"Shippers Want Logistics Partners Inside the Production Schedule"
Green Logistics Expo 2026 opens in Padova this week with more than 300 exhibitors and over 30 conferences focused on intermodal transport, warehouse automation and lower-impact logistics. Other companies exhibiting include Mapei, Technital, FHP Intermodal, Hupac, FS Logistix, Rhenus, Ambrogio Trasporti and VTG Rail. Manufacturers attending the event are asking providers to sit closer to the production line than traditional warehousing and transport contracts allow. The request is for a partner that can adjust flows when the production schedule changes, manage complexity across multiple sites, and reduce both cost and environmental impact at the same time. The operational pressure is that many providers still sell discrete services while customers describe a single connected process.
Loretta Minto, consigliere delegato at Servizi Logistici SpA, said in written comments to The Supply Chainer that the company will exhibit at the event and present its approach to integrated logistics, with a particular focus on solutions that connect logistics operations with customers’ production and distribution processes. “We will showcase our expertise in warehousing, storage, goods handling and integrated logistics management, as well as our ability to develop flexible, tailor-made solutions according to each customer’s operational requirements. Sustainability, innovation and the optimisation of logistics flows are increasingly central to our approach.”
Demand Now Includes Production Support and Environmental Impact
Minto said the company is seeing growing demand for logistics partners that can provide flexibility, reliability and greater integration with customers’ operations. “Companies increasingly expect their logistics providers to go beyond traditional warehousing and transport activities. They are looking for partners capable of managing complex flows, supporting production processes, improving supply-chain efficiency and contributing to the reduction of both costs and environmental impact.” Attention is also increasing on sustainability, combined transport, digitalisation and the efficient use of warehouse space and resources.
The same expectation of a closer logistics partner appears in prior Supply Chainer coverage. In a case study on U.S. fulfillment scaling, Daniel Hernández, supply chain manager at Emma Mattress, said: “Partnering with Flowspace has been one of the best strategic decisions we have made this year in the U.S. If we are not able to fulfill orders, we are not able to fulfill our promise to our customers.”
Partnerships Are Described as Continuous Improvement
The company described long-term partnerships in which it has developed tailor-made logistics solutions that integrate warehousing, handling and logistics flows with the customer’s production and distribution requirements. “For us, a successful partnership is based on understanding each customer’s specific needs and continuously improving processes in terms of efficiency, flexibility, reliability and sustainability.” No named customer, volume figure or measured outcome was provided with the response.
The description matches what several exhibitors have said about the same event: customers want integration and sustainability, and providers are positioning themselves to supply it. The operational question is whether the integration is visible in the contract and the daily handoff between production and the warehouse, or whether it remains a description of capability until the next schedule change arrives.