Knowledge Management is a vast and diverse topic that must be
addressed by all modern industrial companies, from the smallest
SMEs to the most complex organizations. Knowledge is a critical and
strategic asset and the key to competitiveness in the modern
manufacturing environment, as it facilitates capacities essential
for achieving the required responsiveness, flexibility, agility and
innovation. Nevertheless, knowledge itself is difficult to
explicate and capture, and often can be recognized only in the
improvements it brings to products, technologies and enterprise
organizations.
Four years ago, members of the CIRP community submitted a
proposal to the 6th EU Framework Programme to establish a Network
of Excellence (NoE). The European Community accepted this proposal,
and thus the Virtual Research Laboratory - Knowledge Community in
Production (VRL-KCiP) network was launched. The network set out to
create a Knowledge Community in Production that would provide
support and knowledge to EU industry. This goal was achieved thanks
to (a) the ongoing cooperation and collaboration among the network
partners, who represent leading universities worldwide, and (b)
additional strong member partnerships with laboratories outside of
Europe (Japan, Australia, South Africa, USA, and others).
The main efforts of the VRL-KCiP NoE were aimed at aiding
European manufacturing industry in defining and structuring its
strategic knowledge in order to meet worldwide strategic
challenges. These challenges, detailed below, have remained
constant over the four years of the network s activities:
- Manufacturing must become knowledge intensive, given the demand
for high-tech products (e.g. electronics, medicines).
- Given the relatively high labor costs in Europe compared to
those in developing countries, manufacturing processes in Europe
require high levels of expertise to realize required
productivity.
As a result of these challenges, over the past 30 years
knowledge management (KM) has become a major issue in Europe, in
academia as well as in industry. Indeed, firms have recognized that
cultivating the "knowledge resource" is essential for management as
well as for operations.
The aim of this book is to help readers understand the complex
topic of knowledge. Moreover, it underlines why knowledge is one of
the most important strategic issues in achieving future
manufacturing competitiveness.
The book is a collection of 34 complementary contributions
written by researchers from multinational locations and
multidisciplinary perspectives. This book is unique in that it is
based on the collective experience of these researchers and
represents the status and current issues in the study and
implementation of Knowledge Management today.
The book describes fundamental concepts in knowledge and
knowledge management and provides several case studies in the
fields of design and manufacturing. In particular, the book
presents several very original examples of knowledge management and
knowledge sharing in the context of European manufacturing. Actual
experiences and feedbacks are presented with respect to knowledge
engineering approaches for design, manufacturing, and more
generally for enterprise engineering. Moreover, methods and tools
for knowledge integration within the extended enterprise and the
value chain are described, and the role of knowledge management and
documents in supporting radical innovation projects is also
highlighted.
The book discusses ontology, which constitutes the basis for
formalizing and mapping knowledge from different points of view.
Concrete examples are described and elaborated, mainly with respect
to product, process and resource description and management along
the lifecycle of mechanical systems.
Moreover, the book outlines the knowledge management efforts
within the VRL-KCiP network. These efforts include (a) realizing a
common knowledge management capability in the multilingual,
multinational, multidisciplinary distributed research lab, and (b)
developing a knowledge map, which now forms the basis for efficient
collaboration within the VRL-KCiP consortium. In addition, the
benefits of developing networks of experts and shared knowledge
among multi-cultural communities are highlighted.
It is our hope that this book will offer you new insight into
the topic of knowledge management in the European manufacturing
context."
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