Optimizing a Competence Management System: An Algebraic Approch

Aerospace industry is particularly interesting for its complexity due to the high technological products and to a deep and wide net of actors located on a worldwide scale that collaborate to realize the final product. Furthermore, aerospace products require specific and adequate engineering competencies. The use of competencies management system shareable by a whole network of companies can improve the collaboration and the knowledge exchange with a more effective and efficient monitoring, development, and scouting of technical competencies available to perform engineering activities. However, few studies are specifically focused on the process of competencies management in engineering activities to support the development of aerospace products. Based on the experience in an aerospace company, Alenia Aeronautica, its CMS has been translated, in this work, in a mathematical formalism to well define the multifaceted and disparate concepts concerning the related competencies management methodology. The use of a mathematical approach overcomes the linguistic divergences and understandings and allow to apply its concepts and rules also in other companies and realize an inter-companies CMS. The application of the mathematical model in a company case study clarifies the approach and lead to further improvements.