Chapter 5: Tools

Title: Development of a tool to support the dissemination of information about knowledge in multilingual product development teams

Author(s): Daniel J. Bradfield, James X. Gao, Hossein Soltan

Address: Manufacturing Department, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, United Kingdom | School of Engineering, University of Greenwich at Medway, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, United Kingdom | Manufacturing Department, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, United Kingdom

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2007 pp. 261 - 270

Abstract/Summary: New product development (NPD) represents a significant portion of the product lifecycle. Recent years have seen the adoption of cross-functional stage-gate NPD process models by manufacturers. These models demand the effective sharing of knowledge among individuals with different functional backgrounds and levels of experience. This scenario presents various knowledge sharing challenges. These challenges have been further complicated by the emergence of global product development, in which project teams may be comprised of individuals with no common language. This paper presents a methodology for building a mechanism that allows information about knowledge in the NPD process to be made available in a multilingual environment. The mechanism is a component of an ontology based NPD knowledge sharing developed by the authors. Implementation of the methodology using data from an industrial case study have demonstrated that it can applied successfully in practice, but further development and user feedback from industry is required.

Order a copy of this article