BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Adidas (ADDYY.PK, ADDDF.PK) said Monday that it plans to close its robot-staffed Speedfactories in Ansbach, Germany, and Atlanta, USA.
Both facilities, which are run in partnership with German plastics specialist Oechsler, will be closed 'by April 2020 at the latest,' the company said in a statement.
The German sportswear company said it will use its Speedfactory technologies to produce athletic footwear at two of its suppliers in Asia, starting at the end of this year.
'The Speedfactories have been instrumental in furthering our manufacturing innovation and capabilities. .... We are now able to couple these learnings with other advancements made with our suppliers, leveraging the totality of these technologies to be more flexible and economic while simultaneously expanding the range of products available,' said Martin Shankland, Member Of The Executive Board Of Adidas, responsible for global iperations.
Looking forward, not only running shoes, but also models of other product categories will be able to be produced in a short period of time by using the production processes tested in the Speedfactories, Adidas said.
However, adidas said it will continue to develop, improve and test manufacturing processes in Germany. Process innovations will be bundled and driven forward at the adidas production site in Scheinfeld, the so-called adiLab.
Adidas noted that it will continue its collaboration with Oechsler in other manufacturing areas such as the production of soles for shoes using Boost technology, soles for football shoes and 4D-printed soles.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX