A corporation manufacturing electrical insulation tape prepared the basic tape in the form of large rolls about ten feet long and two feet in diameter. After added the sticky coating to these rolls and in attempting to reduce the large rolls to smaller sizes the rolls would adhere to each other, making the next step impossible. Many methods were attempted by the company engineers to prevent this situation, but over ten years the problem persisted. The problem was brought to Rutgers where it was subjected to a Synectics session.

A PAG (Problem as Given) was briefly outlined to the Synectics group by the "Expert" from the company and a PURGE session initiated to remove all the obvious solutions in the minds of the group and revealed an array of rational solutions. The next step was the PAU (Problem as Understood) to see if any of the elements of the problem were now seen in a different light after the PURGE, but the essence of the problem remained the same. The next step was the initiation of LQ (Leader Questions) by the facilitator to move the group into a fantasy world. Because the problem involved physical elements (electrical tape) the avenue selected for the LQ was biological as Synectics research has revealed that physical problems are solved best through biological analogies and biological problems (psychological or physiological difficulties of human beings) solved better by utilization of non organic analogies.

The LQ was: "How is a Salix Caprea Willow leaf like a tomato?" Several answers were provided and the facilitator selected the most novel: "Because they both get lost in a fog" because this reply had no direct relationship to the structure of either the willow leaf or the tomato and therefore worth exploring. The LQ now was "How is a tomato or a willow leaf lost in a fog like a running worm? We cannot follow the many answers provided at this point, but the final concept generated by the group concerned a boiling glacier. This statement led to PA (Personal Analogy) by the group becoming a boiling glacier and "Being the Thing". In this excursion several members of the group became a boiling glacier and in the process of “Being the Thing” one member began breathing heavily stating: "Oh. Oh," I'm sliding, Oh, I'm sliding". The facilitator feeling that a new solution might lie in this expression had other members of the group replicate this "Being the Thing" and almost immediately the "Expert" became excited stating very strongly “THAT'S THE ANSWER, THAT'S THE ANSWER”!!! He then explained that the continual "Oh, Oh" by the group members made him realize that a succession of air jets beneath the rolls directed upward could keep the surface elevated and prevent them from sticking together and thereby solve the problem.

The total time required for this solution was 45 minutes in comparison to the ten years of fruitless engineering attempts. C.D.Wrege