Enhancing Eco-Design Methods Using TRIZ Tools: the

Case of ECOFAIRE
Fatima Zahra Ben Moussa, Fatima Ezzahra Essaber, Rachid Benmoussa,
Sébastien Dubois

To cite this version:

Fatima Zahra Ben Moussa, Fatima Ezzahra Essaber, Rachid Benmoussa, Sébastien Dubois. Enhancing
Eco-Design Methods Using TRIZ Tools: the Case of ECOFAIRE. 19th International TRIZ Future
Conference (TFC), Oct 2019, Marrakesh, Morocco. pp.350-367, �10.1007/978-3-030-32497-1_29�. �hal-
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 Enhancing Eco-design methods using TRIZ Tools
The case of ECOFAIRE
Fatima Zahra BEN MOUSSA a, Fatima Ezzahra ESSABER a, Rachid
BENMOUSSA a, Sébastien DUBOIS b
a
SyLPRO / ENSA Marrakech, University of Cadi Ayyad Marrakech -Morocco
b
LGECO / INSA Strasbourg, Strasbourg – France

Abstract:
Green design is a relevant research topic because of the need of powerful and
confirmed systematic methods that can support companies in their efforts to develop
green products within acceptable time and costs.
TRIZ, as a theory of invention problem-solving has proven its effectiveness in
stimulating designer’s creativity in several areas. Therefore, the main research
question we address in this research is the following: how can TRIZ tools enhance the
ideality of green-design methods?
This paper presents an exploratory analysis of this question. First, our methodology
aims to study the weakness of an open Eco-design method known as ECOFAIRE
using a general problem solving methods characterization. Then, it attempts to
enhance the ideality of ECOFAIRE through a reverse engineering process that has
been applied to an eco-product known as Ecodistrib. As a result, ECOFAIRE’s
ideality improvement assumptions with TRIZ tools are derived. The conclusion
presents some perspectives to validate these assumptions and move towards a
systematic approach for Ecodesign based on ECOFAIRE.
1 Introduction
Fast industrial growth and technological advances have recently raised many
environmental concerns. As a result, industrial companies are expected to become
more environmentally responsible and reduce their negative environmental impact by
applying new technologies and especially by delivering eco-friendly products.
Additionally, environmental regulations developed recently by the European Union
called energy using product have motivated engineers and designers to more heavily
focus on how to create more environmentally friendly products.
Several methods exist for eco-design, to assess and improve environmental
impacts. [1]. The International Organization for Standardization ISO issued numerous
norms, guidelines, and tools. For example, the ISO14040:2006 describes the
principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA), ISO14044:2006 provides
LCA guidelines, and ISO14006:2011 provides guidelines to implement Eco-Design as
part of an environmental management system (EMS) within companies. A number of
methods and tools have been developed to support the process of eco-innovation in
the last two decades. To the best-known methods belong Eco-Compass, Life Cycle
Design Strategy (LiDS Wheel), Sustainability Circle, EcoDesign PILOT, Eco-Ideation
Tool, Value Mapping Tool, Design for Environment (DfE) and Quality Function
Deployment for Environment (QFDE), EcoASIT, Eco-ideation stimulation meso-
mechanisms ESMs, Green Engineering with 12 Principles of Green Engineering, and
other methods, presented in a comparative study of strategy and ideation-oriented eco-
innovation tools [2]. In the field of process engineering should be mentioned in first
place Green Process Engineering and Process Intensification (PI), Process Design for
Sustainability (PDfS), and other approaches.
However, green design remains a relevant research topic because of the lack of
powerful and confirmed systematic methods that can support companies in their
efforts to develop green products within acceptable time and costs.
To overcome this lack, several works have addressed this issue. We focus in this
paper on the ones that deal with TRIZ (a Russian acronym of ‘‘Theory of Inventive
Problem Solving’’). TRIZ, as a theory for inventive problem resolution has proven its
effectiveness in stimulating designer’s creativity in several areas. In green design,
several TRIZ utilization attempts exist. The references [1], [2] and [3] have largely
addressed this issue.
With regard to eco-innovation, the authors in [1] defines primary and secondary
eco-engineering contradictions and conceptualizes a correlation matrix between the
eco-requirements for prediction of typical eco-contradictions in the field of processes
involving solids handling. The implementation of eco-friendly solutions often causes
secondary problems, and the application of the TRIZ-based approaches helps to
identify these secondary problems, to predict and creatively solve eco-contradictions
in advance, without efficiency losses. Additionally, a set of 20 TRIZ inventive
principles most frequently used in environmental innovation was extracted from an
analysis of a large number of patent and a process intensification technologies. The
paper [2] focuses on the comparison of the ideation mechanisms during the eco-
ideation phase, to help users generate relevant ideas with a strong potential of
environmental impact reduction. In addition to that, some case studies are performed
to compare the adapted creativity tool for eco-innovation, regarding its performance.
This research also validated the need to place greater emphasis on the ideation phase
in the process of eco-innovation. Indeed, environmental knowledge, ideation
mechanisms and the structuring of the session are interdependent factors to consider in
order to optimize the eco-ideation session and to be closer to the industrial reality. The
paper [3] presents a systemic literature review of TRIZ use in eco-design. Indeed, the
paper provides information about what is currently performed in connection to
creativity methods, when TRIZ is combined with LCA, LCE Eco-efficiency and other
integrated methods for eco-design process.
Despite of all of the existing scientific contribution of TRIZ in eco-innovation
summarized above, the literature doesn’t show the existence of a powerful and
systematic approach to green design. Therefore, the main research question we
address is the following: “How can TRIZ tools enhance the ideality of green-design
methods?”.
To deal with this question, the paper aims to present a first exploratory analysis of
the contribution of TRIZ tools to green design methods systematization based on a
case study. In fact, the main goal of this study is to analyze ECOFAIRE in order to
improve its ideality through TRIZ tools utilization. ECOFAIRE is a method proposed
by the Ecodesign groups of the ECOFAIRE program. It has been proposed as a guide
to promote and facilitate the integration of eco-design in small and medium-sized
businesses in any sector of activity [4].
Our methodology is to study a green designed product known as Ecodistrib and to
define how ECOFAIRE could have been used by anticipation in the ecological design
process using TRIZ tools in the phases suffering from methodological lack. As a
result, this study will lead to a first formulation of “TRIZ-ECOFAIRE”, a systematic
approach to ecological products design based on ECOFAIRE and TRIZ Tools.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the
background, including the TRIZ originality for problem solving, TRIZ in eco-design,
Problem solving Methods characterization, and the ECOFAIRE method
characterization. Section 3 presents a reverse engineering process applied to an eco-
product known as Ecodistrib in order to enhance the ideality of ECOFAIRE. Section 4
presents the different hypotheses of the first formulation of Triz-ECOFAIRE
methodology. A conclusion and perspectives are provided in section 5

