German company Adidas is going to use robots in Germany to manufacture some of its sport shoes.
More than 20 years ago, the company ceased manufacturing in Germany and shifted to Asia instead where the work was done predominately by hand.
But the company is now going home and is in the midst of building a vast new plant, its “speed factory”, in southern Germany where, it plans, to automate the works for faster production.
It also means that the finished shoes will be all that much closer to its sales outlets.
Large-scale robot production is scheduled for 2017 with the aim of creating “half a million shoes every year within three to five years” at the site, according to Adidas spokesman Gerd Manz.
The company is not stopping there. It has plans to build another “speed factory” in the US in 2017 and after that has its eyes on the UK or France.
After giving employment and upping living standards, the company is shrinking from rising production costs in Asia where it has some one million workers.
