Creators, makers, pioneers

More than 12,000 employees, globally active and passionate about innovation — that is the way to achieve both market and technological leadership. We are Körber. Presenting our Group.

To overview

We are Körber

Körber is a leading international technology group that has more than 12,000 employees at over 100 locations worldwide. We are the home for entrepreneurs — we turn entrepreneurial thinking into customers success. Körber AG manages the Group and its four Business Areas: Digital, Pharma, Supply Chain and Technologies.

Insights

The Körber Insights shows the entire spectrum of the Körber world: We give our view of exciting developments and trends, as well as innovations and technologies. We also highlight personalities who drive Körber forward every day with their entrepreneurial spirit and new ideas.

Sustainability

Sustainability

We develop innovative products, solutions and services for a more sustainable tomorrow and introduce the people who make them possible. Find out more in our Sustainability Report 2023.

Online Sustainability Report 2023PDF Sustainability Report 2023

Körber pursues ambitious climate targets

In October 2023, we had the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) verify our commitment to achieving net-zero CO₂e emissions throughout the entire value chain by 2040. We would like to introduce you to some of the measures that will help us achieve this ambitious goal.

Group-wide standards for Ecodesign

We were able to advance our Ecodesign initiative decisively in 2023 after creating a group-wide standard for life cycle assessments (LCAs). Find out more about the first LCAs we implemented and the challenges we overcame.

Data and infrastructure protection

We aim to transform information security into a strategic objective and make it a shared concern for all employees. We provide an overview of the corresponding measures and projects in 2023.

Career

Career

Wanted: team players. The know-how, creativity, and dedication of our employees have made us a successful technology company in Germany and worldwide. Now we want to shape the future — with you! We offer exciting positions for experts, young professionals, university students, and high school students.

To CareerTo the Körber Group job market

"Modern leadership culture has a performance-enhancing effect"

A working climate that promotes innovation, diversity, and the courage to tell uncomfortable truths is more central than ever to a company's success today. In an interview, Gabriele Fanta, Head of Group Human Resources, explains how the new leadership principles at Körber specifically strengthen fruitful collaboration in everyday working life.

What comes after traineeship, Max?

Experience report: After graduating in mechatronics and mechanical engineering, Max Döring became a trainee at Körber. Today, he is Technical Product Manager at our Körber Business Area Pharma.

Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Joint future-proof activities are the foundation of sustainable procurement. Körber, as a globally leading technology group, therefore places great value on the optimal purchasing of materials and services.

To our Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain

UCS – Conductor in the warehouse

With its Unified Control System (UCS), Körber introduces an unprecedented software solution for bundling and orchestrating multiple warehouse technologies.

Imagine you are sitting in a concert hall: on stage, a large orchestra with violins, violas, cellos, double bass, wind instruments, drums, timpani, and perhaps a piano or harp. Each musician knows their part and becomes part of a work of art that evening. To ensure that all these instruments play in harmony, there is a conductor. He or she determines the cues, sets the tempo, and ensures everyone plays in sync.

What does this have to do with material flow control? Well, if you apply the image to a vast warehouse where goods, warehouse workers, and autonomous mobile robots (AMR) share the "stage," the employees and AMR embody the musicians, and the instruments, in turn, act as representatives of the numerous different picking technologies (e.g., pick-by-light, put-by-light, voice). The assortment of goods represents the piece being played.

Orchestrated intralogistics

And what about the conductor? This role is played by Körber's Unified Control System (UCS). It controls the flow of goods and materials, deploying people and robots as economically as possible and orchestrating the entire event. The result is efficient processes that integrate a variety of warehouse technologies and a wide range of material handling systems.

Bundling workflows

To do this, the UCS uses data from the warehouse management system (WMS), analyzes the inventory and availability of resources in the warehouse, and uses this knowledge to control the flow of materials as efficiently as possible. Workers, AMR, and material handling systems are automatically assigned tasks or activities based on suitability, destination, and current workload. The result is a harmonious, precisely timed sequence of operations in which every component is used, and the flow of materials is maintained.

lWith UCS, we simplify the system architecture. The software can integrate a variety of automation systems and warehouse technologies.r

Dirk Teschner, Managing Director in the Körber Business Area Supply Chain

The prerequisite for this interaction is interlocking state-of-the-art hardware and software with highly developed technologies. According to Körber's 2022 Benchmark Study, the integrative interaction of these three components is one of the most significant challenges in logistics. "We recognized this early on and developed a central solution that has not yet been available on the market in this form," he says. "With UCS, we are simplifying the system architecture," says Dirk Teschner, Managing Director in the Körber Business Area Supply Chain. "The software is designed to integrate various automation systems and warehouse technologies."