2 Background
2.1 TRIZ originality for problem resolution
TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving), developed by Genrich Altshuller, is a
problem-solving, analysis and forecasting theory derived from the study of patterns of
invention in the patent literature. TRIZ was developed to assist engineers to
systematically solve product design problems and develop next-generation
technologies and products with less risk. TRIZ is an organized theory for problem
solving, which can be applied for eco-design. Altshuller stated that TRIZ can be
aimed for minimizing energy requirements, as well as complexity of engineering
products.
 There are some key concepts which make TRIZ very valuable for innovative
design:
- Ideality, describes the technical system development direction. The ideal final
result (IFR) of eco-products is to perform desired functions without any
environmental impacts. Therefore, looking at eco-innovative design problems
of products from an ideal final result perspective is usually a very good first
step towards success.
- Resources, are all the means used in a system or its environment, to improve
its overall performance. Identifying and using resources in a TRIZ approach
can bring new ideas and effectively solve the problem, so as to get closer to the
final ideal result.
- Contradiction, helps to eliminate the contradiction and avoid the conventional
tradeoffs. Their exist two levels of formulation of the contradiction: the
contradiction known as the "technical contradiction" (TC), which expresses the
opposition between two evaluation parameters (EP) of a system, and the
"physical contradiction" (PC) that defines two states for the system's action
parameter (AP), satisfying each of its conflicting objectives.
- Laws of evolution of technical systems, provides a means to reveal how
systems evolve, predict the directions of evolve, and ultimately control the
evolution.
In addition, The TRIZ theory includes methods for problem analysis and idea
generation. These methods and tools can be classified according to three different
categories:
- Tools for overcoming psychological inertia. The objective of these tools is to
overcome the rigidity in the way of thought, and confinement of creativity in a
certain pattern of thinking. Several tools for releasing psychological inertia are
available in TRIZ, we can mention among them: (1) the nine-screen method
(multi-screen vision), (2) Dimension-Time-Cost operators, and (3) smart little
men method.
- Tools for solving technical and physical contradictions. Several methods and
tools were created by Genrich Altshuller to solve the different types of
contradictions, and to guide the designer towards generic solutions, as (1) the
Matrix of solving technical contradictions, (2) the 40 inventive principles to
solve technical contradictions, and (3) the 11 separation principles to solve
physical contradictions.
- Standard solutions for solving system problems without the need of identifying
contradictions. They are usually applied to correct the undesired interaction
between two parts of a system.

