Manufacturing Knowledge Base

This paper reports the method used and preliminary results arising from a functional job analysis of supply-chain management personnel. The work is part of a larger project aimed at improving the focus of third-level educational provision for this growing sector of the employment market in Ireland. Individual personnel were interviewed and their work observed in detail over a two-day period. These observations were interpreted using Fine's functional job analysis benchmark scales, and a cumulative frequency distribution was constructed for each individual or domain expert. It is planned as future work to link these observations with educational and training needs. Authors: Niall Kileen, Peter Williams, Ann Ledwith, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.