Knowledge Capitalization in the Automotive Industry Using an Ontology Based on the ISO/TS 16949 Standard

In most manufacturing industries, the human resources department has the responsibility for training new employees for their new roles and duties. Special instructors, time and several other related resources considered for this training translate into a high cost for any company. Quality, a factor that distinguish the efficiency and competitiveness among enterprises has become a very important to consider. Personnel rotation as well as hiring and training of new one, usually has a big impact on this quality during the time required by this new personnel to acquire experience. The main objective of this work is to present the use of an ontology for knowledge capitalization in an automotive industry, allowing information representation, manipulation and specific document retrieval for regular human resources activities like introducing new employees to their respective roles and duties in a faster way. Additionally, it can become very a powerful tool for auditing internal processes because permits faster location of documents, processes, persons and his duties. Using proper auditors and consultants (in lean manufacturing for example) can eventually translating in lower costs for a company.