© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/1 Knowledge Management: An Engineering Perspective Dr. Christian Hicks Professor Paul Braiden University of Newcastle upon Tyne

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/2 Capital Goods Companies Products and processes usually complex Customised to meet individual customer requirements Engineered-to-order Low volume, “lumpy”, erratic demand

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/3 Classification of ETO Companies Product / project focus “Normal” / “Radical” design Established / ad-hoc business processes

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/4 ETO Challenges Focus on return on capital has led to change in ETO company structures. ETO companies need to coexist in several alliances / joint ventures simultaneously. Need to assure the processes by which knowledge is used within the firm and supply chain. Knowledge needs to be gathered from transitory supply chain relationships Need to comply with regulatory / de- regularity environments.

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/5 ETO Processes Physical / non-physical. Multistage - tendering, contract execution, operations, maintenance. All processes complex, interrelated and knowledge based. Processes dynamic and often reconfigured. General shift towards the outsourcing of physical activities.

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/6 Product Development Process 75-80% of cost and delivery commitments result from early stages design decisions There is high levels of uncertainty and sparse knowledge. A holistic view of multistage processes is required including design, manufacture, construction, operation and maintenance Tendering is often subject to severe time pressure and resource constraints.

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© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/8 Product Development Processes Normal design - product development, modification of existing products Radical design - creation of new type of product, sparse knowledge base, engineers work from first principles, high levels of experimentation / modelling.

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/9 Business Processes With normal design there is sufficient knowledge to have established business processes Radical design often requires business processes to be developed on an ad- hoc basis. ETO companies lie on a continuum between these two extremes.

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/10 Product Description Changes in both form and detail Starts with high ambiguity, sparse description and high uncertainty Finishes with full product description and limited uncertainty Different functions have different views –Functional decomposition –Physical decomposition –Top down vs bottom up –Geometric / materials / properties

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/11 Systems Analysis and Modelling Different types of model based upon graphical notations Functional models - decompose systems using a hierarchical, top-down approach. Helpful for understanding processes and interrelationships. Information models - “flat structure” define data structures for database systems in terms of entities and relationships. Dynamic models - describe dynamic characteristics Other models - decision trees etc.

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/12 Modelling Engineering Systems Quality Function Deployment - mapping customer requirements into engineering characteristics Precedence relationships between processes and knowledge important Matrix based approaches - Steward / Epping, identify –Serial processes –Parallel processes –Coupled processes

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/13 Research Objective is to identify new or improved knowledge management activities which will yield benefits. Some companies have established processes, whereas others develop them as required on a project basis. Knowledge workers operate within defined business processes and informal routines Business processes and routines established through observation of processes and routines. Formal methods used for mapping business processes (SSADM/IDEF)

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/14 Routines Identification of drivers and actors People / system driven Identification / dissemination of internal / external knowledge

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/15 Knowledge Classification Knowledge processing - generation, transfer, utilisation, identification, capture / retrieval, format, codification, assurance Domains - internal/ external, technical area, focus The part of the organisation’s performance affected by the knowledge management activity Formality - time and location dependency, MIS

© C.Hicks / P.M.Braiden EDIN/16 General Conclusions ETO companies are complex and dynamic organisations Interactions between processes may be separated by a time lag. Formal processes modelled. Current research is focused upon identifying, classifying and documenting processes / routines Object: to identify / improve KMA’s. The performance of the associated business processes will be compared. Research methodology proposed