Posted by KP Thakur on May 17, 2003 at 08:53:17:

In Reply to: Use and application of Knowledge Management in the manufacturing industry posted by Ken Osano on May 13, 2003 at 06:58:46:

Ken,

On a very fundamental level, Knowledge Management to any organization means gaining from creation, reuse and sharing of knowledge about its people (internal as well as external groups like employees, customers, partners), its products & services and its business processes.

Specifically, the list of To-Dos for a manufacturing organization could include but not be limited to the following:

Knowledge about People:
Workers in the organization need to know whom to turn to in case of problems. The co has to support formal communication channels to them so that they can freely borrow knowledge from each other and increase their own (you would already have groups or communities as they are called informally with common functions or responsibilities interacting and sharing knowledge - and this culture should be encouraged and not destroyed)
Workers feel more empowered and able to devise effective problem solutions by learning more about customers and answers to questions like why is the customer buying from them (or their competitors)?

Knowledge about Processes:
People in a manufacturing organization benefit from knowing why they are doing what they are doing, whether on the assembly line or the front line. They benefit from finding out the best practices in the industry and try to emulate the same in their circumstances.

Knowledge about Products:
Organization need to understand their products - not only their features (which is obvious) but also the current stage of the product life cycle.How do the products compare with the current competition? Can they be made any better or revised...or scraped? Can production times be made shorter?

The measure of a successful KM program is simply whether the initiative has affected positively in monetary terms for parameters like the employee turnover, net profits, customer loyalty or any place where KM has been applied. Corporate KM is not very useful if its not bringing in more returns or savings in time and efforts.

Implementing KM generally requires out of the box thinking and innovative, creative approaches focused on the end objective that is empowering workers and employees with more knowledge about the company's different aspects! This initiative is then later aided by technology and you have applications like intranets that house corporate documents, discussion groups and managed communities of practices.

Finally the use and applications of KM in manufacturing industry can include but again are not limited to the following:
1)Better product design that is in line with customer needs (result of better customer knowledge) and optimum throughput by incorporating best practices.

2)Better client relationships (result of more informed sales team of products/ services and customer behavior)

3)Healthy employee relations and stronger networks amongst individuals and groups. Lower employee turnaround and greater motivation levels (result of increased knowledge and sensitivity towards employee aspirations and learning needs)

I hope my note was useful to you.

KT

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