4.4.3 Changing tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge

Companies are increasingly trying to change the tacit knowledge held in people's heads into recorded or codified knowledge so that this knowledge is less vulnerable and is not lost to the company. This is made possible by the increasing scientific and technological knowledge in the food industry but also by the availability of simple, cheap computer systems such as expert systems linked into internal and external networks. Protection of intellectual knowledge has also pushed this trend; although in the food industry it is often difficult to receive patent protection except for equipment and agricultural plants, the advent of new types of foods in the future, such as nutriceuticals, could lead to more patenting. The other push to more recording of the tacit information was the introduction of quality assurance and management systems, which included careful recording of processes, products and systems.

There is an increasing amount of scientific literature in food science, which could be the basis for innovation. At the present time, it appears extremely varied and much of it is without the focus needed to build it into a new technology, but this explicit knowledge will gradually filter, often via tacit knowledge, into the food industry. As the present food science is adopted into the industry, we can expect greater support for food research and hopefully rapid advancement in food product and processing knowledge. It is a rather chicken-and-egg situation. With knowledge, models of food processes will be accessible that can be used to develop new processes as well as controlling the present processes.

Knowledge can be embodied in theories, equipment use, people and organisations (Fleck, 1998), as shown in Table 4.7.


Table 4.7 Components and contexts of knowledge

Key components of knowledge Formal knowledge: embodied in codified theories Instrumentalities: embodied in tool, equipment use Informal knowledge: embodied in verbal interaction Contingent knowledge: embodied in a specific context Tacit knowledge: embodied in people Meta-knowledge: embodied in the organisation Contexts of knowledge Domains: the areas to which the particular expertise applies Situations: assemblage of components, people, domains, etc., at any particular time Milieux: the immediate environments in which expertise is exercised

Source: After Fleck, 1998.


It is useful to recognise these different types of knowledge in a product development team, both the amount of each embodied in the team and also the amount of each needed in a specific project. In the innovation using new knowledge there is often formal knowledge, which has come from research, which has to be developed to fit with the other types of knowledge which are all fundamental to product development. The informal knowledge is important in product idea generation. Uniting the various types of knowledge with their contexts is one of the important decisions in product development. The instrumentalities, that is equipment knowledge, are important in building up both product testing and process development; but the actual equipment knowledge depends on the situation - equipment available and the expertise of the people to use it. Equipment knowledge also depends on the place of processing and testing - the laboratory or the factory floor, the small company or the large company.

Knowledge can also be divided (Court, 1997) into:

     general knowledge, gained through everyday experiences and
        general education;

     domain-specific knowledge gained through study and experience within
        the specific domain that the designer works in;

     procedural knowledge: gained from experience of how to undertake
        one's task within the enterprise concerned.

Knowledge in product development is needed for the design of the product, production and marketing, but is also needed on the PD Process. There is a standard framework for the PD Process, and the company needs to define the decisions to be made at specific stages. These actually do not differ very much from project to project, but the outcomes needed may vary and the activities vary with the domain in which the product developers are working. The techniques used will vary according to the situations and the milieux.

The knowledge-based innovation usually has the longest lead time of all product development, not only the time span between the emergence of the new knowledge from research but also on long periods before the new technology turns into products, processes and services in the marketplace (Drucker, 1985). It also is usually based on several different kinds of knowledge, which have to be integrated to produce the new technology and the new product. This is why early products sometimes fail, because the product developers may have some of the knowledge but not enough, for example they may know the scientific knowledge but do not have adequate knowledge of consumer behaviour. Food irradiation is an extreme case of this: there was a great deal of scientific and technological research, before anyone thought about the consumer reactions. In the case of microwave ovens, the food industry had done little research on the effects of microwave heating on food ingredients and food, and given little thought to educating the consumers on how to use microwave ovens with their products. It took some time before the food industry caught up with the innovation from another industry. Other examples of lack of holistic knowledge are early freeze- dried foods, and an early attempt to provide unsaturated fats in the meat from ruminant animals, in particular lamb, to give 'healthier' meat. Early freeze-dried products were specific meats, vegetables and fruit, and only when they were incorporated and marketed as convenience meals did they become accepted. The lamb with higher unsaturated fats had health advantages, but tasted like pork and was not acceptable. So it is a case of having all the knowledge threads at the right time, and the milieu of the company that will take the risk, and the domain with all the features to support the knowledge including cost structures.

Think Break In changing tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, two important storage systems for knowledge and information in the company are the company library and the computerised information technology system. 1. Compare the two systems, listing the advantages and disadvantages of     libraries and information technology systems for storing knowledge     collected during product development projects. 2. Is it more useful for future projects to have a project's knowledge on a     CD in the library than in the information technology system? 3. One of the problems in knowledge/information storage is the age of     the material. For how many years should project material be stored?     Should resources be made to collect together the information /     knowledge from several projects before this time limit? 4. Design a knowledge / information system that will suit your company's     need for internal knowledge / information in product development projects.