Towards information and knowledge in product realization infrastructures

For many decades now, the focus in information technology to support the product realization process has been on data: its creation, management, and use. A general sense is emerging that data alone is no longer sufficient to support the people involved in this process. In this paper we suggest that it is time to start understanding what Knowledge is necessary to the product realization process and to move towards thinking of and implementing knowledge infrastructures and product knowledge managers. The authors provide some definitions of data, information, and knowledge in general and show how it relates to information and data. Specifically, we highlight the importance of (a) relationships or patterns in data and information, and (b) context to understanding knowledge. As part of our definitions, we provide some brief examples of relationships and contexts in the product realization process and show that the manufacturing community has already started to manage knowledge in the product realization process.