There
is a company that is trying to join the dots and make sense of things,
especially in the fast‑moving market. This company is Bonzai, which is part of
the BCUBE group:18 operating sites, over 200,000 square metres of warehouse
space and 45 million euros in logistics services turnover - 18 million of which
comes from fashion and luxury.It is a way of responding to the needs of
industry in sectors where rapid change is an integral part of operations. For
FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviews Mauro Audisio, General Manager of
Bonzai
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect
them looking backwards.” This is one of the best‑known maxims from the
visionary Steve Jobs, whose mind was always thinking forward and his heart was
always willing to go the extra mile. Joining the dots, and making sense of
things. Ultimately, that is what the best businesses do: the visionary ones
that ride the ever‑higher waves of innovation, continually raising the bar for
the services they offer and the expectations of online consumers. Some
organisations, seen in isolation, look like a constellation of dots:
warehouses, hubs, flows, numbers, technologies, people. Then, at a certain
point, someone starts to join those dots. Only then does the picture emerge. Bonzai
is precisely this: a logistics operation that only truly makes sense when
viewed as a system, an industrial puzzle in which every piece is indispensable
to the others.
Company profile. This story of excellence begins in the Piedmontese hills around
Casale Monferrato. BCUBE Group's business unit - dedicated to fashion, consumer
and banking - is headquartered here. It is a border region, accustomed to
bringing together manufacturing and organisation, precision and adaptability.“ Bonzai
was created as a fast company within the Group, but for us speed is never
synonymous with cutting corners. It is about method and discipline.” This is
how Mauro Audisio, General Manager of the company, which is committed to
accelerating innovation, describes it. Speaking of dots, today Bonzai is a
structured network:18 operating sites, over 200,000 square metres of warehouse
space and 45 million euros in turnover - 18 million of which comes from fashion
and luxury. However, the most interesting aspect is not the scale but the
geography. Because Bonzai does not occupy spaces at random. It oversees them,
helps them grow and gives them meaning. All this while joining the dots. From
Piedmont to Emilia-Romagna, this map takes shape along the region’s natural
west–east axis. Caorso and Cortemaggiore, in the Piacenza area, lie along the
great Po corridor, where logistics meets manufacturing. Calderara di Reno, in
the heart of the Bologna metropolitan area, is a key hub for banking and
services. Montaletto di Cervia, gateway to Romagna, links consumer and retail
flows with the Adriatic.“ In Emilia, speed is not frenzy but organisation. Here,
logistics is an invisible part of the real economy’s infrastructure”, says
Audisio. Further north, Piedmont remains central: Brandizzo, on the outskirts
of Turin, is home to one of the most recent sites: over 20,000 square metres
dedicated to fashion. In Veneto, Treviso, Portogruaro and Villorba strengthen
the group’s presence in the North‑East, with Villorba – opened in August 2025 –
as a new 15,000‑square‑metre hub. In Tuscany and Lazio, Agliana and Pratica di
Mare serve as key bases for the luxury sector. Different dots, a single design.
The three pillars. Bonzai
works on finished products, where delivery expectations have been shortened to
the point of almost disappearing. Driven by an e‑commerce culture, this has
permanently changed the pace of the market and the profile of increasingly
online consumers.“BCUBE has a very strong manufacturing background, built on
just‑in‑time and just‑in‑sequence principles. Bonzai brings that same precision
into the fast‑moving world, where flexibility and customisation are the norm”,
says Audisio. Its DNA rests on three clear pillars. The first is genuine
connection. People come before business, and the same applies to relationships
with clients and stakeholders. The second is continuous innovation: automation,
sorters, robotics, augmented reality and now artificial intelligence, not as a
slogan but as a concrete programme. Work is underway on AI applications to
collect and transmit the company’s body of knowledge, turning it into a shared
asset. The third pillar is sustainability, treated as an everyday
responsibility. From collaboration with ZeroCO2 on reforestation projects in
Guatemala, to data security – Bonzai is ISO 27701‑certified – and a structured
digital transformation journey.“ Ethics and sustainability are not optional
extras. Companies are made up of people, and what holds true in life must also
hold true at work. But there is more. In an increasingly data‑driven sector,
information management becomes a strategic asset. We have worked to streamline
flows while also ensuring their security. Today, logistics is intelligence
applied to movement”, says Audisio. And then there is human capital.“ Respect
is reflected in workplaces, in flexibility (where possible), and in a clear
understanding of objectives. Responsibility means enabling everyone to
contribute according to their abilities, with equal commitment. Dots that
connect yet retain their own identity. Bonzai remains an integral part of
BCUBE, while retaining its own identity. In an increasingly fast‑moving
logistics environment, the real challenge is not to lose sight of the overall
design. Individual dots, on their own, mean nothing. Joined together, they
create meaning.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
Read the other interviews
