Using ontology to help achieve mobile, multi-skilled employees

Migration of employees has posed a big problem for SMEs. Migration has many advantages but leads to difficulties for SMEs, too. One disadvantage caused by the migration of employees is that experience and knowledge lose when experienced employees leave. Training new employees consumes an enormous cost [1]. This paper discusses the problem how to compile the knowledge and reuse it to help mobile employees. The ontology methodology is chosen as a tool for modeling and storing knowledge. Ontology-based assistance is based on the work context, which employees are working on. Case-based reasoning technique is used to identify a suitable solution. The case study is a company that produces special ceramics for industrial applications. The project is developed in cooperation with experts from the company. The feedback from employees during implementation and exploitation in the company is the key factor for the project's success.