Implementing TRIZ with Supply Chain Management in New Product Development for Small and Medium Enterprises

Due to the impact of globalization, the competition between enterprises has become fierce and led the supply chains of many industries to be reorganized. One of the consequences is that the operation of many small and medium enterprises (SMs) had become very difficult. Hence, many of SMEs in Taiwan have gone bankrupt and some of them have moved to other places where they have lower production costs, in order to survive; this not only hollowed out the industries but also disconnected the supply chains in their mother countries. Because Taiwan’s SMEs are generally poor in innovation, this study explored the implementation of the theory of inventive problem-solving (TRIZ) with alignment of new product development (NPD) and supply chain management (SCM) to strengthen the innovation and productivity of new products, so that SMEs can refer to its use to aid sustainable business operation. We considered an SME in Taiwan as a case to study and investigate the strategies that it employed to achieve survival and sustainability. By examining the practical applications of the NPD of the case company, which was based on the TRIZ and NPD SCM alignment, we found that value-added products may be created despite unfavorable industry environments, by implementing and coordinating the TRIZ and three product-related variables, namely innovating, modularity, and variety. This study explored practical alternatives for SMEs to develop various value-added products that meet customers’ changing requirements and succeed in competitive markets to achieve a sustainable business operation. Considering SMEs are crucially important to the economic equality and development of countries and that SMEs may only survive for a short time when operating in changing supply chain environments, this study can be used as a reference for the management of SMEs and future academic research in related fields.