The model of Virtual Warehouse ³¹ has been conceived from the UNITEC like a simple service not to offer to the customers in order to reduce the warehouse costs, but like one new business philosophy.
In a market in which the survival of an enterprise more and more it is tied to the optimization of the own efficiency, it becomes unavoidable to reduce every risen of costs deriving from the production processes, trained to you and financial.
Competitive dynamics more and more pushes the enterprises towards managerial solutions that privilege the sharing of the purchases and supplyings.
Such solutions produce better turn out to you laddove are a greater concentration of enterprises that exercise the same activities.
It is the case as an example of the industrial districts and the districts hospitals worker, than for their characteristics they concur the realization of economies of scale by means of the activity sharing. The new philosophy is based on enunciated a much simple one: the union makes the force (and in such case it pulls down the costs).
The UNITEC supports that these shapes cooperatives will more and more represent the new way to make enterprise.
Seen the huge ones understood them that it demands, to case the attention has not been headed at the warehouse. In the understood one them previous, we have seen as the enterprises can at a distance establish a communication with own the partner, to tighten new relationships above all trades them and of collaboration also with enterprises pertaining to various geographic contexts and these thanks to the ICT.
The flow of the assets between the various places of production but, needs of new instruments actions to reduce the operating barriers that traditionally have represented a limit to the development of the economic activities of the PMI on total scale.
The new conception of the logistics, thanks to the new technologies, has allowed the enterprises to render more fluid the production processes " space differentiates ³²".
In fact, through a delegation in outsourcing of all those activities that do not re-enter between those comprised in the excellence area, the enterprise can concentrate the resources on the production of goods and services, their quality, the design and therefore on the distintive competences with which creating useful value for the enterprises customers (in practical the enterprise new organization to net of the division of labor succeeds to reorganize the own structure with one).
In the concept of extensive enterprise and, therefore, extended supply chain, the logistics is from agreeing like that with of activity that guides all the movementation of the physical and informative flow of the goodses to the inside of a productive net (as it could be in the case of a productive district).
Date for discounted the importance and the necessity of the supplyes, the companies that take advantage of the opportunities offered from the new technologies, continuously stretches to head towards the objective of the "zero-supplyes" is in order progressively to reduce the quotas understood them immobilized and is in order to render the answer to the crescent more effective variability of the productive cycles (more and more short).
They persist however of the barriers that render the implementazione of solutions in such sense for the lack of endowed staff of specific competences in matter and equipments difficult adapted to support such strategies.
UNITEC, represents therefore a Information based integrator which it offers to the enterprises customers, the possibility to have use of also of services that allow to common supplyings and warehouses you flavored yourself. The " Virtual Warehouse ", represents one possibility of optimization of the management of the warehouses of the enterprises.
Such solution, has been studied above all for all those enterprises that operate in the industrial districts. The idea to use an only warehouse to service more enterprises, has not been received favorably, meeting with problematic of managerial nature.
Many enterprises in fact, stretch to wanting to conserve the own managerial autonomy (irreplaceable source of versatilità), and therefore not to want to share with the competition, strategic information on the own markets (are they of supplying that of distribution) or still information to high added value of the own productions.
One first initiative in such direction, has been had in the district of marbles of the Valpolicella, where some of the enterprises pertaining to the cluster, have been activated for a logistic consorziamento, through activity of coordination of the infrastructural investments for the realization of a common logistic platform, with the attempt to rationalize the movement and the stock of the goodses, in income and expenditure, for groups of enterprises that, beyond to being localized in a same territorial within, share assets pertaining to the same merceologico field.
