Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to 1) study the current state of knowledge management in production process of small and medium enterprises 2) study the relationship between knowledge management practices and productivity tools, years of establish and operation practices 3) study the relationship between key success factors of knowledge management and productivity tools and 4) develop the knowledge management model in production process for small and medium enterprises.
This research had two main steps which composed of 1) survey of the preliminary current state of knowledge management from supervisors in production section, quality control section or maintenance sections. They were selected only 1 person from each 198 companies 2) development of knowledge management model by study current state of problem and opinion about the appropriated approach of knowledge management from top managements, managers and supervisors in production section, quality control section or maintenance section from 7 industries group, which were manufacture of food products and beverages, manufacture of textiles, manufacture of rubber and plastics products, manufacture of furniture, manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment, manufacture of chemicals and chemical products and manufacture of wearing apparel, dressing and dyeing of fur. Using in-depth interview 1 person per level from each 7 companies totally 21 persons and tried out knowledge management model by conduct e-learning session 7 companies total 21 persons.
It was found that the current state of knowledge management in production process was not clearly implemented and not consistency. The opinions toward key success factor that support knowledge management was that the supervisors agree with the managements roles, skill development and supporting factors.
The knowledge management model consists of 8 elements. 1) Identification 2) Creation and Collection 3) Store 4) Transfer 5) Learning 6) Daily Operation & Productivity Improvement Tools 7) Key Success Factors for knowledge management that comprise of 3 parts which were managements roles, skill development and supporting factors and 8) Result.
The tried out results of knowledge management model by e-learning found that the participants had more understanding about knowledge management with average relative gain score 70.79 The average score of pre-test and post-test were significant different at a level of 0.05 (P = 0.000) The participants opinion on knowledge management model as a whole was at extremely high appropriate (x ̅= 4.35). The average of learning level of participants before and after using the model were significant different at a level of 0.05 (P = 0.000)