In today’s fast-paced supply chain landscape, even the slightest delay can become costly bottlenecks, inefficiencies and missed commitments.
Enter Kaleris.
The company’s cutting-edge software allows customers to take control. They streamline critical workflows and harness real-time data to allow for smarter, faster decisions to be made with confidence and keep operations moving forward. And Kaleris can back it up too – the company works with more than 650 organisations in over 80 countries.
Advanced optimisation technology
Kirk Knauff is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Kaleris. Knauff explains that his company’s customers place a high value on software for mission-critical operations. “AI, machine learning, GenAI are part of the next frontier in every industry, but not on their own,” he says.
“What we’ve seen in terms of what our customers ask – driven by what their customers are asking of them – is, ‘What can you do to help us make our operations more efficient, reliable and safer?’ We help our customers execute better through advanced optimisation, which includes components of AI and machine learning, so they can see where bottlenecks and disruptions occur. Tools like AI help them make sense of all the operations data and make informed decisions about how to best use their network and assets. We are always looking for use cases to serve our customers better, even internally with our own operations, so we become more efficient, which allows us to invest more in our customers’ applications.”
Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, Kaleris is a leading provider of supply chain execution technology. Many of the world’s largest brands rely on Kaleris to provide mission-critical technology for yard management, transportation management, maintenance and repair operations, terminal operating systems, and ocean carrier and vessel solutions. By consolidating supply chain execution software assets across major nodes and modes, Kaleris addresses the dark spots and data gaps that cause friction and inefficiency in the global supply chain.
Key considerations of new technologies
In addition to being the world’s largest provider of terminal operating systems, Kaleris has been recognised as a global leader in yard management solutions for more than 20 years. Kaleris YMS offers a broad range of solutions that are trusted by leading brands and offer unique capabilities for real-time location systems, automated gate check-in, task automation, and more. Customers are at the forefront of decision-making within Kaleris, with Knauff noting the key is to ensure any new processes are carefully integrated into successful workflows, instead of starting from scratch.
“GenAI or large language models are not a magic button we can press and suddenly all of the industry’s technical challenges are over,” he says. “When employed by companies with our expertise, it can be used to innovate faster. The software and technology in place today are truly mission-critical. It’s about building around what’s working versus replacing for the sake of new trends. We’re excited because we see huge potential ahead for advanced optimisation and how new elements like AI enable it.”
Data challenge
One of the most important aspects to achieve sustained success within the supply chain of 2025 is gathering quality data and managing it properly. Today, how companies collect their data and what they do with that information can ultimately make or break them. Knauff believes advanced technology tools are helping to connect a supply chain landscape full of bespoke single-point solutions.
“Nodes on the supply chain and different ways of moving things from point A to point B are part of the legacy of the industry,” he says. “Consider all the different players in the value chain—when something moves from point A to point B, numerous parties play a role in the process. From the very physical nature of what happens from moving things around to who provides technical solutions, this is where bespoke single-point solutions have come in to try and fix the handover challenges.
“However, everyone is looking at it and saying, ‘We have all these disconnected points across the supply chain, why can’t we have data that’s more integrated and collaborative across the supply chain?’ It’s a big challenge of our time, and there’s a lot of legacy to navigate. We have a lot of providers of technical solutions and not everyone is open to the idea of sharing workflow data and creating interoperable systems.”
Global positioning
Kaleris is quite the powerhouse. Today, it stands among the largest providers of multimodal solutions for transportation, with more than 50% of the world’s cargo managed by Kaleris solutions. According to Knauff, it acts as something of a competitive advantage for the organisation and sets it apart from competitors. “Our scale and footprint are helpful for us,” says Knauff. “What makes us unique is our ability to collaborate with our broad customer base and understand what their challenges are as a group. There’s no other company in the world that has the install base of customers that we have and can innovate with.”
With the AI revolution in full force, the importance of companies learning as quickly as possible what works and what doesn’t is essential to get ahead of the competition. As far as Knauff and Kaleris are concerned though, there is a lot to be excited about. “The inherent challenges in terms of the legacy problems to solve are a big hole to dig out of, and that means opportunities for us and our customers to do even better,” he reveals. “One of my favourite things about this industry is the physical nature of the problems that you’re trying to solve. Until someone tells me otherwise, you still can’t snap your fingers and move something from point A to point B. There are always going to be challenges across the supply chain, and that means more areas for us to help. I am very excited about the future.”
Find out more about Kaleris here.
- AI in Supply Chain
- Digital Supply Chain
