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An approval process is important in this context to coordinate and check the addition
of KM tasks. The possibility of suggesting new tasks renders the KM certification
checklist dynamic. Moreover, the checklists are predefined for each process step and
designed so that the systematic reuse of experiences and particularly good or best
practices are considered. Good practices are proven as valuable for an organization,
whereas best practices are worthwhile for the whole community of Know-CoM users.
Subsequently, some core tasks of the development process are outlined:
During offer creation, especially experiences and information concerning the
number of redesign cycles of similar molds are needed. Therefore, the checklist for offer
creation comprises tasks regarding the estimation of the number of redesign cycles of
similar molds as well as the application of good or best practices in this area, next to the
use of templates for the collection of customer information. During conceptual planning,
valuable experiences about standard parts in particular have to be reused. Additionally,
employees from the areas of production, design, and test might have to be contacted
when this contact turned out as worthwhile in the past. The design is a process step,
which has a high potential for improvement for the lowering of costs when proven test
experiences are reused systematically. Therefore, typical tasks included in this checklist
are, for example, the application of test protocols and documented test experiences to
similar molds as well as discussion with the die and mold maker and/or the tester. Such
discussions can be supported by the use of application sharing and aim at exchanging
knowledge as well as at avoiding mistakes. Particularly, when designers of cooperating
enterprises communicate, tools for application sharing (e.g., for CAD) are useful and
provide additional context.
The main focuses of the checklists for the production planning and production
steps lie in the reuse of good or best practices regarding cutting tools, their sequence,
and the sequence of the machines as well as the cutting strategies. Additional tasks aim
at fostering communication and knowledge exchange with the toolmaker. The checklist
of the tester comprises tasks such as the consequent application of former test protocols
or the discussion of test results with the die and mold maker and the designer.
KM certified should help to ensure or foster the application of existing knowledge
in the process phases described, to reduce previously made mistakes, and to increase
the quality of the dies and molds produced.
Discussion
In the following section, we discuss how the elements of the Know-CoM solution
could meet the challenges described.
- Lack of experience management: Know-CoM aims at capturing experiences
during the execution of process steps supported by templates. In particular,
templates and wizards ease the codification and lower documentation effort. The
main target is ensuring high reusability by other employees, which is supported by
semiautomatically detected context. By the technique KM certified, feedback loops
between the steps of the core process are established and previously documented
experiences and good/best practices are provided systematically after verifying
their value. Thus, quality and efficiency can be enhanced, because especially the
missing feedback loops from later to early stages in the development process as
well as between cooperating SMEs impact these two factors.