Provide Relevant Knowledge to Specify Product Design Project Needs

In many of today´s industry, knowledge is considered a strategic tool; however, knowledge is involved in so many services with so many facets that it is very complex to effectively manage for competitive advantage. In design, knowledge is recognized as important to improve the decision-making process and the commensurability of the designers´ interpretative framework, but how can relevant knowledge be identified among all the knowledge within a company? This study focuses on the early stage of project development when it is important to have a clear understanding of what is known and not known in the company to correctly specify projects (e.g., teams, costs, lead-time, etc.). A method is proposed in this paper to identify knowledge, where it is, and its level of reusability. This method filters a repository to identify and extract relevant knowledge and define its level of reusability. A case study based on a new single-use camera and a repository of 18 single-use cameras is performed to highlight and validate the proposed method