In recent years, intralogistics and automation specialist KNAPP has been investing increasingly in its growing software business. Its latest initiative is the AI platform KNAPP Brain, which was officially launched at the LogiMat trade show in late March.
– KNAPP isn’t particularly well-known as a software company, but we want to change that. For a long time, software was merely a tool to make warehouse automation work; today, it is absolutely crucial for optimizing and streamlining broader supply chain flows, not just what happens in the warehouse, explains Mario Berger, Content & Communication Manager at KNAPP with over 20 years of experience in the software industry.
KNAPP’s software portfolio includes solutions for everything from inventory management and automation to transportation planning and analysis. Most solutions are part of the KiSoft suite, and for customers using SAP as their business system, a number of SAP solutions are available that have been optimized specifically for use with KNAPP’s automation technology. These solutions are now complemented by the KNAPP Brain AI platform.
Clarity and practical value
In recent years, “AI” has become a buzzword that often rings hollow. KNAPP has therefore deliberately chosen to keep a low profile in its external communications regarding AI—until now.
“AI has become a buzzword with an unclear meaning. At the LogiMat trade show, you don’t always get the best answers from industry companies when you ask how they actually work with AI. We didn’t want to be part of that—we didn’t want to say we work with AI unless we could demonstrate very concretely what we actually do and how it creates value. That’s why we waited until now,” says Mario.
KNAPP Brain handles everything from forecasting to last-mile delivery and is structured around four key areas: forecasting, order management, robotics and vision, and route optimization. These terms were deliberately chosen to be very clear, rather than to impress.
“Everyone knows what those words mean. We wanted to use simple terminology that people actually understand and not contribute to creating even more confusion around AI,” he says, noting that AI technology provides practical benefits for customers by reducing errors, speeding up processes, stabilizing workflows, and ultimately giving client companies a competitive edge.
Large data streams
The development of KNAPP Brain began with an assessment of the company’s own solutions that already utilize some form of AI technology. It quickly became clear that AI was already present in several solutions, but that there was no unified name or common platform. The platform itself leverages the extensive data collection that KNAPP began as early as 2018, when data from customers’ facilities began to be collected in real time using sensors and WMS.
“We know exactly how many orders are coming in, what the lead time is throughout the warehouse, and how many boxes have passed a particular sensor. And we can link that information from the sensor level all the way up to the business system,” Mario explains.
KNAPP has also tested integrating external data sources. In a conceptual test, historical order data was combined with marketing information and social media data to predict upcoming order peaks, resulting in an accuracy rate of over 90 percent.
“The challenge here isn’t technical, but relational, because customers don’t always want to share their market data,” Mario explains.
Concrete, verifiable results
Mario points out that what makes KNAPP Brain unique compared to many other AI initiatives is that all published use cases are already in operation and have been verified by client companies.
“For example, AI-powered camera systems have reduced the number of complaints by 60 percent. Intelligent route optimization has reduced customers’ vehicle fleets by 25 percent, and with AI-supported resource planning, customers have reduced their manual planning work by up to 75 percent,” he says, also noting that their own picking robots, Pick-it-Easy, have image recognition and machine learning integrated to make the robots’ work as efficient and accurate as possible.
KNAPP Brain is a platform that is constantly evolving. In the coming months alone, the platform will be equipped with built-in chatbots for WMS and additional analytics tools. The specific use of the AI platform depends on which products KNAPP’s customers use. For example, TMS customers gain access to AI-driven route planning, and those using the software for work and personnel planning gain access to the platform’s AI-based forecasting tools, and so on.
“Regardless of the application, the goal is to provide real-time insights that reduce complexity and enable faster and better decisions throughout the value chain, from resource planning to final delivery,” Mario concludes.
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Text and interview by Stefan Karlöf and Marika Karlöf
