Know-CoM 189Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtenexamined confidentiality of the knowledge shared with partners and customers as well
as barriers that prevent knowledge sharing across organizational boundaries.
Finally, it was analyzed which KM-specific functions should be integrated in the
software (e.g., knowledge maps, automatic classification, personalization).
The Core Process
The typical development process of die- and mold-making companies derived from
expert interviews and questionnaires (see section “Setting the Stage”) is depicted in
Figure 1. The symbols below the process illustrate some examples of data needed or
created during the particular process phases.
Offer creation is carried out in parallel to mold conceptual planning and is triggered
by customer requests. Customers send a drawing of the part and a list with required mold
or die materials. The documents have different formats such as sheets of paper (hand-
made sketch, printings, etc.) or electronic documents (CAD files, etc.). Having received
the request, the company calculates an offer and sends it back to the customer.
Calculation depends on different information gathered or delivered by the customer, for
example, type and characteristics of the materials and the part’s complexity. The more
detailed the request is, the better the company is able to plan and provide a solution for
the request. Independent of the information delivered by the customer, calculating offers
is difficult due to the high variety of dies or molds formerly produced. Particularly,
estimating the number of cost-intensive redesign cycles is very hard (see process step,
mold design changes). The systematic comparison of the die or mold to be produced to
already-produced ones with respect to geometry, material, and so forth, can ease the offer
creation process, particularly the estimation of the redesign loops significantly and
improve the margin. Based on our interviews and questionnaires, we observed that
previous offers, CAD drawings, and so forth, are stored unsystematically.
Mold conceptual planning is based on the customer’s requirements regarding
functionality, behavior, number of parts per mold or die, number of injections per mold
or die, and structure of the planned form. Conceptual planning requires information
about preconditions related to the construction such as data of the injection mold or die
machines, and usability of standard parts. Internal information about availability of
production lines and production skills are also needed for suggestions and decisions.
Figure 1. Core process of die- and mold-manufacturing SMEs