Lean and Knowledge Management in Product Development
Abstract
We conducted a literature review during the spring of 2015, based on our interest regarding Lean and Knowledge Management. As Knowledge Management and especially Lean is more commonly utilized in manufacturing, we wanted to explore these two frameworks in a product development context. As a result, we chose to study how organizations use these frameworks in practice, both separately and in combination during engineering of Complex Products and Systems. In terms of Lean, we chose to examine how organizations use this framework in order to enhance efficiency, standardize processes, products, etc., and reduce waste. Regarding Knowledge Management, our focus areas were knowledge creation, transfer, storage, and application. We also examined how these two frameworks influenced each other. Thus, this thesis has given us insight into how organizations which develops and produces Complex Products and Systems use these frameworks in practice during the engineering phase in projects. Further, our work with this thesis has also been educational in terms of both collection and processing of data.