101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Combinations 149

101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving.Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &

Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. http://www.pfeiffer.com

Parts Is Parts Handout

An example of the “HIT” technique is shown inTable 6.3 involving the challenge of gen-

erating new food product ideas. The sample uses packing formats and food forms as the

two product areas or elements. A number between 1 and 24 is used for each possible com-

bination.

Packaging Formats

Food Forms Aerosol Bag Tube Box

Bread 1 7 13 19

Steak 2 8 14 20

Cookie 3 9 15 21

Dip 4 10 16 22

Juice 5 11 17 23

Gravy 6 12 18 24

Table 6.3. Parts Is Parts Combinations

Combinations 7, 9, and 21 are crossed out since they represent existing products

(bread in a bag, cookies in a bag, and cookies in a box). Combinations 4, 10, 11, 15, 18, and

20, however, are circled since they represent potential new product ideas. For instance,

these combinations might suggest the following ideas:

• A dip in an aerosol spray that can be sprayed on bread or crackers (#4)


• Vegetable dip in a designer bag for individual dipping (#10)


• Different juices in a bag that can be drunk by squeezing, pouring, or using a straw
  (#11)


• Cookies in a tube—similar to potato chips in a cardboard cylinder (#15)


• Gravy in a tube, especially for children who can use it to write letters and draw pic-
  tures on their food (#18)


• Box steak lunches that can be reheated in microwavable packages (#20)

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