Digital lifecycle records as an instrument for inter-company knowledge management.

Digital lifecycle records provide a high potential for securing and passing of plant-specific information. Today, however, their use is limited to individual life phases and in-house applications. Further use cases such as the use in the context of an inter-company knowledge management are not yet implemented. The potentials and challenges of digital lifecycle records in networked value creation structures are examined and evaluated in this article using the example of inter-company knowledge management. As a result, recommendations for action and a specification of further research needs are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]