Case Study
Knowledge Management
Assignment # 2 Case Summary
Knowledge management implementation at Nestle, Pella and Volkswagen all had a common goal. All three wanted to have one set of common processes throughout their entire organizations, with the belief that all employees, customers and suppliers could have access to the same information. To do this they wanted a software system (ERP) that had the ability to share knowledge and information easily, this would enable everyone to be working from the same system and would speed up all processes. They wanted a system that would be transparent and at the same time to help them be more efficient and competitive within their markets. A common issue in all three organizations is they had grown out of the systems that help build their enterprises, however they were now dealing with a global economy and the need to have a system where information was easily stored and viewed was necessary in order to stay completive in their markets. Customer demands were now more demanding where the need for many combinations and variety of their products had to be available and ready to deliver at very short lead times. In order to do this, the ERP systems had to be able to track all orders from order entry to delivery to the customer. At the same time, inventories had to be maintained, production schedules had to be accurate and business processes needed had to be foolproof. Each company took a different approach on implementing their knowledge system: Pella had already had a good system in place but it was taking too much time and money to maintain it, they implemented an Oracle system to assist them in “seeing everything going on at the same time”. The implementations were done in stages, starting with the financial systems and then supply chain applications. The ability to implement in stages help reduce the chaos throughout the company and the benefits were seen slowly, this would help
Assignment # 2 Case Summary
Knowledge management implementation at Nestle, Pella and Volkswagen all had a common goal. All three wanted to have one set of common processes throughout their entire organizations, with the belief that all employees, customers and suppliers could have access to the same information. To do this they wanted a software system (ERP) that had the ability to share knowledge and information easily, this would enable everyone to be working from the same system and would speed up all processes. They wanted a system that would be transparent and at the same time to help them be more efficient and competitive within their markets. A common issue in all three organizations is they had grown out of the systems that help build their enterprises, however they were now dealing with a global economy and the need to have a system where information was easily stored and viewed was necessary in order to stay completive in their markets. Customer demands were now more demanding where the need for many combinations and variety of their products had to be available and ready to deliver at very short lead times. In order to do this, the ERP systems had to be able to track all orders from order entry to delivery to the customer. At the same time, inventories had to be maintained, production schedules had to be accurate and business processes needed had to be foolproof. Each company took a different approach on implementing their knowledge system: Pella had already had a good system in place but it was taking too much time and money to maintain it, they implemented an Oracle system to assist them in “seeing everything going on at the same time”. The implementations were done in stages, starting with the financial systems and then supply chain applications. The ability to implement in stages help reduce the chaos throughout the company and the benefits were seen slowly, this would help