Summary: | Organizations are becoming increasingly complex with emphasis on decentralized decision making. Recent advances in the field of information systems and networking have greatly changed the characteristics of demands from shop floor of an enterprise. It is not only viewed as a production centre but is also considered as a nucleus of information and knowledge. This knowledge may consist of system's behaviour, limitation, capability, etc. Therefore, the manufacturing system must have an information system that facilitates generation, sharing and integration of knowledge for effective and efficient decision making. In the competitive environment, organizational knowledge is not perpetual, but has a lifecycle. Organizational knowledge value deteriorates with time due to changes in the competitive environment. Enterprises generate an avalanche of data and information that may be critical and valuable in nature but hard to manage and leverage properly. Effective decision making in a data-intensive environment is likely to determine future business activities and differentiate a company from its competitors. Knowledge generation, accumulation and maintaining knowledge bases are time-consuming processes but essential to development and successful application of a knowledge base system.
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