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.

中文翻译：

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利用自主移动机器人实现工业 4.0 仓库：多个案例研究分析

目的

尽管具有潜力，仓库经理仍然难以成功地将自主移动机器人 (AMR) 融入其运营中。本文旨在确定生产仓库 AMR 同化的调节因素，这些因素通过 AMR 影响其内部物流的数字化转型。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究借鉴同化理论（IAT）的创新，遵循商业研究中案例研究方法原则的探索性方法。这些案例包括四个 AMR 最终用户和六个 AMR 服务提供商。通过半结构化访谈收集数据。

发现

确定了影响 AMR 同化每个阶段的四组调节因子。这些集群包括最终用户（即生产仓库）的组织属性、服务提供商的服务属性、AMR的技术属性以及AMR服务提供商和AMR最终用户之间的关系属性。

原创性/价值

作者通过识别 AMR 同化过程不同阶段之间的各种调节因素来扩展 IAT 框架。据作者所知，这是第一项将 AMR 最终用户与 AMR 服务提供商的视角引入“工业 4.0”技术同化文献的研究。关于这些因素的研究主张指导未来的内部物流和 AMR 研究。