In last years, with the increased penetration and higher service level of e-commerce customers in consumer goods market has become more used to expedited deliveries. Change in customer expectations does not only affect delivery operations, but also increased the pressure to manufacture faster and adopt to changes in customer demand more quickly. Furthermore, competition in fast moving fashion market incentivized companies to offer customized products, which required complex inventory management and production processes, to differentiate. At the end of the day all of these challenges led companies to focus more on supply chain operations.<\/p>\n
Adidas, who appeared to be the first player in sportswear market to come up with a solution to rapidly changing trends and long supply chain processes, developed \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d, a new plant design, to manufacture footwear in local markets with robots and additive manufacturing such as 3D printing to enable speed, precision and responsiveness. [3] \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d has multiple advantages. First, it decreases setup time significantly by eliminating retooling of conventional machines and instruction of manual workers in design changes. [4]. Secondly, it decreases number of units kept in inventory because \u201cSpeedfactories\u201d will be located in local markets and will eventually shorten shipping time. Today even for a popular design in the market it can take two or three months to replace inventories in stores. [4] Third, \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d project includes a digital virtual a computer model to simulate footwear\u2019s production in order to speed up production preparations. Therefore, \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d will allow Adidas to customize faster and smaller batches of products and offer customers a broader product range. [5] For example, Mi Adidas, online sales channel which allows product customization, currently requires 4-6 weeks for delivery and Adidas targets to decrease delivery to 4-5 business days with \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d. [6]<\/p>\n
In October 2017, Adidas announced its first product series AM4, which would be produced in first \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d facility in Ansbach, Germany. [3] In an industry where shipping of a new footwear design from the initial design sketches might take up to 18 months Adidas plans to release individually designed and manufactured shoes in six key cities around the world in 2018. [4][5] Paul Gaudio, Adidas Global Creative Director, defines \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d as an enabler to co-create unique product solutions based on individual athlete needs and desires, delivering what they want, when and where they want it. [3] In short term another \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d facility will be opened in Atlanta, US in 2017 as a next step and each facility will have production capacity up to 500,000 pairs of footwear per year. [1] According to the current information in the market Adidas plans to use \u201cSpeedfactories\u201d to complement current production facilities instead of replacing them. [4] On the other hand, in an interview Gerd Manz, senior innovation director in Adidas, stated their vision to create a network of connected \u201cSpeedfactories\u201d in key markets to integrate information exchange in terms of production techniques, local trends, material or capacity availability. [7]<\/p>\n
Regarding the role of current manufacturing facilities in Asia and product development cycles in the market there are two key concerns which should be addressed by Adidas management. One concern is the effect of new manufacturing methodology on company\u2019s internal processes and the other concern is effect of rapid manufacturing on first mover advantage and barriers to copy a product. To begin with company\u2019s internal processes, first the transition from current manufacturing methodology and plants requires a detailed transition plan and the most challenging issue is to make this transition without a disruption in operations. Secondly, giving too many customization opportunities to customers might create an undesired confusion in customers and lead to decrease in sales. Third, effect of using robots and additive manufacturing on variety of materials which can be used in production should be evaluated. On the other hand, Adidas should seek ways to protect itself from copy cats when automated manufacturing methodology becomes ubiquitous in the market in the long run.<\/p>\n
In my opinion one important question to answer about \u201cSpeedfactory\u201d is how to position it in supply chain operations both to create a competitive advantage today and preserve it when this technology becomes ubiquitous in the market tomorrow. (748 words)<\/p>\n
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[1] Adidas AG, 2016 Annual Report, p 65-68,\u00a0https:\/\/www.adidas-group.com\/media\/filer_public\/a3\/fb\/a3fb7068-c556-4a24-8eea-cc00951a1061\/2016_eng_gb.pdf<\/a>, accessed November 2017<\/p>\n [2] Adidas AG, \u201cSpeedfactory\/Future of Manufacturing\u201d, https:\/\/www.adidas-group.com\/media\/filer_public\/2013\/11\/27\/adidas_speedfactory_factsheet_en.pdf<\/a>, accessed November 2017<\/p>\n [3] Adidas AG, \u201cAdidas Launches AM4 Project in Landmark Moment for Speedfactory Facility\u201d, https:\/\/www.adidas-group.com\/en\/media\/news-archive\/press-releases\/2017\/adidas-launches-am4-project-landmark-moment-speedfactory-facilit\/<\/a>, accessed November 2017<\/p>\n [4] \u201cAdidas\u2019s High Tech Factory Bring Production Back to Germany\u201d, The Economist<\/em>, January 2017, https:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/business\/21714394-making-trainers-robots-and-3d-printers-adidass-high-tech-factory-brings-production-back<\/a>, accessed November 2017<\/p>\n [5] Stephanie Pandolph, \u201cAdidas Uses Speedfactory to localize Shoe designs\u201d, Business Insider<\/em>, October 2017, http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/adidas-uses-speedfactory-to-localize-shoe-designs-2017-10<\/a>, November 2017<\/p>\n [6] Man Mohan S. Sodhi and Christopher S. Tang, \u201cSupply Chains Build for Speed and Customization\u201d, MIT Sloan Management Review<\/em>, June 2017, http:\/\/sloanreview.mit.edu\/article\/supply-chains-built-for-speed-and-customization\/<\/a>, accessed November 2017<\/p>\n