Means for Transferring Knowledge in the Relocation of Manufacturing Units

The global spread of production makes companies relocating their manufacturing units to achieve economies of scale, enjoy low-cost labor, or access to new markets. For the relocation, not only equipments, systems and facilities, need to be moved, but also operational knowledge and experience. Based on two action research projects, this paper investigates and discusses appropriate means for transfer knowledge when relocating manufacturing units. Different relocation situations are distinguished. Different groups of means including documents or manuals and peer-to-peer training, scenarios on real systems, prototypes and games, and emulation, are identified and classified according to their usages. Finally, a framework is summarized to integrate all the elements systematically. This provides strong supports and clear directions to managers and could be used as the guideline and the process model for implementations.