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Engineering companies face difficulties to utilise the full potential of existing knowledge assets in the enterprise to support product development. The Lean Knowledge Life Cycle (LeanKLC) was developed as a methodology to capture, re-use and create knowledge in the Lean Product and Process Development (LeanPPD) environment. LeanPPD is a project funded by the EU-PF7. The project addresses the needs of European manufacturing companies for a new model that goes beyond lean manufacturing, to ensure the transformation of the enterprise into lean environment. The research methodology comprises three main elements: a) literature review and industrial field study b) the LeanKLC development c) action research and d) case study validation. As opposed to common Knowledge Life Cycle (KLC) methods, the LeanKLC does not require a rigid procedure of the proposed stages. It provides different knowledge modelling tools and alternative implementation scenarios specifically in product development. The stages of the LeanKLC are the following: 1) Knowledge Identification, 2) Previous Projects and Domain Knowledge Capturing 3) Knowledge Representation, 4) Knowledge Sharing, 5) Knowledge Based Engineering, 6) Dynamic Knowledge Provision and 7) Dynamic Knowledge Capturing. A dynamic dimension instils the practise of knowledge capture and provision as a daily routine. This aims to ensure that knowledge is naturally created without the need of time consuming documentation. Initial industrial feedback concludes the LeanKLC as a beneficial methodology. Future work will entail the conduct of industrial case studies in collaboration with European manufacturing companies in order to enhance the present tools and tailor them based on specific industrial needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]