Initial stage of an industrial investigation of the knowledge management practices in a large-scale multinational automotive company

Abstract: Automotive systems engineering (SE) design and high-quality
manufacturing, are highly reliant on the valuable knowledge and experience
embedded within corporate processes, guides, rules, and practitioners.
However, current knowledge management (KM) strategies are not entirely well
suited to effectively capture all the new SE knowledge generated during
continuous innovation so that it is readily accessible throughout the complete
vehicle product lifecycle. This paper reports on an investigation into KM
practices within the product development (PD) environment of a large-scale
multinational automotive manufacturer. An initial exploratory industrial
investigation involving automotive PD practitioners, was conducted with the
central focus on the real-world implications of creating, sharing, storing and
accessing SE knowledge. This paper presents an appraisal of the KM practices
and reveals the types of SE knowledge utilised and the KM taxonomies
employed throughout the SE lifecycle on multigenerational vehicle programs.
The research conclusions in this paper form the foundation for further work.