LOEX Logistics Excellence centre promotes research projects related to logistics (funded by companies, institutions, government bodies, and associations), addressing the challenges posed by global mega-trends.

Logistics is defined as encompassing both its industrial and business dimensions, as well as its critical role within the supply chain, which includes relationships with suppliers (of both products and services) and customers. LOEX stands out for its ability to tackle strategic, tactical, and operational challenges, supporting organizational excellence.

The main areas of research and project development include:

• Strategic Design: designing logistics networks, configuring global supply chains, make-or-buy decisions, and defining automation strategies;
• Tactical Planning: planning logistics activities and applying advanced demand forecasting techniques;
• Operational Optimization: improving logistics processes and implementing data-driven approaches to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

The activities of the know-how centre are closely aligned with current mega-trends and transformations, including:

• Sustainability, addressing both environmental and social dimensions, with a focus on reducing impacts along the supply chain;
• Digital Transformation, and the integration of advanced technologies to enhance transparency, traceability, and collaboration in logistics and supply chain processes;
• Artificial Intelligence, including the adoption of techniques (such as machine learning models and natural language processing) and project design (make-or-buy decisions and data lake development);
• Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0, with a particular focus on human-machine interaction and the development of strategies ensuring a transition toward more resilient, flexible, and human-centred logistics and supply chains;
• Omnichannel Strategies, including the design of solutions that enable efficient and integrated management of physical and information flows to meet the needs of an increasingly interconnected market.

The team employs a diversified methodological approach, combining quantitative tools, qualitative analysis, and field and laboratory experiments. The centre maintains an extensive network, actively collaborating with leading companies, institutions, national and international research groups, and the Digital Innovation Observatories of the School, including: “Contract Logistics Gino Marchet,” “B2C E-Commerce,” “Food Sustainability,” “Digital B2B,” and “Internet of Things.”
With its unique combination of academic rigor and practical relevance, LOEX contributes to advancing scientific knowledge, training professionals equipped to face future challenges, and providing decision-making support for managers and policymakers.