Ensuring scalability

Systems and technologies that previously ran side by side are linked, allowing automated processes to be optimized just as much as manual ones. This holistic view of operational requirements ensures high flexibility. It also improves productivity. Körber's UCS also provides customers with a solution that can be easily scaled. Adjustments to implementation and operational warehouse operations can be made at any time to reflect the company's growth, the development of global supply chains, and the overall economic situation.

The UCS software is designed to be compatible with various AMR manufacturers.

Logistics ecosystems in action

Boxy, a fulfillment service provider based in Hungary, is already working with the UCS. Whether it's a small web shop or a retail giant, Boxy stocks, packs and ships the goods. Next-day delivery is guaranteed, even same-day within Hungary, using the company's own fleet. The startup relies on Körber's expertise and has created a logistics ecosystem.

Boxy uses a highly scalable fulfillment platform based on WMS, a Shipping and Dispatch System (SDS), and UCS. The platform orchestrates all automation technology, including pick- and put-by-light solutions and many autonomous mobile robots from multiple manufacturers. This covers an enormous 10,000 square meters of warehouse space.

Interoperable and manufacturer-independent

Another novelty of the Körber solution: UCS was designed to be compatible with various AMR manufacturers. The current release focused on complete integration in close cooperation with Körber's strategic AMR partners. In the broadest sense, UCS will function independently of manufacturers. "I don't currently know of any other installation in Europe where AMR from different manufacturers work virtually hand in hand in one warehouse," says Teschner. "We focused on AMR integration in the first stage of development because this area will see the greatest growth over the next few years." According to Interact Analysis, more than four million autonomous mobile robots are expected to be used by the end of 2027, representing annual growth of 30 to 40 percent.


300
Picks per hour per workstation
1300
packages sorted per hour

Boxy's turnaround time from order entry to goods issue is just 25 minutes. This is only possible because the UCS has an overview of which orders can be processed the fastest, explains Teschner: "The system does not prioritize based on order entry, but rather based on order data, inventory, employees, and the warehouse technology used, and it does so across all systems. Orders are managed holistically to keep the whole system running optimally.”

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More in stock

UCS's range of applications is still ongoing. A voice robotics application suitable for person-to-goods picking will be available in the future. In this type of picking, an employee goes to a storage location independently, picks the goods, and then packs them at the picking location. "With this application, however, it also depends on the optimization potential of the respective picking process whether it is worth orchestrating the voice system with the AMRs via the UCS," says Teschner.

If labor shortages continue to grow in the future, many warehouses are likely to literally go dark, becoming "dark warehouses" where robots take over picking, freeing humans for other tasks, such as packing and shipping. The fact that an enormous amount of energy and costs can be saved in a "dark warehouse" is a positive, sustainable side effect.

www.koerber-supplychain-software.com

Insights shows the entire spectrum of Körber, what we do and how we do it: We give our view of exciting developments and trends, as well as innovations and technologies. We also highlight personalities who drive Körber forward every day with their entrepreneurial spirit and new ideas - always to the benefit of our customers. In this section, you’ll find inspiring content concerning our topic Tech.

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Tech

"Our customers know: We can not only handle end-of-line, we can manage ecosystems"

With the PA15, Körber has developed a layer palletizer that meets the requirements of our industrial customers in an energy-efficient and flexible way. In this interview, manufacturing logistics experts Dominik Griefahn and Peter Lambeck provide insights into why the PA15 can serve as the centerpiece of operational pallet logistics.

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Tech

Why complex when it can be simple?!

Many provide individual solutions; only a few provide ecosystems. As experts in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, we at Körber rely on strategic ecosystem partnerships and offer our customers holistic solutions from a single source: everything, effortlessly, in one place.

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Tech

Körber evolves ecosystem partnership with Microsoft to create more value for customers

To help our customers become more efficient and agile in pharmaceutical production, we transformed our market-leading PAS-X Manufacturing Execution System (MES) offering into a cloud-based solution. The partnership with Microsoft plays a key role here.

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Tech

Pioneering information security with AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) provides hackers with new ways to attack organizations. But it also opens up opportunities for companies to better protect themselves against these attacks. Körber is, therefore, investing in AI and advising its customers to follow suit.

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Tech

Collaboration is key – the power of B2B ecosystems

At a time when new technologies and business models are rapidly entering the market, complexity increases. Interconnected solutions will allow us to realize our full potential in creating customer value.

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