Flamar-Tomboni and Rizzi agreement

Italian leather machinery manufacturers, Flamar-Tomboni and Rizzi 1857, have announced that they are to form a joint-venture. In a joint press statement both companies said that they had not been immune to the downturn in the domestic and worldwide leather sector. They also blamed the affect of international competition, which they claim to be sometimes 'unfair'. Discussions have been taking place between the Lapi family, owners of Flamar-Tomboni and the owners of Rizzi 1857 as to the future of both companies. The announcement was made at the Tanning Tech exhibition in Bologna, in November. Rizzi 1857 have recently completed the construction of a very large and modern assembly plant close to Modena (see Leather International May 2002, page 26) at the cost of e7.5 million. The new plant has spare capacity to build more machines, which may be taken up by Flamar-Tomboni. It is hoped that the joint venture will allow both parties to exchange technical knowledge, reduce overheads and direct costs. It is anticipated that for now, both companies will continue with their own worldwide network of agents and share where one company is not covered. However, machine manufacturing, reconditioning and assembly is anticipated to be partially merged. In the future, the jv company is hoping to offer tanners a complete range of tannery machines and systems produced from both sources but packaged together. Where products are offered by Flamar-Tomboni and Rizzi, such as shaving machines: in this case the two machines will remain fully independent with regards to the customers' choices. Projects, business policy, promotion and the sales network will all follow independent paths.