2.2 TRIZ in eco-design

In the existing literature, a significant number of methods and proposals of integrating
TRIZ with eco-design methods are proposed. As stated in the previous section, TRIZ
is an organized method for problem solving, which is considered as supporting
ideation and creativity component of eco-innovation and eco-design. TRIZ can be also
used for minimizing energy requirements, as well as complexity of engineering
environmentally friendly products [5], [6]. To comply with this purpose, several
works are proposed in scientific literature dealing with the combination or the
integration of TRIZ with other eco-design techniques, such as life Cycle Assessment
(LCA), QFD (Quality Function Deployment) and CBR (Case Based Reasoning) to
help designers achieve easily environmental design objectives. For example, in [7],
an approach based on the integration of LCA, and eco-design guidelines converge in
an integrated design for environment methodology. Rather new models have been
developed to integrate the TRIZ theory and existing eco-design tools, with the aim of
facilitating eco innovative product design. In [8], the author mentions an experiment
within eco-design, and proposed a design methodology to support environmentally
consciousness design of products by the integration of LCA, QFD, and TRIZ. The
above- mentioned ideas are further developed in [9], which suggests the combination
of QFD and TRIZ for an improved product life cycle management that supports
knowledge codification and reuse. Another methodology is also presented in [10], that
integrates the CBR and TRIZ methods is proposed. CBR can obtain the desired
functional characteristics of a new design in an efficient way, and the TRIZ method
ensures that designers can easily achieve design objectives due to the techniques
provided by different technology fields. In [11], the authors elaborated an evolution of
this approach and suggested integrating the TRIZ and CRB methods with Simplified
LCA(s). In [12] the authors proposed an approach based on the integration of LCA
and TRIZ eco guidelines, with the aim of supporting the implementation of the eco-
design approach in small and medium European enterprises. The application of TRIZ
eco guidelines help to develop alternatives or modifications to a given system to
reduce its environmental impact. Finally, the last example of this application of TRIZ
can be found in [13], where the authors developed an ARIZ based on the Life cycle
engineering (LCE) model, to implement the eco-designs of products.
In addition to the synergetic application of TRIZ with eco-design tools, the scientific
literature provides also papers that proposed an adaptation of TRIZ methods or tools
to eco-design domain. For example, in [14] the authors formulated and linked the
seven eco-friendly elements developed by the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD) for green product design to the inventive principles to
construct a new table for inventive principles. In [10], [11] , two different methods for
green product design are proposed. The first is based on the application of inventive
principles with laws of evolution and the principle of Ideality to help designers focus
on concepts that minimize energy requirements and the complexity of engineering
products. The second one is based on the laws of evolution of TRIZ to develop
innovative approaches to solve design problems. In a similar manner, [15] propose a
step by step procedure based on the application of the Laws of evolution, substance
field resources, ideality and the technical contradictions, to solve problems related to
green product design. Another example which establishes the link between eco-
efficiency and laws of evolution is presented in [16], where the authors present an
innovative methodology to help designers to predict technological evolutions for more
environmentally friendly products, by identifying the relationship between the
strategies of the Eco-Design Strategy Wheel and the TRIZ evolution trends.
2.3 Problem solving Methods characterization
There are several standard techniques to search for a solution: non-systematic research
techniques known as «Brainstorming»; Systematic research techniques also called
"Systematic trials and errors" and systematic analysis of the problematic situation.
Unlike the first two techniques, finding solutions in “Systematic analysis of the
problematic situation” techniques are based on search space reducing. In this
approach, the question that arises globally is “WHY does the problem exist?” and we
try to develop or converge towards the solution by reducing the search space by
answering this question. The model type of these techniques involves the following
steps:
1. "Recognize the problem”: consists of understanding the problem, knowing
exactly where the problem lies, or measuring the problem, etc.
2. “Analyze the problem”: tries to answer various questions to understand why
the problem exists, what are the causes of the problem, what are the parameters
and the factors that influence the problem, what is the desired result to
eliminate the problem, etc.
3. “Synthesize Solution Concepts”: formulates solution ideas called also
conceptual solutions (to clearly distinguish from technical solutions).
4. “Concretize the solutions” seeks to transform the idea of solution or the
conceptual solution into a concrete and applicable technical solution to solve
the problem posed in the first step.
5. Logically the last step seeks to “evaluate the technical solutions” developed.
In general, each solution research method can be characterized by comparison of its
flow logic with the model-type steps presented previously.
Indeed, the use of the table 1 makes it possible to identify, for the considered
method, the steps which correspond to the "recognition of the problem", "the analysis
of the problem", "the identification of the conceptual solution", " the implementation
of the solution "on the technical or application level as well as the evaluation of the
solution. The tools used in each step are also identified. Also, by analyzing the tools
used in each step of the considered method, we can deduce its nature and decide
whether it is Unstructured, Semi Structured or Structured.
 An unstructured step is performed randomly. His success depends heavily on
analyst skill and know-how. The result obtained is uncertain and subjective.
A step described as semi structured one relies on reasoning and a precise logic to
converge towards the desired result. It has a kind of roadmap to follow. However, the
phases of this reasoning logic taken in isolation are unstructured. They do not operate
the logic of reducing search space.
Conversely, a step described as Structured relies on a reasoning and a precise logic
that makes it possible to converge towards the desired result in an algorithmic way.
The reasoning could be based on a knowledge base, a set of good practices or any
other type of expert systems. The result thus depends on the quality of the available
knowledge and not only the analyst's know-how.
To conclude, if we analyze the nature of the steps of any problem solving method,
we can deduce the standard technique to which it belongs and its capacity to provide
original and quality solutions. Thus, a problem-solving method that has all the steps of
the model-type (whether these steps are structured or not) is a "Systematic analysis of
the problematic situation" method. A method that does not have the "Analyze the
problem" step is either "non-systematic" method (brainstorming), or “systematic"
(Trials and Errors) one. It depends on how the "Synthesize Solution Concepts" step
unfolds. A method that has "unstructured" steps is of lower quality, it can be
improved. The ideal method has all its stages structured. Thus, each method can
evolve towards its ideality by improving the quality of its stages.

