Product Design Improvement of Water Dispenser Tap using Triz Method

To produce the best solution for improving any product design that should be able to satisfy the design requirements (i.e., faster, better and cheaper), there were several stages typically involves the root cause analysis and idea generation activities. In this paper, product design improvement of a water dispenser is demonstrated using Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) method. The objective of this study was to find out the design solution which was able to solve the problem of water spill out that occurred after dispensing water from the dispenser tap. TRIZ Function Model and Engineering Contradiction method were used to model the problem, followed by TRIZ Contradiction Matrix and 40 Inventive Principles to generate potential solutions. The design improvement process based on the TRIZ method generated new concept design of water dispenser tap component which was able to eliminate the water spill out problem, while maintaining the existing dispensing function. In addition, the new dispenser tap conceptual design also required less component to operate compared with the existing design, hence, lowering the product cost

The cooperative-collective sharing arrangement of gated communities in malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover the operational character of gated communities in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a small case study conducted in Iskandar Malaysia, an economic development region located in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. In the case study, 12 housing developers were interviewed, involving 32 gated communities altogether. The investigation covered the identification of the governing document used in operating a gated community, the operational purposes and scopes, the arrangement for collection of maintenance fee, and the internal governance within the gated communities. Findings – From the analysis, it was found that two types of gated communities exist in the case study areas, namely the strata gated community scheme, and the gated community scheme (GACOS). The operational mechanism for the former is through a set of rules enforced by the government. Meanwhile, the latter is based on the arrangement set up either by the developer, where legal agreement is applicable, or through the consensus among homeowners. However, despite these differences, both mechanisms share the same intention, that is to operate the gated community based on cooperative-collective sharing arrangement. Research limitations/implications – Despite the vulnerability of GACOS enclosure components, the case study revealed that the number of GACOS is still bigger than the strata gated community scheme. Since this perspective is lacking in this paper, it is suggested that more studies are conducted to explain the reasons behind the indicated phenomenon. Originality/value – The most important contribution of the paper is to highlight the importance of gating experience that is heavily influenced by the local policy setting to determine the survival of a gated community; thus, demonstrating how different they are from each other