Adidas is out to reinvent the shoemaking industry by bringing their shoe production back to Germany. This year, Adidas, the giant German sports goods company, has announced that it will be transforming its massive warehouse, located in the Bavarian town of Ansbach, into a newly renovated “Speedfactory.” Shoe-making production is largely a $80 billion dollar per year industry that historically has been offshored to China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Adidas is no stranger to this. For the longest time, Adidas itself has been producing their shoes in Asia.

Adidas is setting its sights on becoming the next big innovative disruptor. Today, the majority of shoes are made and assembled by hand. Adidas now wants to streamline this process, hence the name “Speedfactory.” Their goal, however, is not just focused on labor-related costs. It goes well beyond that. Adidas’s motivation is focused on its customers’ needs. Adidas’s customers want fashionable shoes immediately, but the shoe production giant has been in a constant struggle to keep up. The Speedfactory aims to close the gap. With a streamlined production through machines assembling their shoes, customers will now have Adidas’s latest fashions in a shorter amount of time.

The Speedfactory warehouse is currently undergoing renovations. Production is set to begin mid-2017. Adidas has been working with Oeschler Motion, a local Bavarian firm that specializes building the manufacturing equipment that the Speedfactory will be utilizing. Adidas is aiming to produce up to 500,000 pairs of shoes annually. Adidas is also planning on opening a Speedfactory location in the United States, in Atlanta, Georgia.

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