Knowledge management for new technology procurement: the case of a sludge treatment centre

The paper considers the knowledge management problems facing clients who are procuring complex capital goods based on technologies unfamiliar to them. In the example presented, a sludge treatment centre procured by Northumbrian Water Ltd. (NWL), the task faced by the client was to manage knowledge in a context where the core technology being procured had resulted in a radical and partly unforeseen departure from previous operating experience. The case study shows that whereas generating knowledge for procurement and operations appears relatively unproblematic, adapting the organisation to the changes implied by the technology appears to be more difficult.