Development of an Interactive Web-Based Knowledge Management Platform for Major Maintenance Activities: Case Study of Cement Manufacturing System

Abstract

The expectations of organizations within industries that perform MoOSTs when adopting knowledge management (KM) as part of their organizational process are to improve the ability to execute their core business functions in the process of capturing as well as retaining expert knowledge. However, existing literature is limited in MoOSTs-specific knowledge management systems (KMS) that can assist with experience capturing, collation and transfer. This is partly due to the challenges associated with the ability to design, implement and test the efficacy of such KMS in practice, owing to many intricately identified knowledge barriers within MoOSTs. In this study, through a cement manufacturing process case study, a proposal depicting a typical KM process within MoOSTs is presented along with an early stage interactive web-based KMS for MoOSTs. The developed KMS is termed MoOSTs knowledge platform (MoOSTsKP). The MoOSTsKP was evaluated by experts for its fluidity, resilience, and adaptability to different MoOSTs organizations, which are crucial elements for integration into existing MoOSTs information technology (IT) systems. The MoOSTsKP is identified with having many benefits including prioritization of MoOSTs activities based on an in-built criticality assessment model, which enables MoOSTs experts to instantly identify priority knowledge classes and in turn rationalise the workload associated with knowledge capture and reuse. Based on expert opinions, it is envisaged that the proposed MoOSTsKP would contribute immensely towards the alleviation of challenges associated with incessant loss of vital expertise.