CAAT, Centro Agro Alimentare Torino, is one of Italy’s leading wholesale agri-food markets, with more than 440,000 m² of market area, 120,000 m² of covered space, around 75 wholesale companies, 110 local producers and more than 550,000 tonnes of goods handled every year.
A key hub for the agri-food supply chain in North-West Italy, the centre manages a high daily volume of access by operators, hauliers, producers, buyers and logistics companies, each with different entry requirements and procedures for their fleet of commercial vehicles, including trucks and vans.
To support the site’s growth and simplify management processes that had become too complex to sustain through traditional manual and paper-based procedures, CAAT launched a major digital transformation project entrusted to HUB Italia. The aim was to modernise access control, digitalise administrative workflows and manage authorisations more efficiently.
Before the project, the site used a badge-based access control system and procedures that depended heavily on manual activities. Registrations, documentation and renewals required users to be physically present at the centre’s offices.
The complexity of the environment called for much more than a simple technology replacement. CAAT manages highly diverse user categories, including tenants, agricultural producers, handling operators, private and large-scale retail buyers, suppliers and hauliers, each with different documentation requirements, access profiles and pricing models.
The objective was to create a system capable of automating document collection and verification, integrating licence plate recognition for vehicle access, maintaining high levels of control, security and data segregation, and providing the scalability needed to support thousands of operators and active contracts.
From the preliminary stages, HUB Italia’s added value lay in its process analysis and project management activities.
The customer’s in-depth operational knowledge and the variety of use cases required significant joint work to assess and model workflows, translating highly complex administrative procedures into a digital ecosystem that is simple to use while remaining extremely rigorous in terms of authorizations.
The implemented solution combines hardware and software technologies within a single integrated ecosystem. On site, the system uses dual-height peripherals paired with Selea cameras for licence plate recognition, or LPR, to identify vehicles automatically as they enter and exit. However, the project’s distinctive element is the complete digitalisation of the accreditation process. Through the Business Account Manager, companies can:
The system enables each company to manage its employees and vehicles independently, while CAAT operators retain centralised control.
Operators automatically receive the documentation uploaded by users, verify it and approve requests through dedicated digital workflows. Only after validation can the company activate individual profiles and the corresponding authorisations.
Particular attention was given to privacy and data segregation. Each Business Account Manager can view only the information relating to its own organisation, while authorised CAAT personnel retain overall supervision of the system.
More than an access control project, CAAT required a process of analysis, customization and application development that contributed to the evolution of the Business Account Manager, turning a specific market need into a platform that can now support complex business management and vehicle fleet scenarios.
The result is a digital ecosystem that makes operators’ work more efficient, simplifies the experience for companies and provides CAAT with advanced tools to govern and monitor its activities.
Gianluca Cornelio Meglio, General Manager, CAAT Centro Agroalimentare Torino:
“For CAAT, this project represented much more than the introduction of a new access control technology. It was a genuine journey of organisational and digital innovation, built through close collaboration between our offices and the FAAC and HUB Italia teams. The complexity of our operational context, characterised by thousands of users belonging to different categories, required a highly customised solution capable of addressing very specific needs that would have been difficult to meet with a standard product. In this process, the contribution of Marco Ciani of Marco Ciani Consulting S.r.l. was decisive. He supported CAAT from the earliest stages of analysis and design of the new access system, taking on the role of Project Manager and providing a valuable link between operational needs, strategic objectives and technological development.
The added value of the project was precisely this co-design process, which, thanks to the daily contribution of the people involved from all participating organisations, enabled us to develop a platform that today represents a unique solution among Italian Agri-Food Centres, both in terms of the level of digitalisation achieved and its ability to integrate administrative, authorisation and access control processes within a single digital ecosystem. Beyond the technological aspects, I believe the true success of the initiative lies in the human factor: listening, dialogue and the ability to translate concrete operational needs into effective tools. It was this approach, supported by solid project governance and constant collaboration between CAAT, Marco Ciani Consulting, FAAC and HUB Italia, that enabled us to deliver a solution capable of improving the experience of operators, increasing management efficiency and supporting CAAT’s modernisation journey.”