E-commerce are constantly growing, and the logistics sector is moving towards the fourth stage of the industrialization, Industry 4.0, where implementations of automation and use of modern technology is crucial for companies to stay competitive. 3PL is also growing and continues to implement different automated solutions, but despite the general awareness of impact from automation, there is few researches done from a socio-technical perspective.

By using a qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews together with scientific articles and books, this study aims to investigate the impact of automation by acknowledging the socio- technical factors and analyze how corporations can determine what risks the implementation might carry.

The empirical analysis describes that the major factor for 3PL corporations to implement automation is to reduce costs and increase output. It also explains that customers value the 3PL’s ability to provide continuous improvements. This is much in line with what is already described in previous literature. Non-3PL companies are similar in many aspects to 3PL companies, but what sets them apart is that 3PL companies is dependent on smooth communication and relationships with partners. Logistics in 3PL companies also need to havea higher degree of flexibility as well as stay within a certain standardization.