Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The Natuzzi group is one of the worlds leading designer and manufacturer of upholstered furniture. The companys plants are concentrated in Southern Italy, between the Puglia and the Basilicata regions. Since 1970, in these regions, the district of Italian sofa industry has developed around Natuzzi, which is the leading company. The company exports 90% of its production to 135 countries, employs 4,431 workers in Italy, where it has 12 plants, and about 3,000 workers in China, Brazil and Romania.In 2004, the company recorded a severe economic loss and announced the first reorganisation plan. The crisis was principally due to: the greater market competition by manufacturers located in countries where labour costs are significantly lower than in Italy; the unfavourable euro/dollar exchange rate; a production organisation which hasnt enabled Natuzzi group to compete in the international market.
On 12 May 2006, the company announced the second reorganisation plan that provides the closure of five among the eight Natuzzi plants that produce sofas in Italy and a complete reorganisation of the production cycle in all the groups factories. The plan envisages 200 redundancies; moreover, the company demands to the government the application of the Wage Guarantee Fund (cassa integrazione guadagni, cig) for 570 employees of the group. Workers will be under the Wage Guarantee Fund scheme starting from June 2006 and the scheme will cover the two-year period 2006-2008. Finally, the plan provides new investments in the Italian plants with a view to reorganise the production cycle and to re-launch the competitiveness of the Italian sofas district.
The Natuzzi group, the presidents of the Puglia and the Basilicata regional administrations and the representatives of the workers of the sofa industry are discussing the situation in order to elaborate adequate initiatives for the outplacement and redeployment of redundant personnel and to define the various details of the application of the Wage Guarantee Fund scheme.
Eurofound (2006), Natuzzi, Internal restructuring in Italy, factsheet number 63517, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/63517.
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