The Grand Prize winners: Engr Lim Joo Eng (leftmost), Assoc Prof Dr Yip Mum Wai (2nd from left), Ng Yen Ming (2nd from right), taking a photo with Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok (centre), President of TAR University College and Assoc Prof Dr Ng Swee Chin (rightmost), Vice President of TAR University College.
TAR University College teams once again proved their prowess in innovation by winning the Grand Prize and 2 Merit Prizes in MyTRIZ Competition Finals 2015 held on 24 November 2015. This is the fourth time that TAR University College students and lecturers have participated in the competition and won top prizes.
The competition’s objective is to encourage the application of TRIZ systematic innovation methodology, cultivate the spirit of innovation and generate awareness of TRIZ systematic innovation around the Asia region. TRIZ is a Romanized acronym for a Russian term meaning, “The theory of inventive problem solving”. The competition required participants to come up with two solutions, one for a household application that would not cost more than RM 100 to create and the other was to find a solution for an industry project, all using the TRIZ methodology.
The Grand Prize winning team consisted of Assoc Prof Dr Yip Mum Wai, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (‘FEBE’), Ng Yen Ming, a student of the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Mechanical, Year 4, and Engr Lim Joo Eng, Programme Leader, Diploma in Technology (Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering) programme. Whereas the Merit Prize winners were Ching Weng Gui, Beh Chien Yang, Chia Cheng Quan, students of the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Mechanical, Year 3 and Pung Kang Qin, a lecturer from FEBE, all from Kuala Lumpur Main Campus and Nikalus Swee Shu Luing, Programme Leader (Computer Science & Information Technology), Poo Teng Soo, Programme Leader (Building) and Tai See Chew, Programme Leader (Engineering), all three from Penang Branch Campus.
The Grand Prize winners created an apparatus for a hair dryer and devised a way to eliminate waste for a local company which designs, manufactures and distributes brooms, brushes and cleaning products. As for the Merit Prize winners from Kuala Lumpur Main Campus, their product was a foldable clothes hanger which prevents collars of clothes being overstretched and their industrial project was to reduce bubbles inside a latex tank as the bubble will harm the product. The Penang Branch Campus Merit Prize winners created a household item which prevents spilling when filling up a drinking bottle and they also found an industrial solution to condense vaporised motor oil from tainting a motorcar throttle plate.
Assoc Prof Dr Yip Mum Wai, one of the team members of the Grand Prize winners in the competition, said: “It was a very good experience, especially for students, as they will be trained to become good problem solvers and be able to solve problems confidently.” Dr Yip also encouraged students to join the competition as they would have the opportunities to learn.
The other Grand Prize winner, Ng Yen Ming, was excited with the win. “We produced a prototype of a hair dryer attachment which not only blows the hair but also absorbs moisture. It took us several months to come up with the idea and refine it.”
Engr Lim Joo Eng, who was also one of the team members that won the Grand Prize, said: “As for the industry project, we solved a problem for a local company which designs, manufactures and distributes brooms, brushes and cleaning products by providing them a solution to eliminate waste when cutting the brushes. We redesigned their brush-cutting mechanism so that no waste at all was being produced. That way, the company benefits from improved material usage as waste is eliminated, improved process time as no more waste needs to be removed, less wastage and thus productivity is increased, process becomes more efficient and thus manufacturing cost is reduced. This will meet customer’s requirements and thus increase customer satisfaction.”
The Grand Prize winners took home a cash prize of RM8,000, while the two Merit Prize winners garnered RM1,000 each team.
These achievements are a clear testament to the excellent education provided by TAR University College.