Other example a lot important, is that relative to the district of Montebelluna (district of the scarpone from ski), where the enterprises begin to develop and to undertake investment strategies in elements communicated to you you flavored yourself.
To be created, to such aim, a managerial platform that will concur, in the time, to implement solutions of plannings shared and rapid prototyping for the scarpone from ski.
The new technologies but, beyond with the possibility of the sharing of the information, concur also, through the construction of virtual platforms, the sharing of the business supplyes in a Virtual Warehouse, where a specialized, neutral operator regarding all the district companies and therefore that he can assure a sure guarantee of transparency for all the participants to the plan, UNITEC exactly, manages all the information on the state of the single business warehouses and of the activities of I reorder relative to the acquired ones you flavored yourself.
The condition for the happened one of such initiative but, is subordinated is to the adoption of a logistic standard and comunicativo in which such virtual platform is realized, than one geographic vicinity of the same enterprises for one better organization of the deliveries of the goodses.
The area of the sport footwear in fact, is introduced inserted in a territory from the contained dimensions, homogenous and very defined from a point of view they works. The district, extends on 15 common ones, with one surface total of 320 Kmq. The enterprises pertaining to the district, are approximately 400, between industrial and handicraft companies, characterized from one extraordinary capacitàdi process and product innovation.
The logistics but, continues to represent a crucial node for the district. The rapidity of the circulation of the information and the goodses, is therefore one of the aspects on which all the enterprises would have to reason and to invest.
The own advantages of the Virtual Warehouse can be explain to you with the lemma coined from the same Administrator of the UNITEC, Marino Vincenzo. The supplyes of every enterprise that participates to the plan, diminish immediately but, paradoxicalally, of it it increases availability ³³ .
The transformation of "a physical" object in "virtual", is sure an impossible activity, but the developments of the communications and the computer science net, are in effects instruments that allow this " metamorphosis ".
The Virtual Warehouse is in fact an expression of the use that can be made of these possible transformations.
It is the physical state of the objects, than their virtual state, they come considers you to the inside of the M.V. for which, we can define it, like a physicist-computer science hybrid.
The sharing of the information, possible yield from the net technologies, allows in fact to rationalize and to esternalizzare the management of the supplyes, physically present in the business warehouses.
Through the M.V. in fact, the supplyes are represented from the sum of the members, rendered available from the enterprises participants to the same M.V. and that they operate in one same territory.
The model therefore, finds its particular point of reference in the industrial districts, where the possibility to share raw materials, semifinished and replacement parts, turns out maximum.
The warehouses of the enterprises that operate in the districts in fact, introduce most times, of the redundancies of supplyes, beyond to all a series of problematic tied to the operating and logistic confusion that creates between goodses in income and expenditure.
Phenomena these that regard all indifferently the enterprises which see forced sopportare the consequent operating costs, existing in such economic truths of " duplicate to you structural ".
Like already analyzed, a sharing plan, concurs therefore with said enterprises, to eliminate it wastes and to obtain new revives economic.
With the M.V., the UNITEC offers to all the enterprises of the district, a reduction of the supplyes to stoccare, without but the renunciation to a ready availability of the same ones in case of necessity and, this, thanks to a system software that always allows to have under control and in real time, all the necessary information for the co-ordinate and total management in I use of the same supplyes.
In case of I use of supplyes from part of a company, beyond the limits of the own availability, UNITEC, through the computer science system, it proceeds immediately to the withdrawal of money of the goods from the warehouse of a near company, and to I reorder of the same goods the supplier. The entire district, works therefore like an only factory and where the M.V. is constituted physically from with of the warehouses of property of the various companies, whose management but, comes entrusted to UNITEC.
The obtainable economies to the inside of the industrial districts, would have therefore a great impact on all the chain of the national value.
The system and the exercise of a Virtual Warehouse are represented from the following illustration:

