The adoption of automatic warehousing systems, a type of green technology, has been an emerging trend in the logistics industry. In this study, we develop a conceptual model using a technology–organization–environment framework to investigate the factors which influence logistics firms to adopt green technology. Our model proposes that the adoption of green technology is influenced by perceived advantage, cost, technological turbulence, business partner influence, firm size, firm scope and operational performance. The objective of this study is to identify the conditions, as well as the contributing factors, for the adoption of automatic warehousing systems in logistics firms. Data were collected from 98 firms in China, and structural equation modeling with partial least squares is adopted to analyze the data. The results suggest that high perceived relative advantage, firm size, cost, firm scope, operation performance, technological turbulence and influence of business partners are important factors affecting IT adoption in small businesses. Therefore, decision support should be provided for enterprises from the three aspects of technology, organization and environment to improve the adoption of automatic warehousing systems.

The possibility distribution-based approach is one of the powerful tools available to manage hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS) information. However, existing possibility distribution studies have not considered the experts' satisfied preference for HFLTSs in the process of generating the possibility distribution. This paper aims at filling this research gap. To achieve this goal, a novel possibility distribution generation method based on the concept of linguistic quantifier is proposed. This is accomplished by defining a new attitude linguistic quantifier, which is supported with theoretical results to analyze the relationship between the proposed attitude linguistic quantifier with the original linguistic quantifier, attitude indices and the expected linguistic term. The new possibility distribution generation method is proved to be (1) more general than the two main existing approaches, which are particular cases for specific linguistic quantifiers; and (2) useful to implement the concept of soft majority in the resolution process of the decision making situation. Additionally, a new two stages feedback mechanism of attitude adjustment and assessment adjustment is devised to guarantee the convergence of the consensus reaching process. Finally, a framework of group decision making with HFLTSs information is presented and an illustrative example is conducted to verify the proposed method.

The Heronian mean is a useful aggregation operator which can capture the interrelationship of the input arguments. In this paper, we develop some Heronian means based on uncertain linguistic variables, such as the generalized uncertain linguistic Heronian mean (GULHM) and uncertain linguistic geometric Heronian mean (ULGHM), and some of their desirable properties are also investigated. Considering the different importance of the input arguments, we define the generalized uncertain linguistic weighted Heronian mean (GULWHM) and uncertain linguistic weighted geometric Heronian mean (ULWGHM). Then, a method of multiple attribute decision making under uncertain linguistic environment is presented based on the GULWHM or the ULWGHM. In the end, an example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.

International audienceAs a new generation of automated warehousing systems, 3D compact storage systems have been increasingly installed worldwide for handling inventory items in warehouses, distribution centres and manufacturing factories. Due to the problem complexity and system novelty, research investigating these systems, design models in particular, lags behind. This study, thus, addresses the design of 3D compact storage systems, where the I/O port is located at the lower mid-point of the storage rack, in attempting to assist practitioners in designing such systems that can achieve optimal performance while meeting system capacity requirements. In view of its importance in system design, we first derive the system expected travel time and subsequently optimise the three dimensions of the storage rack. We consider all the possible configurations of the three rack dimensions and develop closed form expressions for travel time derivation and rack dimension optimisation. We compare the result with an available design model, where the I/O port is located in the lower left-corner of the storage rack. The comparison shows that our model produces shorter system expected travel time, thus higher system throughput. We also elaborate several numerical examples to demonstrate how our model can be applied to design 3D compact storage systems in practice. Based on the numerical examples, we further provide several managerial implications, which are useful for practitioners to make suitable design decisions