Caliber.global redefines supply chain efficiency with Talend & CIMT
By Talend Team
‘Supply chain shortage’ went from a vague post-apocalyptic concept to a stark reality in 2020
and 2021. The pandemic that tore across the world also exposed ugly supply chain issues. A lurking issue with dire consequences — often rooted in inaccurate and unreliable data — we are all discovering that supply chain shortages aren’t limited to grocery store shelves.
These issues may not be as obvious to the average consumer. The non-merchandise supply chain exists to supply contractors everything they need to complete projects — such as storefront renovations, upgrades to hotel interiors, or office improvements — on time and on budget, anywhere in the world.
Enter Caliber.global: an international logistics service provider designed for non-merchandise supply chain efficiency. They handle global project logistics in FF&E (industry-speak for furniture, fixtures, and equipment) for a wide range of high-profile retailers — providing a comprehensive logistics status overview at a single glance.
Simply put, Caliber.global gives end-to-end visibility on supply status per project — connecting all parts of the supply chain for transparency, cohesion, and most importantly, avoiding the catastrophic consequences of an unexpected supply chain issue.
The mission? A well-oiled machine producing smooth logistical perfection for retailers across the globe. The challenge? Untangling and quality checking massive amounts of data coming in from their retailers, suppliers, contractors, transporters, and carriers — all heavily relying on that data to be pristine.
A control tower built around Talend
Together with Talend partner CIMT, Caliber.global took an innovative approach to simplifying these complex FF&E logistics: creating a single platform called a logistics control tower. This allows all participants across any given supply chain to share critical information via a cloud-based solution, scanning in milestones on a user-friendly mobile phone app.
The logistics control tower enables a staggering amount of data points to be collected in real time, aggregated, and quality checked: providing seamless service and reliable data to deliver to their customers.
Caliber.global needed a well-established data integration and data integrity solution at the heart of this concept. Talend was the perfect fit.
“Talend is a key contributor to transforming our control tower system, making it easier to integrate numerous systems and data sources in real time,” said Arjan Oudejans, CCO for Caliber.global. “We have more than 700 vendors actively working in our system, thousands of projects, tens of thousands of shipments and POs, hundreds of thousands of milestones, SKUs, and addresses. What we needed was one platform that could integrate the information from all of these elements and make it easy to share—so we could help ensure that everyone met their deadlines and delivered what they promised to the final site.”
The tangible, quantified results achieved with Talend so far speak for themselves:
- 30% increase in on-time, in-full deliveries
- 20% increase in shipment consolidation
- 50% fewer POs with issues
- 15% reduction in total logistics costs
- 15% improvement in overall supplier performance
Caliber.global can now integrate seamlessly with customers on the item primary level, capturing all requirements and restrictions for each project in the system, making it possible for all parties to get accurate, trustworthy information— from the traffic and construction issues around locations, to whether an onsite forklift is needed, right down to the measurements of the location’s front door.
“When we dug into the details of what Talend could provide, we saw that Talend could address our immediate needs as well as our business vision down the road.”
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“With the help of Talend and the engine we’ve built, we have visibility into the fine details of every order, and we can auto-populate the order processing internally, without any human intervention,” said Mr. Oudejans. “It’s a game-changer for us. Talend combines unified data with extremely high data quality and automation, and that translates to a superb logistics solution we can make accessible to our customers.”
Why Talend? Trusted solution, superior support
Initially, Caliber.global selected Talend as the foundation for its control tower based on analyst reports.
“We looked at the Gartner Magic Quadrant report and saw that Talend was farthest up and to the right,” said Mr. Oudejans matter-of-factly. “But we already knew Talend’s reputation, and we knew our customers and their suppliers would be more comfortable if we were harnessing a well-known and respected solution provider. When we dug into the details of what Talend could provide, we saw that Talend could address our immediate needs as well as our business vision down the road.”
Mr. Oudejans was also thoroughly impressed with the level of support Talend provided for his teams. “Talend made our goals tangible and realistic in terms of what we could accomplish with our control tower,” he said. “In addition, using Talend has helped our people save time on recurring work and focus on more strategic matters.
And in the end, this is a people business— our people have appreciated having access to tools that improve their productivity and morale.”
Strategic centerpiece
Today, Talend sits “literally at the center of our strategic landscape,” said Mr. Oudejans emphatically.
A core element of the company’s strategic vision is building an API integration layer — allowing applications to be integrated as well as data. “Talend is an enabler for our vision because it is an enabler for developers, with built-in integrations, reusable components, and a modular approach that makes it easier to deliver a seamless experience for our customers.”
Down the road, Caliber.global also intends to turn its control tower platform into a SaaS offering. “We have the ambition to make our platform available to major retailers as a ready-made non-merchandise logistics service that will make it possible to connect your existing set of suppliers, general contractors, and carriers without the assistance of Caliber.global,” said Mr. Oudejans.
“Eventually we also aim to add predictive analytics and AI to help customers shift from reactive to proactive supply chain management. It’s another key step toward our goal of simplifying the orchestration of 4PL, and Talend will play an even more critical role in that. I have faith that Talend is a platform and a partner we can fully realize our vision with.”