LONGARONE, Italy—As part of its previously announced €60 million capital investment in the modernization of all of its manufacturing facilities, Safilo Group (SFLG.MI) presented its plans to workers and trade unions here this week for a €4 million investment in its Longarone plant.

Safilo’s transformation plan is part of its 2020 strategy, and is part of the overall renewal plan of Safilo’s footprint, aimed at maintaining its leadership in Italian eyewear production, with special attention on the preservation and enhancement of the traditional Cadore eyewear heritage, of which Safilo, which began manufacturing eyewear back in 1878, is a founder, the company said.

The strategic plan is for a gradual reversal of the percentage of glasses and components produced within Safilo’s plants, among which Longarone plays a key role, as well as Santa Maria di Sala and Martignacco, and Lenti/Bergamo, the latter the recently acquired lens facility. The objective of the Group is to take production from 30 percent last year to 70 percent by 2020, with modernization of facilities in order to reach an even higher level of ability to serve the market, and improvements in production lead-time, product quality, inventory and cost management.

Longarone currently employs over 1,000 workers and the plant, mainly dedicated to metalworking, is the largest of the four Italian manufacturing sites in Veneto, Friuli and Lombardy regions. The company’s welfare agreement signed in February this year, states that the company and its workers are” inseparable in the company’s code of principles, values and competencies.” Safilo has introduced, for the first time, not only within the company but also in the eyewear sector, a flexible benefits system designed to take into account not only specific individual needs, but also to ensure the maximum benefit in terms of net income received.

In its progress report for the program’s first six months, Safilo reported that 250 new workers were hired at Longarone, and with the €4 million investment in the facility, production capacity has increased by 25 percent, with a 30 percent increase in production hours in the first half of the year, compared to the prior year and a 32 percent increase in production quantities in the second quarter following the first quarter of 2016.