A model for reusing service knowledge based on an empirical case

Abstract

The reuse of knowledge and information arising from the different phases of a product's lifecycle is crucial for a company in order to achieve competitive advantage. This paper describes a case study from the oil industry investigating the transfer of knowledge within the service phase and also between the service and design phases. Interviews with engineering designers and service engineers were conducted. Knowledge arising from servicing the drilling equipment that was identified as relevant for service engineers was compared to that relevant for engineering designers. Furthermore, the mechanisms involved in the transfer of knowledge between service and design were investigated. Knowledge about changes, issues and improvements generated during service was found to be relevant to both groups; however, engineering designers were interested in knowledge of equipment at a component level whilst service engineers were more interested in obtaining an overview of the systems. The study showed that communication between the departments consisted prevalently of the service engineers pushing knowledge and information to the engineering designers. The reusing service knowledge (RSK) model is proposed based upon the findings and the understanding from a general framework for developing a knowledge management strategy. Additionally, the initial model was revised to explicitly address the factors that emerged from the case study. The RSK model was developed based on a case study from a customised industry; however, previous studies indicated that similar issues are also of relevance to a variant design industry.

Knowledge transfer between building operation and building projects

“…Knowledge push represents an initiation mechanism, where the sender provides knowledge without any particular demand for it. Knowledge pull is a mechanism, where the receiver is the one that requests the knowledge, while a fixed KT initiation mechanism depicts the scheduled KT activities, such as regular meetings, where both sender and receiver play an active role through established interaction activities (Ahmed-Kristensen and Vianello, 2015).…”

A Cloud-Based Framework for Lean Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul of Complex Equipment

“…Many manufacturing companies are moving their business strategy from merely selling products to also servicing them throughout their lifecycle [2]. Thus there is an urgent need for manufacturing enterprises to deliver sustainable productivity improvements with reduced MRO costs.…”

Simulation-Driven Development of Combustion Engines: Theory and Examples

“…Caridi et al [36] remind us to take into account how much information to share when outsourcing. Furthermore, Ahmed-Kristensen and Vianello [37] investigated the mechanisms involved in the transfer of knowledge between service and design. The findings showed an imbalance in the transfer of knowledge between engineering designers and service engineers, e.g., more than 50% of instances regarding knowledge from service were pushed (hence made available) to the engineering designers without them actively requesting this knowledge, by Ahmed-Kristensen and Vianello [37].…”

“…Furthermore, Ahmed-Kristensen and Vianello [37] investigated the mechanisms involved in the transfer of knowledge between service and design. The findings showed an imbalance in the transfer of knowledge between engineering designers and service engineers, e.g., more than 50% of instances regarding knowledge from service were pushed (hence made available) to the engineering designers without them actively requesting this knowledge, by Ahmed-Kristensen and Vianello [37]. Lastly, Shao et al [38] proposed the development of the uniform intermediate model that supports high fidelity and efficient visualization of multidisciplinary heterogeneous simulation data.…”