THE FUTURE OF TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE
“Tribal knowledge” is a term that gets used frequently in today’s manufacturing world, and almost always in a negative sense. At Machine Research, we actually think that tribal knowledge is a great thing; in fact, it’s often the foundation of many of today’s best manufacturing companies. It represents the trade secrets, unique processes, and cumulative contributions of skilled craftsmen acquired over decades that companies employ to be the best provider of a specific manufactured product. If there is a problem with tribal knowledge, it’s that if a member of the tribe goes missing and is the only one in possession of specific and valuable manufacturing knowledge, the knowledge may be lost. In fact, as discovered in a recent research project on lean quoting practices, this is one of Machine Shops top business challenges today.
Creating an easy-to-use method and place to capture and store valuable tribal knowledge makes tremendous sense in today’s manufacturing world. This way, members can come and go, and the total knowledge of the tribe will never be at risk of loss.
With the development of any-device-anywhere access to the Machine Research cloud platform, we can dream of a world where tribal knowledge is both revered as it should be and preserved as the valuable company asset it is.
