Fiat Industrial SpA announced that it is launching a special lay-off scheme at its Melfi plant in order to modernise the factory as part of a new strategy aimed at upping the carmaker's game. The scheme will begin on February 11 and the company said it will continue to produce the Fiat Punto during the restructuring, using one of the two production lines at a time. Trade unions said they thought the scheme would last two years, winding up at the end of 2014.