Introduction
In October 2016, I woke to the devastating news that a key member of my team had passed away suddenly. Fred wasn’t just any employee; he was a man with deep industry expertise and a wealth of practical experience—a true wellspring of knowledge.
Fred understood our manufacturing operations inside and out. He knew the speed of every machine, and everyone in our company depended on his insights.
When he died, he left behind a complex set of interconnected spreadsheets—tools he had meticulously crafted to assess the financial impact of our operations.
Unfortunately, despite their experience, the rest of our team had no idea how these spreadsheets functioned.
We were left scrambling, trying to piece together the puzzle without the one person who held all the answers.
This is the textbook definition of catastrophic knowledge loss.
The Consequences
It took us nearly three years and almost $1 million to recover from this setback.
The loss wasn’t just financial; it was the loss of tacit knowledge—unwritten, unspoken expertise that Fred had accumulated over decades. Simple tasks became challenging, and our business leaders struggled to make quick decisions without being able to consult Fred for advice. Sadly, many companies fail to recognize the value of such knowledge until it’s too late, and we were no exception.
Fred’s 37 spreadsheets were more than just data; they were the embodiment of his tacit knowledge. This kind of knowledge isn’t easily captured—it lives in the minds of individuals, developed through years of experience and problem-solving. When such knowledge walks out the door, it leaves a gaping hole that’s hard to fill.
Not All Knowledge Loss Is Sudden
While our experience was dramatic, not all catastrophic knowledge loss occurs overnight. In fact, much of it happens gradually as seasoned professionals retire.
Across Australia, around 300,000 baby boomers leave the workforce every year, taking with them decades of expertise that’s rarely documented.
In the manufacturing sector, where deep process understanding is essential, retirement feels like watching the lifeblood of our industry seep away. Manufacturing is more art than science, and anyone who has worked with process machinery for a long time learns its intricacies and nuances.
The Need for Knowledge Management
In February 2023, the Australian Government Productivity Commission released its five-year report on productivity, painting a worrying picture: key innovation drivers were slowing. Investment in machinery and equipment—which typically embeds new knowledge and best practices—had collapsed. Additionally, fewer manufacturing professionals were getting the opportunity to work on innovative projects that help expand their expertise.
The Productivity Commission recommended placing a much greater emphasis on knowledge diffusion—the sharing of knowledge within and between people. This finding aligned with my own doctoral research into leadership behaviors in the Australian manufacturing sector.
Conclusion
This harrowing experience with catastrophic knowledge loss made me realize that something had to change.
In the years following Fred’s death, I envisioned a new kind of Enterprise Knowledge Management platform designed to mitigate this very risk. I asked myself, “What software should we have in place to prevent another Fred?”
While we couldn’t afford the Fred domain, we chose something more descriptive—Knowledge Orchestrator.
In 2022, I co-founded Knowledge Orchestrator, an enterprise knowledge management platform specifically for the manufacturing sector.
Our solution is designed to prevent catastrophic knowledge loss. It’s not just about storing information; it’s about capturing the essence of expertise within manufacturing companies and making that knowledge accessible across the organization.
