# Factors in the Relationship between Maintenance Engineering and Knowledge Management
## 2 Materials and Methods  
The instruments used in the investigation are semi-structured interviews and analysis based on the grounded theory, direct observation and documents of the company related to the activity. Collecting information from different sources not only allows a better evaluation of the validation and generalization of the results, but also reduces the risk of having limited conclusion based on limited methods [29]. Figure 2: Industrial knowledge according to the Nonaka model. This investigation has studied 61 cases of industrial maintenance staff involved in the agro-food sector in Spain. The case study has been chosen because of its strategy to understand in depth the individual scenarios and its dynamics in order to discover new relationships and concepts, rather than verify previously established propositions [30; 31; 32]. For this study, different components were used, such as technicians and maintenance department managers related to the agri-food sector. The sample for this activity was formed by 10 maintenance managers and 51 maintenance technicians (Table 1). In the selected company, it has been assumed that the internal maintenance and operation departments aim to have high impact, in order to havenationwide implementation with industrial factories distributed in different territorial points. In the selection, the minimum experience is 10 years, so that they know the performance of their functions as well as the normal limitations in their job. The script for the interview:  
_It is intended to study the factors involved in knowledge management in maintenance engineering within the industrial company. Based on your personal experience, answer the following questions:_  
1. _Is there any knowledge management policy within the company? And within the maintenance activities?_
2. _In daily activities related to your duty, how do you create the knowledge that is normally used in your duty?_
3. _How is the coding and storage of the generated knowledge produced? How do you contribute to it? and the rest of coworkers?_
4. _How does the personal knowledge is transmitted? To what extent does the level of tacit knowledge affect the resolution of failures or unscheduled stops in these technical structures?_
5. _How do you use stored knowledge and how does it impact the company?_
6. _What barriers exist within the maintenance activities so the proper knowledge management can be achieved?_
7. _What would improve knowledge management in your work? What do you think you could do to improve it or the company?_
8. _What is the involvement of your senior regarding knowledge management?_
9. _Have any audits taken place? Have knowledge maps been created or used to clarify knowledge flows within the most important tactical activities?_  
The instruments used for this investigation are:  
**Grounded theory**: this starts with a general sample of types of companies or people and it will be adjusted as the research progresses. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Research Sample**} \\ \hline Total company staff & \multicolumn{4}{c}{1137} \\ \hline Company sector & \multicolumn{4}{c}{Agri-Food Industry Sector} \\ \hline Maintenance area total staff. & \multicolumn{4}{c}{230} \\ \hline \multicolumn{6}{c}{Maintenance sections} \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Interviewed maintenance staff} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{Facilities} & Production & Mechanical & Systems \\ \cline{2-6}  & Managers & 3 & 3 & 2 & 2 \\ \cline{2-6}  & Operative technicians & 12 & 14 & 16 & 9 \\ \hline Total interviewed cases & \multicolumn{4}{c}{61} \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Sample of qualitative study. In order to obtain information that does not influence the answers of the interviewees, a semi-structured protocol is followed with a flexible style. The interviewee is an informer who provides relevant aspects and suggests additional sources [31]. **Direct observation**: this is a close examination of the different aspects of a phenomenon in order to study its characteristics and behavior.