Figure n. 4,3 - Virtual Warehouse of district (Source UNITEC D GmbH, 2001)

The companies participants, transmit to the manager of the M.V., the UNITEC, all the information of the contents of the business warehouse that wish to share with the other operating enterprises in the district, so that the manager generates a M.V. that the description of the materials contains, the amounts available and the times of supplying and reorders.
The enterprises can consequently reorganize their supplyes in function exactly of the availability of the M.V. and the own operating necessities.
The participants can therefore demand online the delivery of the materials of which they need and this, 24 hours on 24. The same UNITEC, then supplies to organize the withdrawals of money and the deliveries of the materials in the within of all the district territory and, therefore, the relati to you processes of I reorder from the suppliers.
In the M.V. therefore, the management of the supplyes comes standardized and the recycle obsolescences, therefore to allow an increase of the spin of warehouse and the availability of understood them, the before bound with the existence of one management of traditional type.
We place the case that as an example participates to the M.V. plan three enterprises pertaining to the industrial district of the marble of Massa Carrara.
The three companies, reduce ognuna the own marble supplyes and graniti (the companies possess all the same tipologia of supplyes) in the measure of 33%, therefore to hold 66% of just the warehouse and, parallel, to make available it also for the others.

( UNITEC D GmbH, 2001)

In practical, they come cancels you the costs connected to the existence of a warehouse (the sum of the costs of 33% of every business warehouse, corresponds in fact to the cost total of an entire warehouse) where but the availability of sharing of the goodses given from every company, determines an availability doubled regarding the consistency of the supplyes ante participation to the M.V. plan the saving for the three enterprises, is therefore equivalent to the cost of an entire warehouse paradoxicalally associated to the increment of 100% of the usable supplyes from ognuna of they.
The companies interconnected in such system, also have therefore the guarantee of an availability of matters, that it goes quite beyond that one possessed previously, not being the present supplyes in their warehouse
More enterprises participate to the such implementation of solutions, minors will turn out the quotas matters to store, and, parallel greater they will be the quotas matters available.
In the specific case of the district of the scarpone from ski of Montebelluna, where the enterprises, being in strong competition between they, go to operate singularly with a pluralità of suppliers, they support all a series of costs, not only logistic but also trained to you and organizational, that they can be eliminates to you or, to the limit, remarkablly reduced.
We imagine the district like a condominio formed from ten apartments (enterprises). Every condomino, conserve in the own house, a set of 10 light bulbs of reservoir and type standard, in the case becomes necessary one substitution.
The stock total will be therefore of 100 light bulbs. Supposing an equal average cost to 50 Euro to set of light bulbs, the all in cost of the stock, will be equal to 500 Euro.
It comes decided to reduce the stock characterizes them to 2 light bulbs with possibility for everyone of the owner to address for the surplus, to the neighbor.
It comes then entrusted the assignment of the management of the stock of the light bulbs to a caretaker (UNITEC in the truth), which, thanks to a directory of the owners of relati to you the set of rendered light bulbs available, capture the necessary light bulb from the set of condomino the more neighbor, organizing some the transport and the delivery, in order then to cure of re-integration.
The every saving of single condomino is in this case of 80%, while the availability of supplyes is doubled (the condomino has 20 light bulbs against the 10 ante M.V.).
The enterprises of the district, can therefore pass from a management of conventional type, to which the existence of remarkable waste of resources is associated, to that it previews the participation and I use it of a Virtual Warehouse, through interconnections and logistic services distribute to you from the provider.
In the case then they were taken place of the particular variations in the demands for the goodses from part of an enterprise, and the warehouses of the others were not in a position to satisfying such requirement (case limit), UNITEC will carry out new supplyings immediately. The provider it can operate with extreme sollecitudine, in how much the demand for supply from part of the company, reaches in real Time and the state of the availability of the warehouses, is held under control 24 hours on 24.
From the song they, the enterprises, can reduce the own supplyes, without to compromise of the availability and, therefore, the risk of loss of upgrades them orders. The operating costs of the warehouse, as it is famous, grow proportionally to increasing of the availability of the supplyes. Well, with such solution, the costs will stretch to decrease. To participate moreover to a Virtual Warehouse, allows of:

• to eliminate the overhead managerial;
• to adapt the costs of the warehouse to the business conjunctural course;
• to take advantage itself of synergies negotiates them and organizational;
• to have use of of scale reductions in price multiplies to you in function of the great volumes of purchase generates to you;
• to guarantee one better reperibilità of the supplies associated to an elevation of the qualitative standards;
• to diminish of the structure costs;
• safeguard of the atmosphere through one reduction of the traffic generated from transports of along distance³⁴.

• Note 31: Vincenzo Marino, general manager Unitec (www.unitec.it)
• Note 32: Corò Giancarlo, from "Industrial districts and technologies of net: to plan the convergence", Franco Angeli 2000
• Note 33: Vincenzo Marino, general manager Unitec (www.unitec.it)
• Note 34: UNITEC D GmbH