2.4 The ECOFAIRE methodology

ECOFAIRE presentation. The French ECOFAIRE program was organized and
conducted by SEM Pays de Loire in collaboration with the environmental consulting
firm EVEA between 2006 and 2008 [4].This program aims to "promote and facilitate
the development of environmentally friendly products". A collaborative study was
conducted with companies, industrial designers and engineers. The methodological
tool ECOFAIRE is part of this research work. It is composed of two introductory
sheets followed by 18 others, to be used in five chronological stages: "Scope and
stakes", "Initial environmental assessment", "Solution search", "Evaluation of
solutions", “Results and communication”. Non-expert users are targeted here, whether
they belong to industry or academia. On this paper, 9 analysis approaches are used.
The E1 (3.1) approach proposes an analysis allowing a reference product to be
assessed on six aspects combining life cycle thinking specially and environmental
impacts to get a better review about it [2]. Concerning the E2 (3.1), this approach
takes stock of the different phases raised during cycle E1 in a way to detect the
environmental issues related to each stage with its risk of impact which depends of the
stage and its stakes. E7 / E8 approach (3.1) aims to identify and prioritize the aspects
and impacts of each level of the end-of-life cycle of a reference product according to a
ranking and motivations. About the ES1/ES2/ES3 (3.5), they allow to establish a
comparison of solutions according to environmental indicators between a product and
a reference product to get a view of the environmental consequences using ES2 wich
is a DSI (Decision Support Instrument) while the ES2 is a visualization medium. R1
and R2 (3.3), allows to search for solutions by establishing an idea about different
design choices that we can make by each level as well as the source of the solution.
The operation of "Solution search" relies on "Synthesizing solution concepts" by the
Eco design wheel (R1) and the checklist (R2).
ECOFAIRE characterization. If we analyze the ECOFAIRE method, we notice that:
1. "Environmental Assessment of Product Reference" coincides well with the step
"recognize the problem" using "R1, R2, E7/8" forms.
2. "Solution search" is consistent with "Synthesizing solution concepts" using the
Eco design wheel (R1) and the checklist (R2).
3. "Evaluate the technical solution" coincides well with the step "recognize the
problem" using the "ES1, ES2, ES3" forms
4. The steps "Analyze the problem" and "Realize the solutions" of the model-type
are not covered by ECOFORM
If we analyze the nature of the steps covered by the ECOFAIRE method, we notice
that they are semi-structured because the analyst has a roadmap consisting of a
multitude of forms and tools that guide him to identify solutions. But the answer
provided in each form is subjective and strongly depends on the analyst's know-how.
The analysis of the table 1 shows that the ECOFAIRE Model belongs to
"Systematic Analysis of the Problematic Situation" techniques. The fact that some of
its stages are not covered and that those covered are semi-structured, ECOFAIRE is
not a complete method for Eco design problem solving that can insure original quality
solutions.
Table 1: characterization of ECOFAIRE method

