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| Economy |
| Adidas to use robots at new shoe factory in Germany |
| 2016-05-26 |
| [GEO.TV] Adidas will launch mass production of running shoes at a German factory operated largely by robots next year and plans to open a similar plant in the United States next year, the company said on Tuesday. Founded by German cobbler Adi Dassler in 1949, Adidas had closed all but one of its 10 shoe factories in Germany by 1993 as it shifted most production from Europe to lower-wage Asia, particularly China and Vietnam. But advances in robotics and automation means that Adidas can now afford to bring production back closer to customers to meet demands for faster delivery of new styles and to counter rising wages in Asia and lengthy shipping times. The company gave journalists a first look at its new "Speedfactory" in the southern German town of Ansbach on Tuesday, saying large-scale production will start in 2017 after producing the first 500 prototypes for sale later this year. "With the Adidas 'Speedfactory', we are revolutionizing the industry," said Chief Executive Herbert Hainer. "Our consumers always want the latest and newest product ‐ and they want it now." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Foxconn now has over 60,000 robots making IPhones and plans for over 2,000,000 by 2020. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2016-05-26 22:45 |
| #6 ..and think of the reprogramming with each faddish edition of the next celeb shoe. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-05-26 21:41 |
| #5 Somebody's gotta build and program the robots. Robots building robots? OK, but somebody still has to do the programming. Those will not be minimum wage jobs. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2016-05-26 13:23 |
| #4 Tip of the iceberg. Read Tyler Cowen's Average is Over. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2016-05-26 13:14 |
| #3 But what about all the recent arrivals? Where are they going to work? Robots don't eat Doner Kebabs. |
| Posted by: Mortimer Braille, Esq. 2016-05-26 10:07 |
| #2 The real issue here is to shorten the supply chain and hence react more quickly to market demands. Back in the day when I worked in manufacturing systems, it was called Just in Time inventory. Where this is heading is no inventory at all. Every thing made to order and the end of mass production, at least of consumer products. Rather a problem for China. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2016-05-26 07:04 |
| #1 Real minimum wage workers, eh? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-05-26 02:02 |