Knowledge Management at

Ford

Presented by:
Tanju Roy
Parul Chaudhary
Bedanta Soibam
Harsh Bhandari
Karanjit Nath
Abhishek Mukherjee
 Ford Profile
 Ranked in the Fortune 500

 Global Revenues -- $162 Billion

 Global Unit Vehicle Sales – 7 million

 354,000 Employees
 Overview Comments
 Ford has many Knowledge Sharing Processes:
Enterprise Portals, Document Repository, e-
Books, Best Practice Replication(BPR)…

 Write, Search, and Read access to BPR is

limited to Ford Employees, with valid ID and
who have received proper training.

 Detailed BPR Process is considered confidential

information.
 Achieved Vision
 Robust business process for the collection and
approval of high value practices that can be shared
and implemented throughout the enterprise.

 Establish Collaborative Capabilities and build people

relationships by sharing valuable knowledge.

 Technology to enable nimble and intuitive

communication of knowledge.
 Principles
 Capture only proven, high value practices.

 Quantify value-add to the business.

 Manage the process.

 Business Partners provide the people and the

content, IT group provides the enabling tool.
Typical Community of Practice
Senior Leadership

Community
Gatekeeper

Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 etc.

Focal Point Focal Point Focal Point Focal Point

Knowledge Workers Knowledge Workers Knowledge Workers Knowledge Workers

 Selection and Replication of Proven
Practices at Ford
Task Lessons Site
SOURCES OF Learned Visits
IDEAS
Dreams
6-Sigma
8D’s Nightmares

IMPLEMENTATION

PROVEN VALUED PRACTICES

BEST PRACTICE REPLICATION PROCESS

WITH PRESCRIBED ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

MANAGEMENT
APPROVE &
COLLECT LOCAL REVIEW FEEDBACK REVIEW OF
DISTRIBUTE
RESULTS
Create & Capture Knowledge:
BPR Steps 1-3

# 1: Draft Practice: Focal Point at a Location

enters Proven Practices into BPR.

# 2: Review Draft Practice: Gatekeeper reviews

Draft Practices for clarity and completeness.
Collaborates with Subject Matter Experts.

# 3: Approved Practice: Gatekeeper approves

only High-Value Proven Practices.
Communicate & Leverage Knowledge:
BPR Steps 4-6

# 4: Automatic email notification of Approved

Practices to all the Community Focal Points at
each Location.

# 5: Practices reviewed by team members at

each location to determine applicability.

# 6: Adopt/ Not Adopt Decision: At each

location Leadership decides priorities of
applicable practices. “Copy with Pride”
 Manage and Recognize:
BPR Steps 7-9

# 7: Feedback: At each location, Focal Point

provides feedback to the System - adoption
decision and value of the adoption.

JAN
FEB # 8: Reports: Location Summary Report,
Community Summary Report, etc.,
MAR

available to any Ford Employee.

# 9: Recognition of both the Best Practice

IN RECOGNITION
OF REPLICATING
HIGH VALUE

Creator as well as the Replicator – Placards.

IDEAS
 10 Strategies for Successful
Knowledge Sharing

# 10: Tell stories, with sufficient details.

# 9: Establish a process for filtering out

trivial, low-value practices.

# 8: If you build it they will not come.

Push the knowledge to users.
 10 Strategies for Successful
Knowledge Sharing

# 7: System must be able to capture the

value of the practice.

# 6: Senior Leadership sponsorship is

necessary, but not sufficient.

# 5: The system must be available to the

grass-roots level.
 10 Strategies for Successful
Knowledge Sharing

# 4: Provide peer-recognition of
people who share knowledge.

# 3: Hi-Tech works only if there is

Hi-Touch.

# 2: System must have automatic

feedback.
 10 Strategies for Successful
Knowledge Sharing

# 1: Culture of knowledge sharing must exist.

 Conclusions

1. Capture Hi-Value, Proven Practices.

2. Recognize participants

3. Culture of knowledge sharing