Leveraging autonomous mobile robots for Industry 4.0 warehouses: a multiple case study analysis
The International Journal of Logistics Management
ISSN: 0957-4093
Article publication date: 1 September 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Despite its potential, warehouse managers still struggle to successfully assimilate autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in their operations. This paper means to identify the moderating factors of AMR assimilation for production warehouses that influence the digital transformation of their intralogistics via AMRs.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on innovation of assimilation theory (IAT), this study followed an explorative approach using the principles of the case study method in business research. The cases comprised of four AMR end users and six AMR service providers. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Four clusters of moderators that affect each stage of AMR assimilation were identified. These clusters include organizational attributes of end users (i.e. production warehouses), service attributes of service providers, technology attributes of AMRs and relational attributes between the AMR service providers and the AMR end users.
Originality/value
The authors extend the IAT framework by identifying various moderating factors between different stages of the AMR assimilation process. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to introduce the perspective of AMR end users in conjunction with AMR service providers to the “Industry 4.0” technology assimilation literature. The study propositions regarding these factors guide future intralogistics and AMR research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Both authors contributed equally for this work.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the valuable feedback provided by Dr. Martin Dresner (University of Maryland) for this research.
Citation
Grover, A.K. and Ashraf, M.H. (2023), "Leveraging autonomous mobile robots for Industry 4.0 warehouses: a multiple case study analysis", The International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-09-2022-0362
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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