RESHORING CASE

Adidas

Company details
Code: 
Adidas
Company name: 
Adidas
Company country: 
Germany
Number of employees: 
53731
Sector: 
C - Manufacturing
Sector detail: 
C15 - Manufacture of leather and related products
Sub-sectors: 
C15.2 - Manufacture of footwear
Reshoring details
Reshoring announcement date: 
26/05/2016
Starting implementation date: 
June, 2016
End of Implementation : 
June, 2017
Reshored to: 
Germany
Location of affected unit(s): 
Ansbach
Location code: 
DE251
Reshored business function: 
Production
Partial or Total reshoring: 
Partial
Reshoring governance mode: 
In house (in own facilities)
Estimated job gains: 
160
Reasons for reshoring: 
Automation of production process
Delivery time
Implementation of strategies based on product/process innovation
Labour costs' gap reduction
Case narrative: 

Adidas is a well-known German company specialised in sport footwear. According to official data, the company employs more than 50,000 people worldwide. Throughout the 1980’s, large portions of the company's production was offshored to China, where Adidas now employs around one million workers.  One of the company's major competitors, Nike, recently decided to produce shoes through a robotised system. Adidas is following suit and has decided to adopt a similar strategy and is therefore bringing production back from Asia. Adidas will produce its pilot batch of shoes using robots in 2016, and plans to expand production in 2017. The first robotized plant will be opened in in Ansbach in Southern Germany.  The company also plans to establish a Speedfactory in the US in 2017. Combined, the factories are expected to produce a minimum of 1million pairs of shoes every year. 160 new jobs are expected to be created at the German production site, which will require high-skilled labour  to maintain the robots. Bringing production back from China and Vietnam will help the company to offset long shipping times and the rising cost of labour in Asia. It will also help in meeting demand for rapid innovation in designs and styles.

Sources: 

The Guardian, 25 May 2016

Russia Today, 26 May 2016

Corriere della Sera, 27 May 2016

The Business of Fashion, 24 May 2016

Offshoring details
Offshoring date: 
1995
Offshoring location: 
China
Offshored business function: 
Production
Offshoring governance mode: 
Third party (external suppliers)
Offshoring entry mode: 
Non equity
Reason for offshoring: 
Availability of qualified suppliers in the host country / lack of suitable suppliers in the home country
Labour costs
Notes: 
Link from 2015 contains some interesting notes about the case despite the news is older than the reshoring.