# The Role of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies in Production Process Performance: A Causal Model
## 5 Discussion, Conclusions and Industrial Implications
### Sensitivity Analysis and Industrial Implications
Also, the probability for obtaining high implementation on _Integrated Systems_ if _Stand-Alone Systems_ are low, is 0.027, and it means that companies cannot integrate their production systems if they do not have control on their isolated technologies. Therefore, managers must focus on an incremental implementation. * Finally, in the scenario where the implementation of the _Integrated Systems_ is low if the _Stand-Alone Systems_ are low as well, the probability is 0.482, which means that if _Stand-Alone Systems_ have not been implemented correctly, as a consequence, the _Integrated Systems_ will not be implemented correctly as well. The hypotheses H4, H5, and H6 are the most fundamental, because they measure the relationship between AMT and the _Production Benefits_ obtained. Regarding the H4, the conclusions are as follow:  
* There is a probability of 0.338 of obtaining high levels on _Production Benefits_, such as the reduction of the production cost, time of process, and an increment in product quality, if the _Stand-Alone Systems_ such as CAD, CAPP, CNC, and MWL, as well as robots are implemented correctly. * Those _Stand-Alone Systems_ with low levels cannot generate _Production Benefits_ in high levels, because the conditional probability is only 0.054, where managers must pay attention in order to have an adequate technology implementation. Also, to confirm the last conclusion, _Stand-Alone Systems_ in high levels do not generate _Production Benefits_ in low levels, because the conditional probability is 0.027. * Finally, the worst situation for a manager is to have a low implementation level in _Stand-Alone Systems_, because there is a risk of 0.411 of generating a low level in _Production Benefits_. In other words, managers must focus on obtaining an adequate implementation in CAD, CAPP, NC/CNC, DNC, and MWL, as well as robots, to guarantee low production costs and processing time, a better quality, and capacity. The conclusions and industrial implications for H5 are as follow:
* There is a probability of 0.345 of obtaining a high level on _Production Benefits_ if _Intermediate Systems_ also have a high level, which indicates that a low production cost and production time are depending on the technology level for AS/RS, AMHS, and AITE. This is relevant, because those technologies are focused on material handling--an important component in a production system that never adds value to the product. This findings are similar to those reported by [PERSON] [75], where AS/RS is highly related with processing time in manufacturing industries. * However, if _Intermediated Systems_ have a low implementation level, then there is a probability of 0.035 for having _Production Benefits_, which indicates the importance of guaranteeing an appropriate implementation process. Also, if there are _Intermediated Systems_ at a high level, then _Product Benefits_ will almost never have low levels, because the conditional probability is only 0.052. In other words, _Intermediated Systems_ in low levels never generate _Production Benefits_, and that is why managers must focus their efforts on guaranteeing an adequate implementation process. * Finally, there is a probability or risk of 0.333 of having low levels in _Production Benefits_ if _Intermediated Systems_ have low levels as well. In fact, it means that if technology is used in material handling, then it is difficult to obtain benefits associated with the improvement in layout, better production organization, low set-up time, and space usage. Finally, regarding the Hypothesis H6 that is related to the _Integrated Systems_ and _Production Benefits_, the conclusions and industrial implications are as follow:* If _Integrated Systems_ have a high implementation level, then there is a conditional probability of 0.491 to have _Production Benefits_ at high levels as well.