CREATIVITY – A DRIVING FORCE FOR TEXTILE COMPANIES DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The ability to innovate is a very important feature that makes the difference between a good textile engineer and a common one. Higher education provides good exploitation engineers to industry, specialists who are able to manage complex technologies. The dynamics of modern textile company requires creative engineers who can anticipate opportunities, design original products, have novel ideas and initiatives, etc. This paper presents some experiments for testing and developing personal creativity and team creativity in engineering education. It was measured the students' satisfaction degree after the preliminary session and after the final tests. These results show that masteral students (young textile engineers) like to do creative tasks/projects and most of them are ready to learn specific techniques, which would help them in solving technical and managerial problems.

Full text

Международна научна конференция “УНИТЕХ’11” – Габрово
‘
11
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
18 – 19 November 2011, GABROVO
CREATIVITY – A DRIVING FORCE FOR
TEXTILE COMPANIES DEVELOPMENT
Georgeta Lidia POTOP
Ana Lacramioara LEON
Technical University “Gh. Asachi” Iasi, Romania
Faculty of Textiles, Leather Goods & Industrial Management
Technology & Design of Textile Products Department
Abstract
The ability to innovate is a very important feature that makes the difference between a good textile engineer and a
common one. Higher education provides good exploitation engineers to industry, specialists who are able to manage
complex technologies. The dynamics of modern textile company requires creative engineers who can anticipate
opportunities, design original products, have novel ideas and initiatives, etc.
This paper presents some experiments for testing and developing personal creativity and team creativity in
engineering education. It was measured the students’ satisfaction degree after the preliminary session and after the final
tests. These results show that masteral students (young textile engineers) like to do creative tasks/projects and most of
them are ready to learn specific techniques, which would help them in solving technical and managerial problems.
Keywords: engineering education, personal creativity, group creativity, test creativity, develop creativity, satisfaction.
INTRODUCTION
In the third millenium, the number of
technical systems becomes double every 10
years and the complexity of products increases
two times every 15 years [1,2]. This
accelerated rhythm of change requires
engineers who can find opportunities, can have
visions for future development, and are well
trained in the field of creativity. The good
news is that creative thinking can be
developed. Specialists all over the world use
different methods for training the human brain
and obtaining good results related to
“innovation at command” (the innovation
machine) [6,8].
EXPOSITION
1. Innovation based management
In the latest report of OECD concerning the
global and regional well-being in 2010, one
indicator used in the report is “the country
innovation performance”. From this point of
view, one key-factor is the percentage of
national firms with new-to-market product
innovations. As for the European Union,
statistical data published in January 2011 show
that Germany has the biggest percentage of
innovative companies in 2008.
The list of the most innovative companies
in the world contains: Apple, Google, Toyota,
General Electric, Microsoft, Procter &
Gamble, 3M, Walt Disney, IBM and Sony [7].
Bringing to life new products is a priority for
all these innovation leaders. The key of their
success is the innovation based management.
For example, the employees from 3M spend
15% of their working time for personal
research, doing experiments at their own
projects. Google offers to its employees the
posibility to spend 20% for doing personal
investigations and research. The secret is
simple: give everyone a chance to innovate,
make him feel valuable to the company and let
the worker take initiative. Some companies
give to their workers bonuses if they have
ideas for improving the technological
processes and obtain more profit.
It is recommended the organization of
seminars, workshops and round tables about
technical creativity with employees. They can

Международна научна конференция “УНИТЕХ’11” – Габрово
be taught how to improve their creative
potential, and how to become innovators.
Another best practice is to attract the
customers into the innovation process and
implement an organizational culture of
creativity where innovation can be repeated
frequently. It is important to have new ideas
but it is equally important to manage the
process of innovation, from original solution
to final product over and over again.
2. Engineer’s creative behavior
Any company must ask three important
questions: Where are new opportunities?
Which are the problems to be solved? Who are
the real customers? Their answers will reveal
the path to go and where to invest money, time
and effort. From this point forward, its
engineers must play the leading role, but
technical experience and personal skills are not
enough. Creative thinking is a necessary
feature for them.
Unfortunately the literature concerning the
creative behavior of engineers is not so large
compared to the literature about general
studies on creativity and innovation.
After the World War II, Romanian
engineering education put a great accent on
teaching the technological aspects, students
being instructed by the mean of practical
programs and less theory. The graduates were
highly trained as practical specialists and
technologists. Thirty years later, the academic
approach had an opposite vision: mathematical
theories, physics, chemistry, management
were replacing little by little the practical
activities. Those graduates were good as
scientists, researchers and managers. After
1990, the quickly change in the Romanian
economic environment imposes a new type of
engineer. This person has to master and filter
huge volume of complex information and be
able to use computers for designing new
products or conducting specific processes.
That is why engineering education changed
again and focused to design procedures, total
quality management, human resources and
financial issues. Innovation was again almost
forgotten because engineering is a “serious
business” and engineers have to be accurate in
what they are doing.
A modern engineer is the one who is
thinking the same as Doctor Ben Carson, the
famous American surgeon who separated for
the first time a pair of twins united in the head
region [3]:
 Which is the best advantage if I do
this?
 Which is the best advantage if I don’t
do this?
 Which is the worst disadvantage if I do
this?
 Which is the worst disadvantage if I
don’t do this?
Identifying and defining a problem are the
first two steps in creative thinking. Then it
follows a complex mix of activities related to
generating ideas, evaluation of each alter-
native, selecting the best option, doing
experiments for each solution and then taking
the final decision and implementing. This is
the creative behavior of engineers and
technical staff, which is desired by the top
management.
The main methods for improving the
innovative performances of individuals and
groups are the following:
1. Osborn direction - its objective is to
make teamwork more efficient by
decreasing the psychological inertia
together with increasing the
motivation. Methods: brainstorming,
synectics, FDM (Fundamental Design
Method), six thinking hats;
2. Altshuller (TRIZ) direction – its
objective is to use technical patents
database for generating new ideas.
Methods: identifying and resolving
physical/technical contradictions,
conducting an opposite experiment,
using patterns of evolution, building an
ideal model, using resources available
in the system and its environment,
identifying how to produce an
observed phenomenon;
3. Miles & Ishikawa direction – its
objective is to re-structure all existent
knowledge for applying them to the
creation process. Methods: value
engineering, morphological analysis,
QFD (Quality Function Deployment),
fishbone diagram.

