Title: Knowledge partitioning: a strategic approach to product lifecycle management

Authors: Madhusudan Therani, Mohan Tanniru

Addresses: MIS Department, University of Arizona, 430 McClelland Hall, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. ' MIS Department, University of Arizona, 430 McClelland Hall, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

Abstract: The vision of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) articulates a holistic approach to managing product and service related knowledge in engineering organisations. We characterise PLM as a large-scale knowledge management effort in engineering organisations. Analysis of enterprise information systems suggests that effective utilisation is hindered by ineffective operationalisation, inappropriate contextual reuse and fragmentation of knowledge. Based on case studies, we present a Knowledge Partitioning approach wherein organisational knowledge is classified as data-related, process-related, and control-related. Combining these types of knowledge appropriately may enable effective contextual knowledge reuse. Benefits and issues in adopting such an approach are discussed.

Keywords: knowledge partitioning; knowledge integration; product lifecycle management; PLM; product development; organisational knowledge; knowledge management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2005.006670

International Journal of Product Development, 2005 Vol.2 No.1/2, pp.85 - 108

Published online: 01 Apr 2005 *

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