Identifying the Challenges and Barriers Associated with the Adoption of Energy Efficient Innovative Technology in Warehousing Facilities in South Africa

This research aims to identify the Challenges and Barriers Associated with the Adoption of Energy Efficient Innovative Technology in Warehousing Facilities in South Africa. Pandemic had a significant impact on the rapid increase in e-commerce activities which led to the need for many companies in South Africa to develop larger and more sophisticated warehousing facilities. However, due to the current condition of South Africa’s energy supply, the warehousing industry faces many challenges as regular load-shedding interrupts operations. Furthermore, energy?efficient innovative technologies used to reduce energy consumption in warehousing facilities is not widely adopted in South Africa. It was discovered that energy costs contribute a high amount to warehouses operating budgets; therefore, the need for energy efficiencies in warehouses is essential. Certain technologies are readily available to be incorporated into South African warehouses to address the reduction of energy consumption. However, when implementing such innovative technologies, many challenges and barriers will be faced. This research attempted to identify the challenges and barriers through a constructivist paradigm. The research was conducted using interviews with professionals in the industry who had vast knowledge and experience in the warehousing industry. The data collection took the form of semi-structured interviews, where a qualitative data approach was adopted. Nvivo was used to generate underlying emerging themes. It was found that only a select few energy-efficient innovative technologies are adopted in South African warehouses and that implementing energy-efficient innovative technologies provided numerous advantages and disadvantages. Most importantly, the findings revealed a significant number of challenges and barriers to the implementation of such technologies.