RO-BER Industrieroboter will combine its technology with Schaefer's to create new sorting, buffering, and linking functions for the DC.

Material handling equipment provider SSI Schaefer Group said today it has acquired a majority stake in RO-BER Industrieroboter GmbH, a vendor of gantry robot systems designed for picking and palletizing. Terms were not disclosed.

Neunkirchen, Germany-based Schaefer intends to leverage RO-BER's robotics expertise to develop innovative warehouse automation solutions, Schaefer said in a statement released at the CeMAT trade show in Hannover, Germany.

Schaefer said it plans to take advantage of RO-BER's capabilities to advance its implementation of "Industry 4.0," a strategy for integrating automation, data exchange, and manufacturing technologies. Schaefer makes automated solutions for warehousing, conveying, picking, and sorting, as well as software to control in-house material flows.

Both companies said they would use their complementary technologies to apply the motion-based properties of gantry cranes to new applications in sorting, buffering, and linking functions within the distribution center.

RO-BER, based in Kamen, Germany, develops gantry robot systems for a range of material handling tasks such as palletizing, depalletizing, picking, and sequencing. It will continue to operate as a fully independent company based in Kamen.

"SSI Schaefer and RO-BER have a lot in common with regard to customers and industries," said Hans Gerd Severin, managing director of RO-BER, in a statement. "The inclusion of our standardized robot systems in their concepts complements the SSI Schaefer product portfolio perfectly, especially for end-of-line palletizing and in picking systems."