'We need more appropriate materials for the task in hand and more advanced processing, if we are to stay ahead of the competition' is a familiar plea heard by TWI's brainstorming team.
When one of its key clients in the automotive business revealed this recently, TWI's verbal proposal started with the words; 'Have you heard about our brainstorming service?'.
The client's sole objective was to extend the operating temperature range and performance of turbochargers for automotive applications. Diesel engine turbo-charging led the way and has been extremely successful, but the higher gastemperatures associated with petrol engines required a new approach.
By assembling a team of experts from a number of in-house technology groups TWI was well prepared to set about the task in hand. The client's objective was sub-divided into five areas of interest;
- Reduce turbo lag
- Increase operating temperature capability
- Improve reliability
- Conform to environmental standards
- Control manufacturing costs
The idea generation session was conducted initially by posting ideas on sticky labels for the whole team, seven TWI staff and four from the client, to assess. The golden rule of such a free-thinking parley is that no idea is tooabsurd for consideration.
The relative merits of each of the ideas were voted upon and this enabled a shortlist to be drawn up highlighting a matrix of thoughts for further investigation. One restriction was that projects resulting from the ideas producedshould be realised within 18 months.
The prioritisation matrix and mind mapping output of the process was created on the day of the meeting and represented a basis for project selection for turbocharger development feeding the client's R&D pipeline.
TWI advised that, should the client want to expand or develop any of the ideas proposed, it would be receptive, and that a cost benefit analysis would be prepared as a basis for further work. It was a challenge which the client madeto TWI and which it readily accepted.
