Research on Management of Design Knowledge in Design Companies

摘要

Design companies belong to an industry which produces knowledge and transform knowledge into products.　The application of knowledge in design process generates more knowledge that lays in each design department and designer, which is also the key to competitiveness in design industry. Promotion on the management of design knowledge can facilitate the knowledge creation activities of individuals and organizations and indicate new directions of knowledge creation. To the present, very few literature concerns the mechanism of knowledge sharing and storage generated during each stage of design process. Hence, the research aims to explore this field. Most domestic design companies are small and medium enterprises with high labor turnover rate, slow knowledge accumulation, and knowledPre centralized on few professionals. An effective mechanism of design knowledge management is needed if the maximum Production capaeity is desired. The research aims at the small and medium domestic design companies to discuss the model of the generation, storage and sharing mechanisms of the key design knowledge and to propose a conceptual framework.　The knowledge flow within the framework is not one-way. but composed of multiple mechanisms instead. Knowledge storage is mainly composed of internal design projeets and external reference database. Knowledge sharing can be conducted through many ways such as external reference database, design projects database system, knowledge exchange and training. With the knowledge communication platform, organizations can allow designers to share knowledge and designers can also store their knowledge in the organization. The management of design knowledge can help design companies to store, share professional knowledge with greater efficiency and thus improve the quality and quantity of design projects. Such mechanism also helps domestic design SME understand the process of design knowledge generation, storage and sharing as well as increase competitiveness, productivity and design management capability.