Creative Problem Solving, 2000 Polymers, Laminations & Coatings Conference Proceedings

David R. Roisum--While we all diagnose and troubleshoot problems as part of our job, few have formal training in industrial problem solving. Perhaps this is because such training is neither so popular nor so widely available as other types of training, such as how to run a word processor. Perhaps, however, formal problem solving techniques are too rigid and too general to be especially useful in the complex and detail rich environment of a manufacturing plant.

This paper shows by example how creative approaches for problem solving found solutions quickly where recipe-based approaches did not. These examples include common converting problems such as baggy webs, wrinkles and wound roll problems. What makes the approaches creative is neither the methods nor the tools, because they certainly have been used elsewhere. Rather, the creativity comes from selecting the right tools from among dozens of possible tests or analyses, and then ordering them to most quickly home in on the physical mechanism that created the problem.