After a twenty year hiatus, it looks like adidas is ready to begin large-scale production of shoes in its homeland of Germany again. However, adidas says that this is just the first step before bringing shoe production to the U.S. as well (by 2020). Most, if not all, of the production will be done by advanced robots. Fortunately, the adidas SPEEDFACTORY produced kicks will not cost more than the adidas kicks produced in Asia. Here’s all the information:
adidas today announced that its industry-changing SPEEDFACTORY is all set to go commercial in Germany. The new SPEEDFACTORY facility will begin large-scale production in 2017.
“As a sports company we know what Speed is. That’s why we defined Speed as one of the key choices of our strategic business plan ‘Creating the New’. With the adidas SPEEDFACTORY we are revolutionising the industry. It’s a constantly changing world out there and our consumers always want the latest and newest product — and they want it now. That’s what adidas SPEEDFACTORY delivers, starting right here in Germany, with best-in-class German technology.”
Herbert Hainer, CEO of The Adidas Group
The SPEEDFACTORY initiative heralds a new era in footwear creation. This flexible model challenges the idea of centralised production and makes product close to where the consumer is. It opens doors to creation of product completely unique to the fit and functional needs of consumers, through a combination of the craft of shoe making and cutting-edge technology.
“Every day our teams come together to bring speed to life, and with the adidas SPEEDFACTORY, we have a game changer in our hands. It enables us to combine speed in manufacturing with the flexibility to rethink conventional processes. Our goal is to give consumers what they want when they want it,” Glenn Bennett, Executive Board Member of the adidas Group responsible for Global Operations, pointed out.
“It’s a new era in footwear crafting — with greater precision, unique design opportunities and high-performance. Products of tomorrow are going to look different to what we have today.”
Glenn Bennett, Executive Board Member of The Adidas Group Responsible for Global Operations
The pilot adidas SPEEDFACTORY in Ansbach was set up in December 2015 in partnership with industry experts to provide a testing ground for this trailblazing model. The first pairs of high-performance footwear to come out of the adidas SPEEDFACTORY will be revealed later this year. The large-scale commercial production facility will be operated by adidas’ strategic partner Oechsler Motion GmbH across an area of 4,600 m2. With best-in-class German engineering, adidas is all geared to bring Speed to the consumers, before bringing production to the US next.
Source: adidas
