Vincenzo Marino worked for a company that used robots on an automotive assembly line. There, he watched workers idle while the plant waited for a crucial part that someone had forgotten to order. “Every time you make a mistake, the company loses time and money,” observes Marino.
In 1989, Marino left the company and joined Unitec, an outsourcing service provider specializing in supply chain management and logistics. The company has two offices in Europe, one in Augsburg, Germany, the other in Saubaudia, Italy. Marino, the CEO, was determined to improve the process.
Marino says his goal was to offer his customers the opportunity to consolidate their procurement and make Unitec their sole procurement office. The outsourcing provider would help its buyers avoid costly procurement mistakes, consolidate procurement to save costs, and simplify billing.
Marino started his outsourcing company with the automotive industry because that was where his expertise lay. Now Unitec has added the printing, rubber and chemical industries to its customer list. His typical customer has 10,000 or more suppliers.
In 1995, Unitec began using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application for its procurement activities to avoid the growing pile of paper. Marino, who is also a programmer, wrote the ERP program himself. Unitec went paperless in 24 months. Going paperless eliminated the need to store old receipts or archive the information on microfilm and saved customers money.
