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Home > Focus On
ITALIAN MATTRESS-MAKERS: A SECTOR WHERE QUALITY IS A COMMON FEATURE
'Total quality' is the distinguishing feature for the companies that produce high-end Italian mattresses and form part of the Italian consortium of producers of quality mattresses (www.consorzio
materassi.it/en). They operate in a sector which is less of a niche than might be expected - with about 400 established firms, though even the biggest ones do not employ more than 20 people - and which has created an elite group of companies within itself. The Consortium was created in 1987 thanks to the initiative of Federlegno-Arredo (www.federlegno.it), (the Italian trade association for furniture and furnishings makers), who wished to bestow greater visibility and maximise the value of a furnishings component that contributes fundamentally to one's health and wellbeing.
"Italian mattresses can boast about their 'total quality' because every step of the manufacturing process is carefully monitored and controlled: design, materials, production, shipment, distribution and customer care before and after the sale", explains the President of the Consortium Sonia Piccoli. The Consortium aims to support those firms that produce and market mattresses and bedding accessories while ensuring the highest transparency for the final customer. It also awards a quality seal to those mattresses that respect a series of international standards and are produced by companies that have received the Vision 2000: 9001 quality award.
According to the latest available statistics, in 2005 the industry employed 2,300 to 2,400 people in total, with an average of 5,9 employees per firm, and registered an annual turnover of 385 million euros, measured in terms of market value in producers' prices. Current estimates indicate that the turnover will continue to increase both for 2006 (+1%) and 2007 (+1,1%).
As far as exports are concerned, the seven firms who make up the Consortium seem to be primarily focussed on the domestic market. Therefore the value of their exports compared to their annual turnover (6%) is lower than the sector's average (20,3%). The main markets are Germany (with a 36,4% share), Spain (22,1%), France (7,1%), United Kingdom (4,2%), USA (3,9%), Japan (3,6%), Switzerland (2,7%) and Austria (2,2%). Smaller volumes are also exported to the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Poland and Russia.
Pushing up the share of exports is therefore an objective for the next few years, particularly in the light of the uniqueness of Italian products in this sector, which combine entrepreneurial initiative and careful craftsmanship. "Such a synergy creates a product of outstanding quality under all aspects", claims Mrs Piccoli. "The strong points of the Italian mattress industry are the use of selected raw materials and the decision to shy way from mass-production, allowing producers to pay more attention to quality control - according to UNI standards and other voluntary tests - rather than to automation processes and cost cutting
Research also plays a big part in the development of mattresses, through the study of ergonomics, anthropometrics and medicine. Firms in this sector also analyse the characteristics of raw materials, such as their elastic and thermal properties, the presence of residual electrostatic charges and environmental sustainability. Selecting the right raw materials involves distinguishing the suppliers who can offer truly innovative products from those who simply re-elaborate known concepts. Lastly, the machinery for processing semi-finished goods used by the industry have reached new benchmarks of performance allowing greater personalisation of final products as well as vastly reducing production times.
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