Ethics in the digital workplace
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
Nicos International is specialised in the manufacture and B2B distribution of solid surfaces for bathroom furniture. Nicos is part of EUROPAK SpA, a larger Italian group. The company has already received orders for 60.000 units of shower bases to be shipped by 2020. Within the framework of a quality improvement strategy, the company has implemented the backshoring of the automated business unit that manufactures shower bases. The production will be moved from its Bulgaria-based production site to Italy, while the company will keep the manufacturing of basins on four different production lines in Bulgaria. The company currently employs 120 workers in Italy and 300 in Bulgaria. Nicos is also planning to implement a new production site in Poland, which should be operational in 2017, in order to reach the markets of Northern Europe. Nicos International already exports 50% of its production.
Eurofound (2016), Nicos International, Reshoring in Italy, factsheet number 230, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/230.