Development of an Experience Transfer and Tacit Knowledge Management Platform for Major Overhauls, Outages, Shutdowns and Turnarounds (MoOSTs)

Abstract

The ability to cope within the age of industry 4.0 as well as manage new challenges facing industries that perform major maintenance activities due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic have resulted into increased requirements to improve the predicted outcomes of major maintenance activities, and ensure that stakeholders expectations are met. Knowledge management (KM) strategies and effective knowledge management systems (KMS) have both been championed across industries involved with project-based activities as being vital for informed as well as improved decision-making. Ironically, within the body of knowledge, there are limited research-based studies and proposals that provide roadmaps on the design, implementation, evaluation as well as efficacies for KM strategies and KMS specifically for managing major overhauls, outages, shutdowns and turnarounds (MoOSTs). Hence, there is an urgent need to explore possible research that could potentially improve the accuracy of predicting and/or managing MoOSTs outcomes within the confines of stated challenges, by developing a MoOSTs specific KM strategy and KMS. However, previous research based efforts on developing KM strategies and KMS proposals within MoOSTs have been fraught with many challenges. Perhaps, some of the challenges encountered, which have affected the viability of research efforts within MoOSTs, might be due to its inherent characteristics. The persisting problems within the discipline would seemingly advocate for the integration of a research approach that incorporates the strengths of both theoretical underpinnings as well as practical orientations. While the validity as well as the academic relevance of studies focused on only theoretical underpinnings is undeniably, their potential to simulate experiential learnings within practice is arguably lower than when case studies are applied. Since MoOSTs is an applied science, with huge practical and managerial implications, it is strongly advocated that a research approach for the design, implementation and evaluation of an effective KMS, be strongly linked to evidences from both research and practice. Therefore, this thesis strongly advocates for the adoption of a case study approach as an appropriate methodology for examining challenges and demonstrating possible solutions for developing an effective KMS within MoOSTs. Consequently, the proposal of the knowledge management and experience transfer platform developed within this thesis, present a unique opportunity for organizations within industries that perform MoOSTs to identify their most critical maintenance activities and improve on their ability to execute their core business functions as well as capture and retain specialist knowledge for reuse in subsequent MoOSTs cycle. MoOSTs organizations can achieve this by adopting electronic based knowledge management systems (KMS) that are easily integrated with their existing operational systems. The interactive web-based knowledge platform for a MoOSTs intensive industry termed as a “MoOSTs knowledge platform” (MoOSTsKP) is designed to manage both tacit and explicit knowledge during MoOSTs. The MoOSTsKP has been developed with many objectives namely; to identify critical maintenance activities that support capture and retaining of specialist knowledge possessed by experienced professionals; and to overcome real-time knowledge capture limiters especially time restriction and temporary project environment, which is a main consideration within MoOSTs.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo (Supervisor)