
ment process (improving the aerodynamic performance of
concave- or flat-shaped cars).
6. Concluding Remarks
CAD tools are primarily used for solving solution-
based problems; the tools help to refine a solution in
which all specifications are given or known. This is
not sufficient for product design. Engineers often work
in other domains dominated by epistemic uncertainty, in
which the solutions lack clear definitions. The work
presented in this article provides a means to integrating
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016
Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs
solution-based and problem-based approaches. As a for-
mulation, CAD, TRIZ, and fundamental human needs are
integrated under the umbrella of a customer needs assess-
ment process. Other formulations can be considered to
achieve the same; this topic remains open for further re-
search.
The presented integration methodology works well
when the focus question (in this case, the external shape
of a car) can easily be linked to geometric modeling (dif-
ferent shapes creation manipulating the radius of curva-
ture) and TRIZ parameters. In certain product develop-
ment cases, the methodology may not work well.
When the final decision exhibits a shape-related tech-
nical challenge (e.g., the design of an aerodynamically
sound car having a concave or flat external shape [see
Section 5]), the methods and tools for manipulating the
radius of curvature are vital [34]. Customized CAD tools
that can help in building various shapes by manipulating
the radius of curvature of a product concept can add value
to the customer needs system presented in this work.
Acknowledgements
The first author thanks his former graduate student Mr. Ye Youzhi
for helping him with the survey. The preliminary results were
presented in an international conference called CAD’14 held in
Hong Kong, on June 23–26, 2014.
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142
Name:
A. M. M. Sharif Ullah
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kitami In-
stitute of Technology
Address:
165 Koen-cho, Kitami, Hokkaido 090-8507, Japan
Brief Biographical History:
1992 BSME, BUET, Bangladesh
1996 MSME, Kansai University, Japan
1999 PhD, Kansai University, Japan
2000-2002 Assistant Professor, AIT, Thailand
2002-2006 Assistant Professor, UAE University, UAE
2006-2009 Associate Professor, UAE University, UAE
2009-present Associate Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Main Works:
• “A Fuzzy Decision Model for Conceptual Design,” Systems
Engineering, Vol.8, No.4, pp. 296–308, 2005.
• “Handling Design Perceptions: An Axiomatic Design Perspective,”
Research in Engineering Design, Vol.16, No.3, pp. 109–117, 2005.
• “Minimizing Information Content of a Design using Compliance
Analysis,” SAE Technical Papers, 2007-01-1209, 2007.
• “Logical interaction between domain knowledge and human cognition in
design,” International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and
Management, Vol.14, No.1-2, pp. 215–227, 2008.
• “Analysis of Kano-Model-Based Customer Needs for Product
Development,” Systems Engineering, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 154–172, 2011.
• “On Some Unique Features of C-K Theory of Design,” CIRP Journal of
Manufacturing Science and Technology, Vol.5, No.1, pp. 55–66, 2012.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
• Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)
• Japan Society for Abrasive Technology (JSAT)
Name:
Michihiro Sato
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Kitami Institute of Technology
Address:
165 Koen-cho, Kitami, Hokkaido 090-8507, Japan
Brief Biographical History:
1987-2007 Research Associate, Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
1997 Ph.D. (Engineering), Hokkaido University
2007-2011 Assistant Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
2011-present Associate Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Main Works:
• “Simulation of dislocation accumulation in ULSI cells of reduced gate
length,” Materials Science Forum, Vol.654–656, pp. 1682–1685, 2010.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)
• Society of Materials Science, Japan (JSMS)
• Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP)
Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016
 Integrating CAD, TRIZ, and Customer Needs

Name:
Michiko Watanabe

Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Laboratory of Smart Sys-
tem Engineering, Department of Mechanical En-
gineering, Kitami Institute of Technology

Address:
165 Koen-cho, Kitami, Hokkaido 090-8507, Japan
Brief Biographical History:
1978– Technical Officer, Asahikawa National College of Technology
2003- Ph.D. (Engineering), Hokkaido University
2008- Associate Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Main Works:
• “Swimming Animats with Musculoskeltal Structure,” IADIS
International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems,
Vol.7, No.2, pp. 152–164, 2013, (best paper of IADIS’12)
Membership in Academic Societies:
• Japan Society for Precision Engineering (JSPE)
• Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)
• Information Processing Society of Japan (IPS)

Name:
Md. Mamunur Rashid

Affiliation:
Counsellor, Bangladesh Institute of Management

Address:
4 Sobhanbag, Mirpur Road, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
Brief Biographical History:
2004-present Counsellor, Bangladesh Institute of Management, Dhaka,
Bangladesh
2013 Ph.D., Kitami Institute of Technology, Japan
Main Works:
• “On Some Unique Features of C-K Theory of Design,” CIRP Journal of
Manufacturing Science and Technology, Vol.5, No.1, pp. 55–66, 2012.
Membership in Academic Societies:
• Institution of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB)
• Bangladesh Society of Mechanical Engineers (BSME)

Int. J. of Automation Technology Vol.10 No.2, 2016 143