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

At Körber, we are driven by the principle of being the first to do the right thing at the right time. Our focus is on manufacturing and supply chain technology, encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit that catalyzes innovation and industry-changing breakthroughs. By supplementing our portfolio through strategic partnerships, we become more adaptable to customer needs. This is why, at Körber, we invest in business ecosystems. We are building factories of the future by providing end-to-end scalable manufacturing ecosystems that can evolve with increasing demands and the specific needs of our customers. In our Business Area Pharma, we provide high-tech machinery, operating software, and digital solutions to the major global pharmaceutical organizations, as well as many regional companies.

“Our north star is helping our customers create advanced ecosystems that deliver optimum quality — with our solutions as the backbone — that empower employees with intelligent and sustainable processes,” says Dr. Christian Schlögel, Chief Digital Officer at Körber Group. “We are strategic partners with all our customers. Through these relationships, we know that their biggest goals are to maintain supply chain robustness and agility, and ensure regulatory compliance, security, and scalability no matter the company size.”

To help our customers become more efficient and agile in pharmaceutical production, Körber transformed its market-leading PAS-X Manufacturing Execution System (MES) offering into a cloud-based and SaaS solution. This strategic enhancement is designed to meet the rising global demand for pharmaceuticals by facilitating scalable MES deployments and maintenance, while reducing capital and resource expenditure. “We chose Microsoft to offer a service stack that enables greater flexibility and scalability”, Christian Schlögel says.

“Working with a cloud leader like Microsoft that is also respected for security and compliance means that together we create more value for our customers”, adds Kevin Hillman, Head of Digitization at Körber Business Area Pharma. “Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing helps us connect the dots — the physical and the digital — across factory and supply chain challenges.” This capability is essential for end-to-end production management across the entire product life cycle. It allows Körber to offer the proven, GMP-compliant, on-premises pharma MES in a fully managed, cloud-based version.

„We are proud to support Körber to expand their business with innovative cloud-based solutions that empower their customers to achieve more,” says Marianne Janik, CEO Microsoft Germany. 

“This is a triple-win-partnership that showcases the value of evolving from simple vendor-supplier relationships to partnership ecosystems. In today’s dynamic and competitive market, this is the key to unlocking new opportunities and creating positive impact.”

Körber plans to expand on the MES SaaS solution with more Microsoft capabilities. “We will also expand on the use of copilots and cognitive search to make it even easier for operators to interact with the MES. Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing makes this possible,” says Jens Woehlbier, Chief Executive Officer Software at Körber Business Area Pharma. “We think artificial intelligence offers more potential to the pharmaceutical industry than anything we’ve ever experienced. We are continuing to work with AI in the space of automated systems and all of this is getting us closer to our vision of more efficient, adaptive plants — or lights-out factories — in pharma, and in other areas of business.”

Schlögel emphasizes: “With Microsoft as a key ally, we aim to make more breakthroughs that evolve manufacturing excellence and innovation across all industries — and help pharmaceutical companies deliver the drugs and medicines the world needs now and in the future.”