IN Brief:
- Körber is taking an undisclosed stake in German software developer NAiSE.
- NAiSE links AGVs, AMRs and manually operated industrial vehicles through a common management layer.
- The companies plan closer integration with warehouse software while NAiSE retains its independent management.
Körber is acquiring a stake in German intralogistics software company NAiSE, strengthening its ability to coordinate mobile handling equipment from different manufacturers through a common fleet management platform. The investment turns an existing collaboration into a strategic partnership covering warehouses and production logistics. Financial terms, including the size of the holding and valuation, have not been disclosed.
NAiSE develops software that can coordinate automated guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots and manually operated industrial trucks. Its central proposition is that those different assets can be represented and managed through a common software layer, rather than requiring each robot supplier or vehicle type to run an isolated movement system. Founded in 2017, the company had previously financed its development without external investment, according to Körber.
Different types of vehicles perform different movements inside industrial warehouses. An automated guided vehicle may use a defined route between work areas, while an autonomous mobile robot can navigate around changing obstacles within its supported operating envelope. Manually driven forklift trucks and pallet movers use some of the same aisles, often with heavier or differently shaped loads. Each manufacturer’s equipment may also expose different communications interfaces, making a single view of transport availability and traffic difficult to construct.
A warehouse management system records inventory and determines which movements support orders, while warehouse execution or control systems sequence the work of particular equipment. Fleet management translates suitable transport requests into vehicle assignments and manages interactions between journeys. The systems need dependable exchanges of task status and location information so that a completed movement releases stock for the next operation. Neither a new scheduling layer nor a consolidated dashboard removes the need for the underlying equipment to carry out its own control functions.
Körber says the NAiSE platform uses a standardised integration layer intended to work irrespective of the underlying warehouse management, execution or control software. That independence is particularly relevant where an operator has acquired equipment in phases, inherited automation from different facilities or wishes to add new vehicles without replacing the entire software environment. In practice, implementation still depends on the quality of vehicle interfaces, the scope of supported commands and the site’s physical safety rules.
Shared routing software can sequence access to an aisle or detect conflicting planned journeys, but it is not a replacement for functional safety. Each vehicle still needs the protective systems, risk assessment and operating procedures applicable to its environment. Manually operated trucks may also lack continuous positional data comparable with that from automated vehicles. Those differences can limit how precisely a single platform can coordinate movements, particularly at intersections and pedestrian crossings.
The investment extends Körber’s Business Area Supply Chain offering beyond its existing warehouse software and automation capabilities. The companies intend to connect NAiSE more closely with Körber’s warehouse solutions and develop further intralogistics uses. Both also identify humanoid robotics as a future area of investigation, although no deployment timetable, named pilot or commercial performance result has been given for that application.
NAiSE will retain its name and continue working with other system integrators and vehicle manufacturers. Founders Kai Przybysz-Herz, Robert Libert and Raphael Kusumoto remain responsible for day-to-day management, with Körber becoming a strategic investor. Continued access for third-party vendors is central to the proposed operating model because an installation using equipment from several manufacturers must maintain interfaces beyond Körber’s own warehouse portfolio.
Scheduling a mixed fleet also requires the platform to recognise physical and operational restrictions. A vehicle assigned a transport task must be able to carry the load, pass through the intended aisle, access the pickup location and complete the job before its charging or maintenance window. Delayed movements can block receiving or production lines even when a vehicle appears available in a fleet dashboard. These constraints make timely data from equipment and warehouse systems as important as the optimisation algorithm itself.
Introducing an additional control layer creates an integration and maintenance responsibility. Changes to vehicle firmware or the warehouse management system may alter message formats and task states, requiring regression testing before the updated components return to production. Operators also need procedures for lost communications, manual interventions and work that cannot be assigned automatically. Körber and NAiSE have not disclosed service-level terms, rollout dates for joint customer projects or a named first deployment under the investment.
No financial terms, investment percentage, customer forecast or installation performance data have been disclosed. NAiSE’s existing platform continues under its founding management, while Körber gains a closer relationship with technology for managing mixed intralogistics fleets. Commercial results and the effectiveness of the integrations will depend on the specific vehicles, information interfaces and warehouse processes at each future customer site.