Model- Analyze Synthesize Concretize Evaluate the

Recognize the
Type the Solution the technical
problem
steps problem Concepts solutions solutions
Environmental Evaluation of
Ecofaire Search for
Assessment of the None None the envisaged
steps solutions
RP solutions
CE4:
environmental
expectations and
ES1:
requirements of
comparison of
the different
solutions
actors
according to
E1: Life cycle
R1: Eco- environmental
description in first
design indicators
approach of the No tool
Ecofaire wheel No tools ES2: decision
reference product available
tools R2: Check support ES3:
E2:
list visualization
Environmental
of the
issues as a first
environmental
step
consequences
E7 / E8:
of design
Identification and
choices
characterization
of environmental
aspects
Semi Semi
Nature Semi structured - -
structured structured

3 Towards Triz-EcoFaire: a case study: « Ecodistrib »

Ecodistrib is a distributor of different types of liquid detergents installed in
supermarkets to replace the act of purchasing cans of disposable detergents. This case
is available on the following link: https://www.eco-
conception.fr/exemples/h/eco2distrib-ecodistributeur.html

Figure 1: Ecodistrib
3.1 Recognize the problem

This step consists of rolling out the CE4, E1, E2 and E7 / E8 forms for the reference
product: Detergent bottle.

Table 2: Expectations and environmental requirements (CE4)

Chain of actors Expectations and environmental requirements

Specify whether explicit or implicit (= not formulated,
or assumed)

Suppliers

Transport and logistics Less packaging to ship

subcontractors

Top management of the Cost reduction

company

Departments of the Manufacturing: less packaging, gain energy

company (marketing, BE,
employees, ...)

Clients, Specifiers, Other Super and hypermarkets: brand image, show

intermediaries implication in DD

End users Eco-freindly products

Figure 2: Life cycle analysis of the reference product (E1)

 Table 3: Environmental issues (E2)

Table 4: identification and prioritization of aspects and impacts (E7/E8)

Aspects or Life cycle Ranking Ranking

impacts steps involved Very motivations
important
Important
Secondary
A Non-renewable Raw materiel Very Extraction raw
resources important material for
packaging
B Energy Production Very Manufacturing
consumption important packaging
C Non-renewable Packaging Very Packing volume /
resources important liquid quantity
D Pollution Logistics Very Transmission
important Distance of Cans
E Non-renewable End of life Very Act of throwing
resources important
F
 Figure 3: 9 Screens tool
3.2 Analyze the problem

ECOFAIRE doesn’t present any tool for problematic analysis situation. We propose to
use for this issue the TRIZ contradiction system. Thus, the main contradiction
resolved by Ecodistrib is the following:

Figure 4: the system of contradictions of EcoDistrib

3.3 Synthesize Solution Concepts
The search for solutions by ECOFAIRE's tools R1 and R2, allows drawing up the
following table. This table presents the different design choices considered in
EcoDistrib by stage of the life cycle as well as the source of the solution.

