ORBRO signs MOU with CARRO JAPAN to build integrated indoor and outdoor DX solutions for factories and logistics warehouses

ORBRO Inc. signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with CARRO JAPAN Corp., a joint venture between SoftBank and Trusty Cars (CARRO). The two companies concluded the agreement on June 11, 2026, and agreed to jointly develop and provide integrated indoor and outdoor digital transformation (DX) solutions for manufacturing plants and logistics warehouses in Japan.

CARRO JAPAN provides a high-precision fleet management system (FMS) that optimizes vehicle management and logistics operations, and it has a proven track record in outdoor mobility and transport efficiency in Japan. Manufacturing and logistics sites in Japan, meanwhile, face challenges such as a shrinking workforce, difficulty passing on skilled techniques, and the need to optimize indoor operations. Existing outdoor-oriented systems, however, have technical limits when it comes to tracking the detailed movements of workers, cargo, and heavy equipment indoors, which has made direct efficiency gains difficult.

The new partnership focuses on closing that gap. The plan is to combine ORBRO's high-precision indoor location platform, built on ultra-wideband (UWB), vision AI, and digital twin technology, with CARRO JAPAN's expertise in mobility and asset management, delivering an end-to-end DX solution that seamlessly connects indoor and outdoor areas from the logistics dock to the factory floor.

The two companies will jointly pursue three core initiatives.

The first is eliminating waste in factories and warehouses. ORBRO's RTLS technology tracks the indoor movements of workers, forklifts, and materials in real time and reflects them in a 3D digital twin. By incorporating CARRO JAPAN's vehicle management perspective, the system automatically identifies bottlenecks across the entire process, from vehicle arrival and cargo receipt through storage and picking, making data-driven layout optimization and precise workforce allocation possible.

The second is supporting the transfer of skilled expertise. The movements and task times of veteran workers, which have long relied on individual intuition, are converted into data and analyzed against those of new employees. This approach, which turns the 'tacit knowledge' of the field into standardized 'explicit knowledge,' is expected to provide a practical foundation for resolving a chronic challenge at Japanese manufacturing sites, where a shrinking pool of veteran workers has made skill transfer difficult.

The third is jointly building next-generation smart factories centered on safety management. The two companies will jointly propose safety solutions to customers in Japan, including detection of unauthorized entry into hazardous zones and real-time alerts when heavy equipment or forklifts come close to workers, and will support their deployment.

Satoshi Asaeda, CEO of CARRO JAPAN, said, "For a company like ours that has supported customers' transport and mobility through high-precision fleet management, technological innovation was necessary to bring efficiency 'one step further inside' the factory and the warehouse." He added, "ORBRO's location tracking and digital twin technology makes it the ideal partner for completing our solution and making the tacit knowledge of the field visible." He went on to stress, "We will support DX across Japan's manufacturing and logistics sectors in every direction, from outdoors to indoors."

Lee Hak-kyung, CEO of ORBRO, said, "Japan's manufacturing and logistics industry is one of the most sophisticated industrial ecosystems in the world." He continued, "When ORBRO's UWB and vision AI-based RTLS and digital twin platform is combined with CARRO JAPAN's outdoor vehicle management capabilities, it completes a true end-to-end DX solution that brings real-time visibility to indoor sites that have been blind spots until now." He added, "Through this partnership, we look forward to producing tangible results for customers throughout Japan."

Building on the agreement, ORBRO plans to move ahead in earnest with expansion into industrial sites in Japan and elsewhere in Asia through technology validation and reference cases.