Start With People, Not Platforms – Seven lessons from Japan on making knowledge change stick
Most knowledge initiatives start with a platform: a new system, tool or governance framework. But technology alone does not make people share what they know. Drawing on Professor Naoki Ogiwara’s session at Knowledge Summit Dublin 2026 and case studies from Fujifilm Medical Systems and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, this article sets out seven lessons for training, learning and knowledge managers, plus a 30-day experiment for testing the approach in practice.
The Fatal Flaw in Your Construction Safety Manual
A signed RAMS sheet does not prove a worker understood the method or could find it again when the task changed. This blog explains why paper-heavy safety communication breaks down on busy construction sites, and how QR-accessible video SOPs help H&S, site, quality and commercial teams reinforce the right method at the point of work.
Your SOPs exist. So why does the same question keep coming up?
For operations teams, SOPs and formal training are only part of the answer. The gap is operational knowledge: the practical know-how that keeps work consistent across shifts, sites and teams.
If you manage an operation, you probably know this pattern.
The process exists. The SOP is in SharePoint. The LMS module has been completed. The compliance record is clean.
Then a new starter asks the same question on the floor. A driver checks the same exception with the supervisor. A technician has to explain the workaround again. A handover misses the one detail that would have saved time on the next shift.
The issue is rarely that people are careless. More often, the system has captured the formal version of the work, while the practical version is still passed from person to person.
That gap has a cost.
The skills conversation operations leaders need before the next AI rollout
The manufacturing and supply chain sector has spent years improving systems, controls, reporting, and compliance. AI will add another layer of data and recommendations. The question is whether frontline teams can use it in the work, under pressure, across shifts, sites, and changing demand.