International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management Special issue on: “Exploring the Role of Knowledge Management Technologies in PLM”

Abstract. The effective management of knowledge as capital is considered essential to the success of engineering product/service systems. As Knowledge Management and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) practice gain industrial adoption the question of functional overlaps between both approaches becomes evident. This paper explores the interoperability between PLM and Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) as a strategy for engineering KM. The opinion of key KBE/PLM practitioners are systematically captured and analysed. A set of ranked business functionalities to be fulfilled by the KBE/PLM systems integration is elicited. The paper provides insights for researchers and practitioners playing both user and development roles on the future needs for knowledge systems based on PLM