Natuzzi

Beauty born from the light of the Mediterranean

The largest Italian furniture company maintains its masterly mix of advanced technology and craftsmanship. The innovations in the production process have led to the Moving Line, derived from lean manufacturing, which features a state of the art SCM cpc semiautomatic packaging line.

The light of the Mediterranean and its contrasts, cradle of civilisation, have been a source of inspiration for Natuzzi since its beginnings. The group founded in 1959 by Pasquale Natuzzi is the largest Italian furniture company and one of the leading players in the global furniture market. The history of this group and its founder are well-known. As well as his business successes, Pasquale Natuzzi has distinguished himself for his commitment to social issues and for his vision, which have rendered him one of the leading Italian business men most appreciated in the world.

Natuzzi is the best known Italian lifestyle brand in the world for the furniture sector. The brands “Natuzzi Italia”, “Natuzzi Editions” and “Divani&Divani by Natuzzi” can be found in 123 countries and the widespread customer direct sales and technical support network is managed from 11 offices.

Ethics and social responsibility, environmental awareness, continuous stylistic research, creativity, innovation, solid craftsmanship and industrial know-how and the integrated control and management of the entire value chain are the strengths of the group, which has been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1993.

Unlike most Italian businessmen Pasquale Natuzzi had already understood, at the end of the nineties, the importance of the challenges arising from the globalisation processes and set about an important restructuring of the group, transforming it from a business to business model to business to consumer, focusing fully on the potential of the “made in Italy” aspect. In 2013 he launched a new sizable industrial plan for the product and the production process, with the aim of further improving the global competitiveness of the group, without trying to compete with developing countries in terms of price and render “made in Italy” products economically sustainable.

In terms of innovation the Re-vive armchair is currently the icon of the group. The extraordinary design is combined with a simple and revolutionary idea: it’s not the body that must adapt to the seating position, but the armchair that must adapt to the characteristics and movements of the body. All this was achieved without internal mechanisms or manual devices, but thanks to a series of innovative design features.

In terms of production Natuzzi has changed the production logics of the sofa, by adopting the industrial platform method, already used in the car industry. Previously sofas were assembled by a single worker in the same position. Now the sofa is designed by each individual component (used for various models) and assembled with the Moving Line production process, on which teams of assemblers work, fitting in sequence the various parts of the sofa. Currently 80% of Natuzzi’s turnover comes from models designed with the new platform approach and produced with the new process. The advantages are greater synergies, improved ergonomics of the work stations, reduced movement of the products and reduced risks of damages. The new process has guaranteed a further improvement in terms of quality and productivity.

Natuzzi (Italy)