K-MORE - A methodology to manage documented knowledge for reuse

The reuse of documented knowledge still represents a challenge for engineering design companies. Most of the research and practice in knowledge management has focused on the systematic collection, storage, and transfer of knowledge, assuming that if those actions are performed, the knowledge will be reused automatically. However, this does not seem to be true. We conducted a research in order to understand how the reuse of documented knowledge during the design process can be supported and based on that, we developed the k-MORE methodology (Knowledge Management for Optimised REuse). k-MORE is structured in six phases, in which methods and guidelines are suggested for the planning of the complete knowledge reuse cycle. Especial focus is on the impact of each phase of the cycle on the moment of knowledge reuse, which had been traditionally disregarded in research. All the planning is conducted under consideration of the specific company's situation and the individual needs and behaviours of its employees. We illustrate the industrial application of the methodology on the case study of a video camera development company.