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adidas uses short delivery times to expand product range
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adidas promotes supply chain process innovation and testing at Scheinfeld factory
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The “SpeedFactory” (SpeedFactory) in Ansbach, Germany and Atlanta, the United States will stop production
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adidas will continue to cooperate with OECHSLER Cooperation in 4D printing and other fields
adidas has started to apply the technology of “Speedfactory” since the end of 2019 Production of sports shoes from two suppliers in Asia. Adidas hopes to make more perfect use of existing production capacity and improve the flexibility of the company’s product design. Consumers will benefit from this wave of opportunities for adidas to integrate existing technologies with suppliers, and new production methods developed in Ansbach, Germany, and Atlanta, the United States, will provide more changes in fast factory shoes in the future. The characteristics of these factories focus on their extremely short production cycles, allowing the company to respond quickly to consumer demand. For this reason, the two “fast factories” in Ansbach, Germany and Atlanta, the United States, will stop production by April 2020 at the latest. In the future, adidas will concentrate the company’s resources and capabilities, pay more attention to optimizing the modern facilities and technologies of other cooperating suppliers, and apply 4D technology in the production of footwear.
Martin Shankland, member of the executive board of adidas AG responsible for global operations, pointed out: “Fast factory” has really played a role in promoting our technological innovation energy in manufacturing. By shortening the processes in development, production and delivery, we can provide our selected customers with products that highly meet their needs. This has been our goal from the beginning. Now we can combine these learnings with other supplier advances to leverage these technologies to be more flexible and cost-effective while broadening the range of products available.
Looking to the future, by using the tested production process of the fast factory, not only running shoes can be produced in a short time, but also other categories of products can be produced.
adidas will continue to carry out product development, improvement and testing and other manufacturing processes in Germany. And promote process innovation at the German Scheinfeld production facility (i.e. adiLab).
adidas will continue to cooperate with fast factory operator OECHSLER in other manufacturing areas, such as using Boost cushioning technology to produce soles, football soles and using 4D technology to print soles. .
Martin Shankland pointed out: Through cooperation with OECHSLER and its team, we have achieved professional implementation in the establishment and operation of the rapid factory. In this way we become a pioneer in a new manufacturing process that significantly reduces the production time of sports shoes. We are very sorry that the cooperation in the Rapid Factory Program in Ansbach, Germany, and Atlanta, the United States, has ended, and thank all program participants for their input in this case. At the same time, we are pleased to continue our cooperation with OECHSLER in other areas, especially in the field of advanced 4D printing.
Dr. Claudius M. Kozlik, CEO of OECHSLERAG, said: Although we understand the reason why adidas stopped production at the OECHSLER fast factory, we regret this decision. At the same time, we hope to continue to maintain a close and trusting cooperative relationship with adidas in the field of 4D sole printing. Adidas’ rapid factory production has allowed us to gain valuable expertise, and in the future the factory operations will be integrated into the production of other divisions of the OECHSLER Group (automotive, medical and innovative solutions).
