RECODE Chinese Station reported on September 28
Adidas robot shoe factory in Germany has been completed and is now in operation.
Last weekend, adidas showed off the first pair of sneakers that are basically entirely made by robots. Recently, adidas is joining a customized robot factory called ” Fast Factory” into the global supply chain..
At present, adidas outsources most of its production work to China and other Asian countries. In these areas, Adidas produces about 300 million pairs of sneakers every year, and a large part of this requires manual labor.
This year, adidas plans to produce 500 pairs of prototype products in Germany’s new robot factory. Therefore, in the short term, the robot factory will not replace the current large-scale production process.
However, in the long run, the robot factory will be able to reduce the cost of Adidas. If robots can produce lower-cost products faster, the labor cost advantages of emerging markets such as China and Brazil will disappear. Enterprises can build factories in local and developed countries. Here, the workers’ main job will be to manufacture and maintain factory robots.
Due to China’s labor shortage and rising labor costs, companies including Adidas are pushing product production closer to major markets. Last year, Ford transferred about 3200 manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Nike announced its cooperation with Flex, a high-tech manufacturing company, to introduce automation technology into the supply chain. However, Nike did not release a timetable for the plan.
Adidas will start its second robot manufacturing plant in Atlanta in 2017, by which time robot production will be increased. Adidas expects the Atlanta factory to produce 50,000 pairs of sneakers in the second half of next year. However, this figure is still less than 0 % of adidas supply chain production. 5%.
Adidas said that if it goes well, the robot factory will produce 1 million pairs of shoes a year in the next few years.. After its opening, the Atlanta factory is expected to create 160 new jobs.
Customized robot factory can bring faster product update speed. In adidas current factory, it takes several weeks to complete the production of a pair of sneakers. By automating most production processes, it takes only about 5 hours to produce a pair of sneakers.
More than 70 % of adidas sales come from products that have been launched for less than a year. Although Adidas’ robot shoe-making factory is just beginning, the ability of the robot factory to produce products on demand will upset the current production mode. ( Compile / Chen Hua )
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