Knowledge Management in the Procurement Process: Maintenance Organization’s Role in Failure-free Production

Abstract

Abstract In order for organizations to stay competitive in the future with increased complexity and demands, failure-free production is a necessity. It has been seen that maintenance related losses losses due to equipment failure are the main root causes. Production losses can possible be prevented during the design and development phases during the procurement of the equipment. Knowledge management is particularly central in order to successfully incorporate experience and knowledge into the procurement process, called Early Equipment Management (EEM). Given also that the design and development are performed by the equipment supplier, creates an unique dependency on the knowledge sharing towards the supplier. This thesis, that is a part of the research project KIDSAM, investigates how knowledge is captured and transferred into the procurement process of production equipment, with the main focus at how knowledge from maintenance organization can prevent future production disturbances. The procurement process depends on knowledge capturing and transfer from two perspectives; (1) capturing and sharing knowledge internally from maintenance to the procurement process and (2) sharing the knowledge to the supplier, which are both covered. In order to study these aspects, in-depth face-to-face interviews, internal documents and a literature study were used as research approach. The research was performed at a global case company at three different production plants, covering three executed projects and one ongoing project. Results show that the case company has a working and well defined process of procuring production equipment, transferring explicit, implicit and tacit knowledge. It was shown that explicit knowledge was reused, together with positive initiatives to transfer also implicit and tacit knowledge, creating a high level of trust. However, it was seen that the organization possibly lack of a holistic view of EEM with e.g. a too high focus on tools. A standardized and stable process for a reactive approach to problem solving is found, the reactive and proactive approach is developing in a promising direction. The interviewed team members were found pleased with the current level of supplier collaboration but referred to documentation as a challenge. Recommendations for a holistic view of EEM, improved knowledge sharing and supplier documentation are lastly given.