PANORAMA: BSB LOGISTICA SHINES FOR EXPERIENCE AND INNOVATION
Founded in 1995 by Franco Giacomazzi, professor at the Politecnico di Milano, and Luigi Ambrosin, former chief of staff at Philips Lighting and Servizi Informatici Montedison, BSB Logistica S.r.l. immediately established its leading role in the logistics outsourcing sector thanks to a highly effective turnkey service in warehouse management. There has recently been a major generational transition: today this top all-Italian firm is helmed by CEO Uberto Maria Brunetti, who is increasingly focusing on technological innovation.
Article by Roberta Imbimbo
Mr Brunetti, can you tell us a little bit about BSB Logistica?
BSB Logistica S.r.l. was founded in 1995 with the aim of penetrating the logistics outsourcing market that emerged in the early 1990s and offering medium and large companies an efficient and complete warehouse management service. It takes care of handling materials and products on behalf of third parties, quality and quantity checks on products, computerised control of handling and warehouse stock, outbound orders, printing bills and loading trucks. The entrepreneurial idea of the two founding partners, Franco Giacomazzi and Luigi Ambrosin, arose from the desire to channel the know-how they had gained over years of intense work into a customised project in terms of supply chain skills and industrial relations management. They sought to face this new entrepreneurial challenge with a different philosophy in relations with both customers and direct collaborators. This forward-looking vision over time has allowed the Management to develop a highly innovative consulting approach. BSB Logistica has thus asserted its leading role in the reference market and significantly grown its customer base, mostly consisting of production and distribution companies. Today the company has around 400 employees and three warehouses of over 130,000 m² located in Milan and Piacenza (the Piacenza logistics hub is home to most of its activities), and operates nationwide.
Why is it so important today to outsource services to qualified and reliable partners?
Industrial logistics is as complex a topic as production, and this type of sector has to undergo analysis and forecasting. The engineering approach in the design of warehouses and their layout is no longer sufficient: today we also need economic and administrative knowledge, and the ability to manage effective and participatory industrial relations. Throughout this time, BSB has worked hard to develop specialist skills in order to offer a comprehensive service for everything related to logistics, which can be managed both at the customer’s premises and in-house. Outsourcing gives third-party companies the opportunity to rely on qualified partners with specialised personnel and sufficient resources to ensure efficient management of warehouses, personnel and trade unions. This allows them to focus exclusively on their core business and to have easy access to the most advanced technologies through smaller investments (with considerable cost savings).
What type of market does BSB operate in? Will there be more and more technological innovation in the future of logistics?
The last years have been very positive for the Italian logistics market, both in real terms and in terms of outsourcing penetration: the turnover of Italian third-party logistics companies is today approximately €77.8 billion. In a highly competitive context – logistics and support activities account for over 22,000 companies in Italy – BSB has carved out a significant slice of the market, diversifying its target customers for its service offer, which today is also aimed at small companies and start-ups in the world of e-commerce. Moreover, in the era of digital transformation and new technological innovations (AI – Robotics – Blockchain Personal Packaging – Web Platform – IoT), BSB aims to adopt sophisticated technologies, to be increasingly at the forefront in every respect. This ranges from creating a “universal” interface for e-commerce management to developing a platform using Blockchain as a certified traceability system for the entire supply chain, also by introducing smart contracts; from implementing loT systems to optimising various operational aspects – from fleet management to the traceability of warehouse products – to using Robots and Artificial Intelligence to optimise logistics activities in the e-commerce sector.
This choice is aimed at maximising customer care, always keeping up with new technological challenges and doubling our turnover in the next 36 months.
For more information www.bsblogistica.it