Table 5: source of choices made in EcoDistrib

Design Packaging
Production End use End of life
Choice Logistics
R1: Lifespan /
Adapted /
Demountable None
Evolution /
Modular
Unplanned R1: lifetime / long
obsolescence since the start
Close
R1 : transport /
production
Proximity
place
Reusable
packaging
Close place of R1 : transport /
distribution Proximity
Distribution R1 : consumption
system / standby mode
R1:
Valorization /
Recoverable
incineration /
material
energy
recovery
Local raw
R1 : transport /
material
Proximity
source

Sealing -

R1 : Consumption
Energy source
/ Energy / saved
Two remarks emerge from the use of these two tools:
• The difficulty of using the R1 eco-design wheel. Indeed, this wheel doesn’t give a
procedure to choose the relevant principles. On the other hand, the list of solutions
seems incomplete for the EcoDistrib case.
• The R2 checklist details the choices listed in R1. Its use is also difficult and does not
aspire to trust, ...
The search for solutions by the traditional tools of the TRIZ doesn’t seem to find the
choices made in the case EcoDistrib. Indeed, the solution adopted to solve the
technical contradiction is to replace the act of buying the liquid in a disposable
packaging by the act of buying the liquid in a reusable packaging through a distributor
to resolve the contradiction presented in the figure 4.
The two parameters of the technical contradiction do not correspond to any parameter
of the classical TRIZ matrix. This seems unsuitable for use in the field of eco-design.
The analysis of the solution adopted in the case of EcoDistrib shows that none of the
40 principles invented, nor principles of separation could be exploited to achieve it.
3.4 Concretize the solutions
According to a technical point of view, the purchase of the liquid is done by filling
from a distributor. This solution could not have been generated by the use of
traditional TRIZ tools such as effect pointers.
3.5 Evaluate the technical solutions:
The comparison between Ecodistrib and the reference product "Can" as well as the
visualization of the environmental consequences of Ecodistrib are presented in forms
ES1, ES2 and ES3 of ECOFAIRE.
Table 6: comparison of solutions according to environmental indicators (ES1)
Reference product Proposition 1
Can Ecodistrib
Indicator 1
Important Low
Name : Waste Volume
Indicator 2
Important Low
Name : Energy consumption
Indicator 3
Important Low
Name : Pollution
 Table 7: decision support (++ very important; + important; - week; -- very week)
(ES2)
Interests Costs interest Environment
Solutions
Customers / Users and Feasibility interests
Reference Product : Can
Proposition 1
++ ++ ++
Description : Ecodistrib

Table 8: visualization of the environmental consequences of design choices (ES3)

Conception Packaging End of Consequences for
Production Use
choice Logistics life the environment
No final Repairable Raw material
Disassembly assembly and economy, life
(welds) evolutionary extension
Repairable raw material
Unplanned
and economy, life
obsolescence
evolutionary extension
Close
Less Energy saving ,
production
transport pollution
area
Reusable Raw material
packaging economy
Close
Less Energy saving,
production
transport pollution
area
Quantity
Distribution
bought at Raw material saving
system
most fair
Recoverable Energy
Raw material saving
material recovery
Local raw
Less Energy saving,
material
transport pollution
source
Nuisance man:
No risk of
Sealing Cleanliness, raw
liquid loss
material saving
Energy
Low Energy Energy saving
Source

The use of EcoForm forms also leads to several remarks:

- It is necessary to conduct LCA (life cycle analysis) to arrive to quantified indicators
for the ES1 form
- The evaluation of different interests in ES2 is qualitative
- Overall, despite their sufficiency to evaluate and compare eco-design solutions,
ECOFAIRE documents are not structured because their uses depend on the analyst's
competence.

