IFS Softeon: Industrial AI for Intelligent Supply Chains

A statement acquisition has played out in the field of industrial AI. 

Now operating as IFS Softeon – after world’s leading industrial AI vendor IFS announced its acquisition of best-in-class warehouse management software provider, Softeon – the resulting company offers an outstanding opportunity for industrial supply chain excellence. 

The acquisition means intelligence can be now be embedded into end to end supply chain operations.

Mark Moffat, CEO of IFS, says: “The introduction of IFS Softeon means every enterprise wrestling with the complexity of modern supply chains now has access to something genuinely new: end-to-end supply chain intelligence, from strategic decision-making to physical execution on the warehouse floor.

“Industrial AI meets limitless warehouse execution. That’s a combination that will supercharge what’s possible for our customers.”

Deep visibility and AI warehouse management

As organisations run separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) and warehouse management systems (WMS), there emerges a fault line of visibility – a gap that proves costly to businesses. 

Joined together, IFS Softeon offers a package of comprehensive visibility, backed by industrial AI, domain knowledge, robotics and seamless warehouse management all in one single offering. 

Softeon, which has more than two decades of warehouse management experience, can now embed IFS’s industrial AI, physical AI orchestration and AI agent solutions into warehouse management.

As a result, it is able to modernising all aspects of supply chain operations – all the way from fulfilment and labour optimisation to real-time yard visibility and automation.  

Jim Hoefflin, CEO of IFS Softeon, adds: “Joining IFS is the natural next step in Softeon’s journey. 

“Our customers chose us because we deliver. Now, backed by IFS’s Industrial AI platform and global reach, we can deliver even more – AI-driven warehouse orchestration, robotics interoperability and predictive inventory intelligence.

“The future of warehouse management just got a whole lot more exciting.” 

Intelligence and automation for operational excellence

Managing warehouse operations across 30 countries and processing millions of orders, with a reputation solidified by Gartner visionary recognition, IFS Softeon accelerates development and innovation that bolsters supply chain resilience. 

Within a single integrated platform designed for mission-critical industrial operations, physical AI and AI agents work side by side in the IFS Softeon offering.

Physical AI – in the form of humanoid robots and autonomous mobile robots – works alongside IFS Loops Digital Workers, which are IFS’ AI agents, to orchestrate complex warehouse operations.

With IFS Softeon, difficult physical work will be handled by robotics systems, elevating human workers to higher positions that makes judgement calls and handles exceptions.

This increases productivity even as labour shortages hang over traditional operators. 

The combined business has the potential to accelerate innovation across warehouse automation and inventory optimisation as they build supply chain resilience together. 

“For IFS customers across aerospace and defence, energy, engineering and construction, manufacturing and transport, the acquisition delivers immediate value," a company statement reads.

“Sophisticated global enterprises require warehouse capabilities that match the intricacy of their production systems.

“Softeon’s proven WMS and WES solutions, now enhanced with IFS.ai, provide exactly that – enabling end-to-end supply chain orchestration where manufacturing, warehouse execution and field service operations work as one intelligent system.”