Adidas Is Looking To Robots To Start Mass Producing Its Shoes

Speed matters, and to iconic German sportswear manufacturer Adidas, that means turning to robots to revolutionize their production--the Speedfactory--a large-scale robot facility set first in Germany aimed at changing the industry. The company has just announced that the Speedfactory will be ready to go commercial in 2017. It was December last year when Adidas had set up the pilot facility in Ansbach with the goal of producing products faster than ever. At 4,600 m2 (49,500 ft2), the company says that it will house cutting edge, automated technology that will decentralize manufacturing and will be more flexible towards the needs of the consumers, bringing the product, not just faster, but also closer to the market. Currently, the Speedfactory is under construction, but as part of their announcement late last year, Adidas will be selling a test batch of about 500 pairs of running footwear produced by the facility this year.