4 Hypotheses of First formulation of Triz-ECOFAIRE

Conducting an inverse engineering analysis on the Ecodistrib case made it possible to
identify a set of ECOFAIRE improvement hypotheses by the TRIZ tools. It also
allowed to highlight a set of disadvantages compared to ECOFAIRE tools themselves.
The following table (table 9) explains how can ECOFAIRE enhance its ideality by
introducing TRIZ Tools in its incomplete or lower quality steps. However, Triz tools
need to be updated to fit within Eco design and ECOFAIRE context. We describe in
the following, how each tool introduced has to be adapted.
4.1 H1: Multiscreen tool
The multiscreen tool can play its classic role in predicting the future eco-designed
system. But for that it must be adapted to include the synthesis of the documents of
ECOFAIRE of the analysis phase (See figure 3) in particular:
• The expectations and environmental requirements of the various actors
• The description of the life cycle
• Environmental issues
• Identification of environmental aspects and impacts
4.2 H2: System of contradiction
The contradiction system of TRIZ keeps all its importance to really understand the
problem and to reveal the desired result. However, the terms of the EPV Model must
be adapted to the context of eco-design, as follows (figure 5):
• Element: must reflect a stage of the life cycle (raw material, logistics packaging and
transport, production, use, end of life), ...
• Action Parameter: must reflect an environmental aspect from the context of the
study. The environmental aspect is "an element of the activities, products or services
of an organism likely to interact with the environment".
• Evaluation Parameter 1: Must reflect an Environmental Impact. The environmental
impact is "any modification of the environment, negative or beneficial, resulting
totally or partially from the environmental aspects of an organism" (Exhaustion of
resources, damage to biodiversity, air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution,
waste,...).
• Evaluation parameter 2: must reflect an important outcome indicator in the context
of the study to assess economic performance (use parameter).

Figure 5: adaptation of the system of contradictions to the context of eco-design

4.3 H3: Principals

The principles of separation and the 40 inventive principles do not seem adaptable to
the context. On the other hand, a new tool can be developed that links TRIZ's
contradiction system to the principles stated in the R1 eco-design wheel and the R2
checklist.
4.4 H4: Effects pointer
The base of the physical effect pointer of Triz also seems unsuitable for the case of
EcoDistrib. It would also be wise to develop an effect base specific to the context of
Eco-design.
 Table 9: TRIZ-ECOFAIRE characterization

Analyze Synthesize Concretize Evaluate the

Model-
Recognize the problem the Solution the technical
Type steps
problem Concepts solutions solutions

Assessment of
Ecofaire Environmental Searching
None None the envisaged
steps Assessment of RP solutions
solutions

ES1:
CE4: environmental
comparison of
expectations and
solutions
requirements of the
according to
different actors
R1: Eco- environmental
E1: Life cycle
design indicators
Existing description in first
wheel ES2: decision
Ecofaire approach of the None
None R2: Check support
tools reference product
list ES3:
E2: Environmental
visualization
issues as a first step
of the
E7 / E8: Identification
environmental
and characterization of
consequences
environmental aspects
of design
choices
Adapt the
Improvem
Adapt the 9 screens system of To To Improve the
ent by
tool contradict develop develop formalization
TRIZ
ions
Expected Semi Semi
Semi Structured Structured Structured
Nature Structured structured

5 Conclusion and perspectives

The literature has shown the existence of several attempts to adapt Eco-design
methods through the TRIZ tools. However, this work presents ECOFAIRE's first
adaptation attempt in this direction. This study aims first to characterize ECOFAIRE
according to a model that we have developed by ourselves in this paper, then to state
hypotheses of adaptation TRIZ tools to fill the limits of ECOFAIRE.
Several results emerge from this study. They can be summarized in the following:
- The adaptation of the 9 screens tool so that it can integrate the specificities of the
design of ecological products.
- The adaptation of the EPV model of description of the TRIZ system of contradictions
so that it can stand out in a structured way the conflicts to solve in the process of eco-
design.
- The emergence, through the exploratory case study of EcoDistrib, of the inadequacy
hypothesis of the classical tools of the TRIZ (40 principles, the principles of
separation and the TRIZ matrix) with the context of eco-design.
In light of these results and the exploratory approach conducted through the Ecodistrib
case, several perspectives emerge:
- Conduct other case studies to confirm the ECOFAIRE improvement assumptions
made in this work.
- Make a comparison between the eco-design methods that attempt to adapt the TRIZ
tools to eco-design.
- Develop, in the case of ECOFAIRE, a tool that links the new system of contradiction
to the principles set out in the eco-design wheel R1 and the checklist R2.
- Develop a tool similar to the effect pointers for the Ecodesign context.
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