Международна научна конференция “УНИТЕХ’11” – Габрово
An engineer can create as an individual or
being part of a team. Groups can find creative
solutions and innovations more easily if they
learn how to work together and exercise „out-
of-the-box” state. In a company with a strong
culture of creativity there are organized several
teams of innovation which search new ideas
for innovating products, processes and
administrative activities.
3. Experiments
In the textile field, creativity is the secret
ingredient that brought success of many
products: smart textiles, extreme textiles,
nanofibres, composite materials, auxetic
materials, etc. Many specialists working in
higher education are trying to discover new
ways to enhance the creativity of their
students. For this purpose, it is important to
understand what is creativity, how to evaluate
it and how to stimulate the creative behaviour.
Other people from the academic staff have a
different opinion: the textile engineer has to
operate with strict regulations and procedures,
and any problem (question) has a correct
solution (answer).
Usually students are afraid to express their
novel ideas because their self-criticism or
because their colleagues would laugh or
criticize. Other creativity blockers are: the lack
of confidence, too much stress, a demotivating
climate in the class, not enough time for
relaxation and introspection, quick demand for
results, etc. The psychological obstacles are
most difficult to surpass.
During two academic years (2009-2010 and
2010-2011), at the Technology and Design of
Textile Products Department there were
conducted some experiments with the Masteral
students (junior textile engineers) for testing
and developing their creative behavior. Also it
was measured the satisfaction degree of these
students related to the proposed creative
assignments/projects.
3.1 Preparatory experiments
These experiments were meant to decrease
the psychological inertia of the students. For
aiming this goal, the instructor explained that
the human brain mostly works with a pattern
recognition mechanism. Because of this
ability, people react to what is familiar or
repetitive in their environment. Innovation is
by definition unpredictable and uncertain; this
means something unusual for rational thinking.
For a better understanding, it was explained
to students how the human brain is organized
and the role of left and right hemispheres
(Figure 1). Also there was made a comparison
related to the ways how women & men are
using their brains, and the influence of
different factors upon creativity (personal
factors, environment factors and organiza-
tional factors).
Fig. 1. Organization of the human brain
At the beginning, there were given 18
different images. Each student had to develop
his/her skills of looking at things through
various angles (using lateral thinking). He had
to write on paper as many ideas as possible
near each figure (four examples are shown in
the Figures 2 to 5).
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
In the second part of the preparatory
experiments it was tested the verbal (written)
creativity. With the help of four randomly
generated words, each group of students had to
write an original text containing all of them.
Time was limited to 20 minutes.

