Problem Solving Strategies

Team C

Ch.1

Submitted to Dr. Mohammed Aman

 1 Introduction

2 What is the real problem?

Table of Content
- Making Gasoline from Coal
3 - Decreasing Profits
- Better Printing Inks

4 Right Problem / Wrong solution

- Dam The Torpedoes or Torpedo the Dam

5 - An Unexpected Twist

6 Conclusion
Introduction
What is the real problem?
 Making Gasoline from Coal
The Situation The wrong problem The real problem

An oil company was planning to produce The manager gave instructions to The real problem was that the coal
petroleum products from coal to reduce his group to solve the problem of particles and the solvent interacted
dependence on foreign oil. The company clogged pipes. At first, they thought together. This problem was solved
designed a system that grinds the coal
that the problem was the quality of by increasing the speed through the
particles and mixes them with the solvent
and hydrogen,Theand then the solvent, but after a year and a coal pipe, and this speed was
caseit is passed through
the furnace heater to a reactor that converts half, they discovered that it was not achieved by using a small pipe
the coal into gasoline. The process was not the real problem.
working properly due to carbon
deposits on the tubes
 Decreasing Profits
The Situation
In the 1980s, a government-operated
factory in a developing country was
taking material from a refinery and
using it to make fertilizer
The case
The wrong problem
The instructions are given by the
government to solve the perceived
problem, “Close the plant because
the price of the fertilizer is too low
and we can no longer afford to
operate it”
The real problem
When student engineers searched into
the situation, they discovered that the
inefficiency of operation caused by the
plant's three to four weekly power
outages, not the price of fertilizer, was
the real issue.Restarting the station after
each power outage was a huge waste of
time and resources. If the station had
had backup generators, the blackouts
might have been avoided and a large
profit could have been made
 Better Printing Inks
The Situation The wrong problem The real problem

In 1990 started the Bureau of

Engraving and Printing Program to
By identifying the wrong problem, it
improve the quality of paper money in
turns out that the office wasted It turns out that the real problem is
the United States of America
The case Effort and time of government not in the inks
According to the instructions, to solve
officials and faculty members It's in the printing machines
this problem, develop a program to
obtain better printing inks
Right Problem / Wrong Solution
 Dam Torpedoes or Torpedo the dam
The Situation The problem The wrong solution

Design and build a multimillion dollar

dam to divert water to waste land

finding a way to grow crops on waste lands

Insufficient moisture
The case
the diverted water dissolved a high
percentage of the salt in the soil
 An Unexpected Twist
The Situation
Destruction of the Nypro factory in
Flixborough, UK, June 1, 1974, June 28
Someone died when a cloud of
cyclohexane vapor, a flammable chemical,
ignited. The facility's three units are
connected in series, each on a different
The case
level. This The central unit does not
work efficiently.
The problem
When the middle unit is removed
for maintenance, use a temporary
replacement pipe to connect the first
and third units. The increased
pressure and flow between the units
causes deformation of the elbow.
The quality of the pipe was not that
efficient enough to make the gas
flow quickly and easily, which lead
to this type of hazard.
The wrong solution
The pipe then burst and released steam,
which ignited and caused an explosion.
Unfortunately, the chalk drawings on the
factory floor were only temporary
plumbing design considerations. The
impact of this displacement is clearly
not fully considered, and certainly not
the pressure that ultimately leads to
leakage. This example illustrates the
dangers of careless first aid. Use the
Kepner-Tregoe Potential Problem
Analysis Technique (KTPPA) to
prevent this disaster.
Conclusion
Thank you Dr. Mohammed Aman