Management of production know-how through the integration of PLM and MES

In contemporary businesses, effective leadership is largely dependent on management know-how. To achieve strategic goals, keep a competitive edge and enhance organizational performance, it is strictly important to apply managerial knowledge and skills to real-world scenarios. This is particularly true for those companies where experience and knowledge of workers, the so-called know-how, represent the core of the organization, such as in One-of-a-Kind Production (OKP) companies. An OKP company produces unique products according to each specific customer demand, thus, every product requires a customized design and production plan. In this context, knowledge plays a central role: the ability to quickly design a correct model and anticipate any production problem depends on the know-how of the company’s human resources. Thus, deploying an efficient knowledge management system and applying knowledge management practices are crucial activities to enhance efficiency and flexibility, and to gain competitive advantage. This thesis explores the potential benefits of integrating PLM and MES to ease the process of acquiring, sharing and retrieving knowledge, and develops a framework for implementing such integration in the context of OKP companies. The research methodology applied in this thesis encompasses a thorough evaluation of the available literature and a case study. While the literature analysis shows the advantages and disadvantages of a PLM-MES integration for manufacturing processes, the case study looks into a practical use of PLM and MES in an Italian car manufacturing company. According to the study's findings, PLM-MES integration can significantly enhance both design and production activities, as well as all the business operations. Indeed, the integration can specifically help designers in the product development activities by providing historical product data, lessons learned and past experiences. In addition, it allows to ease the communication between design and manufacturing teams, improve data integrity and accuracy, avoid errors and delays and boost productivity. All in all, this study shows the benefits of a PLM-MES integration and proposes a practical framework for implementing such integration in a OKP company. Moreover, this thesis highlights the importance of an effective knowledge management system in any organization, especially in an OKP context, to enhance its manufacturing operations and maintain its competitiveness in a continuously changing international market.