SECI Model Combined with ISO 9001 2015 to Support Organizational KM for Manual Assembly Manufacturing Operations

In a large number of industrial sectors, manual assembly manufacturing operations highly engage tacit knowledge at an individual level. Companies in these sectors need to effectively manage organizational knowledge since it represents a real performance and sustainability lever. Although knowledge management (KM) specialists developed several models, these latter remain difficult to implement due to several barriers and limitations related to industrial reality and models ambiguity. This paper proposes an organizational knowledge management (OKM) framework for manual assembly manufacturing operations that is based on ISO 9001:2015 and SECI conversion cycle. This framework offers guidance for implementing a KM approach within the quality management system (QMS) allows to manage knowledge differently with regards to its tacitness level and overcomes many of the most common KM limitations. An experimental application based on a single case research design in an aeronautical assembly company is conducted to confirm the applicability and effectiveness of the framework suggested.