Funded PhD positions in Logistics (please see the attachment for additional details on the position)
The section of Supply Chain Management at the department of Technology & Operations Management seeks an enthusiastic and talented candidate for a PhD positions in logistics. The PhD candidates will work on a funded project, which is described below. The research environment and required profile of the candidate is given below as well.
- Description of the research project
Sharehouse: Human-Technology interaction in warehouse environments
Human behavior has been demonstrated to be very influential in determining performance outcomes of logistical processes. At the same time, existing research has only lifted a small part of the veil on the interactions between human behavior and the design and outcomes of operational processes. A particular challenge in the field is posed by the rapid development of automation and robotization in logistics and manufacturing operations. Complete automation of the most essential tasks is technically often still impossible, and for the large majority of companies financially unfeasible. The fact that in these sectors many jobs are being replaced by robots, does therefore not mean that behavioral research in this context is obsolete. Instead, the nature and importance of the remaining jobs changes drastically, as workers will be required to closely cooperate with robots and automated systems. Recent studies explore the potential and pitfalls of robotization from the perspective of human factors. For example, the variety and physical nature of a job might change completely if a robot takes over a part of an employee's tasks, which will impact the motivation, job satisfaction, and ergonomics experienced by workers. From the perspective of behavioral operations management, of which the scope explicitly includes the operational performance outcomes of the studied processes, the robotization development creates innovative research opportunities at the interface between normative automated procedures and employee behavior. Identifying the optimal conditions for cooperation between employees and robots is not only required to achieve short term performance objectives, but also from the perspective of achieving sustainable operations in the long run. These objectives will be addressed using experimental research in a real-life warehouse environment that allows to test human-robot collaboration in various setups. Applying for this project requires a background in quantitative empirical research and statistical techniques. Experience with experimental research is desirable.
Additional information about the project can be obtained from dr. Jelle de Vries (jvries@rsm.nl) or prof.dr. René de Koster (rkoster@rsm.nl)
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Debjit Roy
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