Le transfert des connaissances d'ingénierie à travers une plateforme appuyée par une ontologie produit-processus-organisation

Abstract

Globalization poses new challenges to all industries. The management of production tools is increasingly becoming an obsolete approach to stand out from the competition. Companies have instead begun to focus more on the management of their intellectual capital. Various industries have taken an interest in the valorization of knowledge and how to integrate knowledge transfer approaches into their business processes. In fact, several factors, such as retirements, staff turnover, the dispersion of work teams and geographic mobility all push companies to develop approaches enabling the transfer of knowledge. This study focuses on the engineering knowledge transfer process between a receiver and an emitter who do not share the same references or professional contexts. The objective of this Master’s project is to overcome the difficulties inherent in the knowledge transfer process between two collaborators who do not share the same vocabulary, nor the same working environment, nor the same perception of organizing knowledge and concepts, and who do not have the same professional and socio-cultural references. The solution reviewed here is based on the standardization of knowledge transfer in the context of transferring a common ontology, established on a transfer platform shared by transmitter and receiver. The methodology first focused on identifying the common ontological concepts which in turn allow a conceptual map of the main knowledge models (product, process, organization) to be set forth. Six knowledge management methods were then evaluated in order to compile a combination of these methods that responds the needs of the conceptual map-and in a manner that contributes to the framework of representing shared knowledge through a transfer platform. A case study was performed at Thermetco to validate the elements of the platform’s conceptual model. Knowledge transfer based on a common ontological model allows participants to respond to the differences in vocabulary and perception of knowledge, but it does not address gaps in professional references or differences in social and work environments. In addition, it is important to adapt the vocabulary used in the ontology to an enterprise’s business glossary. Finally, the industrial case indicates that the human factor is crucial when setting up a knowledge transfer process.

Date	24 May 2011
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Mickaël Gardoni (Supervisor) & Louis Rivest (Co-supervisor)