A Methodology for Documenting Key Knowledge Through the Application of Knowledge Audit Techniques: The Case of a Mexican Pulp Company

Abstract

Leveraging organizational knowledge is very important to improve the competitiveness of any company. Likewise, in the case of companies engaged in production of goods, proper documentation of manufacturing processes is critical to ensure the quality of products reaching the customers. This paper aims to propose a methodology to structure and document the process that takes place in the development of new products through the application of tools for auditing knowledge in order to ensure quality in the finished products. In addition to the proposed methodology, it is proposed to structure and design procedures for documenting and troubleshooting processes in the development of new products with a primary emphasis on identifying the key knowledge existing in the processes that are intended to document. Obtaining this key knowledge is through the application of audit techniques for knowledge and its representation is through knowledge maps. To validate this proposal, this methodology was implemented in a company engaged in the manufacture of packaging products located in Northwest Mexico.