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In an effort “to create product more quickly and closer to U.S. consumers,” adidas today announced its state-of-the-art SPEEDFACTORY opening in Atlanta in 2017.
According to Fortune, the more than 74,000-square-foot production facility will place an emphasis on running footwear and will be fully operational by the midpoint of next year. Adidas Group Executive Board Member Eric Liedtke had this to say on this new development:
“For years our industry has been playing by the same rules manufacturing product remotely in Asia. As the creator brand that challenges convention and looks to co-create the future with our consumers, we are obsessed with bringing all steps of the creation process home to America. We’re fueling design at the ground level of creativity in Brooklyn and reinventing manufacturing with the first adidas SPEEDFACTORY in Atlanta. This allows us to make product for the consumer, with the consumer, where the consumer lives in real time, unleashing unparalleled creativity and endless opportunities for customization in America.”
Adidas says the budding factory is targeting production of 50,000 pairs of shoes in 2017, a relatively small number when considering the larger scope of what they traditionally produce (300 million pairs per year). This, though, doesn’t speak to how adidas will actually produce the products, as the facility is said to be led by robotic production that will effectively allow the German company to produce at a much faster rate.
The adidas SPEEDFACTORY will create 160 new jobs in the Atlanta area.
