A framework of practices supporting the reuse of technological knowledge

Abstract

Technology-intensive companies invest considerable of resources in product development to bring competitive products to market. Since market demand is continuously changing, the capability to renew offerings quickly and at low cost is an important source of competitive advantage. Even if components and designs may need to be updated when releasing new products, their underlying technologies and designs can usually be reused to enable fast and cost-efficient development. To be proficient in practices that support reuse of technologies thus constitutes an important organizational capability, but identifying and assessing these practices has not been a straightforward task for technology developers and managers. This paper presents a literature review regarding technology reuse in four main dimensions; Strategy, Process, Culture, and Information Technology. The dimensions are further decomposed into a framework with twelve principles that supports this technology reuse capability, including technology platform strategy and reusability assessment. Besides providing a theoretical overview of practices supporting the reuse of technology, the framework can also be used in practice to facilitate the assessment of the current reuse capability of an organization. Industrial cases, illustrating real technology development issues, are used to highlight the principles of the framework. Further, a self-assessment scorecard is demonstrated with data from two companies that develop and manufacture high-tech products.

Supporting the Reuse of Design Assets in ETO-Based Components—A Case Study from an Industrialised Post and Beam Building System

“…The key outcome of technology development is intelligence and strategies for capturing, transfer and reuse of knowledge asset is crucial for increasing the usefulness of the development results [35]. Similar to standardisation, design reuse was coined as a suitable way for ETO companies to succeed in the process of designing customised products [17].…”

“…Similar to standardisation, design reuse was coined as a suitable way for ETO companies to succeed in the process of designing customised products [17]. To reuse knowledge assets from prior projects, individuals must search for a relevant set of assets, and then conduct in-depth analyses to determine how the ideas can be adapted [35].…”

The Axiology Aspect should be Encouraged, Not the Jargon as Kampung Inggris Sawai

“…This methodology was developed in response to the shortcomings of current practices in managing project knowledge, the benefits of capturing and sharing knowledge immediately after it is generated, and the organizational benefit of reusing knowledge within a project-based environment. (Tan et al, 2009, p. 208) In the case of reusable knowledge, such as the extension of technological usage, it was stated (Stenholm et al, 2019) that:…”

Systems engineering in context

“…They then describe the use of dominance identification in set-based design that compares statistical means for value and cost. Stenholm et al (2019) present a framework for technology reuse. First, the authors argue that the reuse of technology constitutes an important organizational capability and can result in a competitive advantage, particularly in domains where market demand constantly evolves.…”