Международна научна конференция “УНИТЕХ’11” – Габрово
In the third stage, students received two
different images (A4 size) representing ink
spots and they were asked to draw one/more
objects that contain completely or partially
those dark spots in the limited amount of time.
They had a little time to think before drawing
(5 minutes).
The results of these preparatory
experiments were discussed with the entire
class (fluency of the ideas, flexibility in
thinking and originality). Then students were
invited to express their satisfaction/
dissatisfaction by answering to the following
questions with “yes” or “no”:
1. After seeing the results of the preliminary
results, do you consider yourself creative?
2. Did you enjoy completing the creative
assignments?
3. Will you recommend to your friends lateral
thinking exercises?
4. Do you want to continue with the final set
of tests?
The number of answers and percentages are
shown in Table 1 and graphically presented
into Figure 6. The total number of students
was 55 (two groups of masteral students, one
in the academic year 2009-2010, and one in
the next academic year).
Tab.1. Satisfaction degree of the students
after the preliminary experiments
YES NO Total
number
%YES %NO
Q1 13 42 55 23,64 76,36
Q2 35 20 55 63,64 36,36
Q3 41 9 55 74,55 16,36
Q4 49 6 55 89,09 10,91
Mean
62,73 35,00
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Percentage, %
YES NO
Answer type
Fig.6. Satisfaction expressed by students
after the preparatory tests
The conclusion is that 62,73% of the
students were replying with YES (showing
satisfaction) and 35% were responding with
NO (showing dissatisfaction). A few students
wanted a change of the atmosphere when
taking the tests (a more creative-friendly
environment). Their observation was taken in
consideration for organizing the next
workshop.
3.2 Final experiments
The experiments continued with a second
session. At the beginning, there were presented
information about most important Romanian
and international inventors, and some facts
related to industrial revolution and the role
played by the textile industry. Also the
instructor detailed the mechanism of creative
problem solving (preparation, incubation,
illumination and verification/implementation
the new idea) and it was pointing the fact that
accepting the risks is a common feature for all
inventors.
Because of the limited amount of time,
there were applied only five types of
experiments:
- open ended problems
(duration: 20 minutes),
- carousel brainstorming
(duration: 30 minutes),
- six thinking hats
(duration: 20 minutes),
- mind mapping or cognitive maps
(duration: 25 minutes),
- Emotional intelligence test
(duration: 15 minutes).
All students from the same class were
divided in groups of 5 or 6 students.
At the end of this session, students received
a thematic project to solve creatively. The title
was: “Creative recycling of textile materials”.
In the second academic year it was also given
the theme for recycling: Origami technique.
Some of these new products are introduced
to other students of the Faculty and to the
academic staff in an exhibition organized in
2011 (as shown in Figure 7).

Международна научна конференция “УНИТЕХ’11” – Габрово
Students were asked to express their
satisfaction/dissatisfaction again, by answering
to the following questions with “yes” or “no”:
1. Did you enjoy completing the creative
assignments?
2. Are you satisfied by the themes of the
creative experiments?
3. Do you consider yourself a creative person?
4. Do you think that a creative course will be
useful for engineers?
The results are shown in Table 2 and
graphically presented into Figure 8. The total
number of students was 55.
Tab.2. Satisfaction degree of the students
after the final experiments
YES NO Total
number
%YES %NO
Q1 32 23 55 58,18 41,82
Q2 53 2 55 96,36 3,64
Q3 55 0 55 100,00 0,00
Q4 53 2 55 96,36 3,64
Mean 87,73 12,27
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Percentage, %
YES NO
Answer type
Fig.8. Satisfaction expressed by students
after the final tests
The conclusion is that 87,73 % of the
students were replying with YES (showing
satisfaction) and 12,27% were saying NO
(showing dissatisfaction). Compared with the
previous degree of satisfaction, it is noticed
that the percentage is bigger with 25%. This
means that many masteral students improved
their self-confidence, they were learning how
to use their native curiosity for generating new
ideas and real products. It is possible that
working in small teams, the psychological
barriers were more easily broken and they
could use more freely the creative problem
solving stages.
CONCLUSION
The experiments conducted at the
Technology and Design of Textile Products
Department were focused on testing and
developing the students’ creative behavior.
After the preliminary experiments, 62,73%
from the total number of masteral students
were satisfied related to the content of those
tests. After the second session of experiments
and ending the creative projects, the
percentage of satisfaction increased with 25%.
This result puts in evidence that students
changed their way of considering themselves
not simply people, but creative persons. They
like to learn how to deal with creative topics
and solve technical problems by using
different methods. A creative-friendly climate
together with a good emotional intelligence
coefficient are very useful for developing the
creativity.
This study shows that satisfaction increases
the motivation for being creative and young
engineers will use any opportunity for taking
initiatives at their future work places.
Fig.
7 Exhibition the new products
created by masteral students

Международна научна конференция “УНИТЕХ’11” – Габрово
We think that engineering education must
use more intense creative assignments, role-
playing exercises, trial-and-fail methods and
other techniques that allow students not to fear
of the unknown and take risks. Academic staff
must understand that a modern textile engineer
has to discover and innovate so creativity must
be trained during the engineering studies.
REFERENCE
[1] Altshuller, G. – And suddenly the inventor
appeared. TRIZ, the theory of inventive
problem solving, Technical Innovation Center,
Inc., Worcester, Mass., USA, 2004.
[2] Belous, V., Doncean, Gh. – Technical
creativity course, “Performantica” Publishing
House, Iasi, 2010.
[3] Carson, B., Lewis, G. – The big picture,
“Viata & sanatate” Pub.House, Bucharest,
2002.
[4] Clegg, B., Birch, P. – Crash Course in
Creativity, “Polirom” Publishing House, Iasi,
2003.
[5] Kazerounian, K., Foley. S. - Barriers to
Creativity in Engineering Education: A Study
of Instructors and Students Perceptions,
Journal of Mechanical Design, JULY 2007,
Vol. 129, 2007, p. 761-768.
[6] Schumpeter, J. - The innovation machine.
Two gurus look at the perspiration side of
innovation (PDF)
[7] http://www.ideationtriz.com
[8] http://www.the-innovation-machine.com