Abstract
Today’s manufacturing environment is increasingly pressured to higher flexibility induced by uncertain production volumes as well as uncertain product lifetime. A way to improve productivity in a flexible production system is by using a safe and flexible cooperation between robot and operator. Therefore, manufacturing companies are experiencing an increase in human-robot interactions and in the use of collaborative robots (cobots). To make full use of cobots, it is essential to understand the drivers for their adoption as well as how these drivers are aligned with the companies’ strategic objectives. By means of in-depth interviews in six companies in Portugal and France, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of the drivers that influence the intent to adopt, or the effective adoption, of cobots and the alignment of these drivers with the strategic objectives of the company. Empirical results reveal “operational efficiency” and “ergonomics and human factors” concerns as important drivers in the adoption intent. In terms of strategic objectives, it was found that drivers are aligned with productivity and flexibility improvement as well as quality improvement strategic objectives. Understanding these drivers can help in motivating manufacturing companies to adopt cobots, in facilitating their adoption, and in reaping the benefits of this technology.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Portugal 2020 project “DM4Manufacturing - Aligning manufacturing decision making with advanced manufacturing technologies”, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016418, financed by UE/FEDER through the program COMPETE2020 and by the Project “TEC4Growth - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact”, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000020, financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
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Simões, A.C., Lucas Soares, A., Barros, A.C. (2019). Drivers Impacting Cobots Adoption in Manufacturing Context: A Qualitative Study. In: Trojanowska, J., Ciszak, O., Machado, J., Pavlenko, I. (eds) Advances in Manufacturing II. MANUFACTURING 2019. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18715-6_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18715-6_17
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