How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

The knowledge-creating company

Surveys the history of the Department of Energy, describing its structure, current functions, and influence on United States society.

The Department of Energy

A review of optimal energy policy instruments on industrial energy efficiency programs, rebound effects, and government policies

Abstract The research paper focuses on the assessment of the application of the International Standard ISO 50001 by municipalities to facilitate the implementation of their sustainable energy action plans. Traditional energy management schemes are combined with provisions of the standard by applying measurable energy indicators. The methodology is tested on the Saldus municipality of Latvia. Discussions address crucial issues like availability of energy data, lack of measurable indicators in action plans and challenges in the application of standard procedures in the municipality.

Application of ISO 50001 for Implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans

A novel systematic methodology for ship propulsion engines energy management

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6973&context=etd

Specification of energy assessment methodologies to satisfy ISO 50001 energy management standard

Over the last two decades, the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) at West Virginia University has worked with more than 500 small and medium sized manufacturing companies to identify energy and productivity saving opportunities. The savings, which keep adding up year after year, are appreciable but do not fully capture the potential impacts of the IAC Program. On average, the implementation rate of the recommendations has been only about 40%. This rate was expected to improve with the use of a knowledge center. Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC) is a regional system which includes the development and deployment of technical resources to assist industrial facilities in energy assessment phases. It supports continuous improvement by incorporating the knowledge of IAC experts and the plant personnel. The EEKC provides information to clients on how to obtain baseline energy use for their specific energy systems using tools such as Quick Plant Energy Profiler (Quick PEP) by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It helps users to evaluate the energy efficiency measures during the pre-assessment and assessment phases. In this research, the IAC activities and tasks are studied and the steps to develop an online knowledge center are reviewed.

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5771&context=etd

Design and development of an Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC)

The paper describes the development of a computer-based total productive maintenance (TPM) model to improve electrical motors readiness and uptime while reducing capital overhead The TPM model includes the consideration of reactive, periodic, and predictive practices The input data is processed and the generated report details a set of periodic recommendations providing guidelines on recommended actions and their frequency The details about test results indicating the current condition of the motor as well estimated reactive, periodic, and predictive maintenance cost details are presented Based on the historic data stored in its database, the model can predict potential problems prior to failure as well as prescribe periodic maintenance actions to maximise motor life The TPM model will be a useful tool to predict the degradation in motor life due to deterioration in insulation, bearing, rotor bar and stator windings of the motor

Ed Crowe

Papers

Specification of energy assessment methodologies to satisfy ISO 50001 energy management standard

Design and development of an Energy Efficiency Knowledge Center (EEKC)

A computer-based total productive maintenance model for electric motors