Adidas opens second robot factory with only 150 human employees

April 26, according to the US “Commercial Insider” website, Adidas recently opened its second smart factory, Speedfactory, in Atlanta, United States. The fully automated factory occupies approximately 74,000 square feet (about 6,874 square meters), but there are only 150 human employs.

Adidas's first Speedfactory in Germany, covering about 4,600 square meters, was officially put into production last year. The company stated that its goal is to achieve a combined annual output of 1 million pairs of plants by 2020. Although this number sounds great, it is still only a fraction of the total annual output of Adidas. In fact, using high-tech technologies such as the 3d printer and AI, this factory can achieve the expected effect.

In 2017, Adidas produced 403 million pairs of shoes, which produced an average of more than 1 million pairs per day. For Adidas, the biggest significance of the emergence of smart factories is to explore new technologies and be closer to consumers. How to? By providing more intimate and different customized products and services. Its greatest feature is "customer customization." Gil Steyaert, the executive committee member of Adidas Global Operations, said that Speedfactory "will complement our main source of supply. They will never replace our main source of supply."

In addition, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in an interview with reporters recently that SpeedFactory is an experiment and an attempt for future technology that helps meet the needs of some niche markets, but since SpeedFactory's production is limited, there is no significant and absolute influence to the production pattern.

So far, Adidas has only employed about 150 employees in Speedfactory in the United States. This relatively low figure means that using automation technology, it is economically feasible to set up factories in a country that lacks high-skilled shoe workers. This indeed indicates the future development trend of the footwear industry.

Nokia smart watch project Moonraker prototype exposure

April 23 news Moonraker, which once had rumors of being hacked, once again revealed that the video on Protobetatest.com showing more details of the engineering smart watch. Nokia's development of smart watches was originally intended to be used in conjunction with Lumia, but due to the acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft, this product has not been able to enter the market. Previously, Protobetatest.com had already uploaded a video. The uploaded video basically showed all the features of Moonraker to everyone.

According to media reports, the Nokia smart watch Moonraker was once again exposed by media in recent days. Its prototype is similar in appearance to Apple's Apple Watch and uses a square dial design. The difference is that Moonraker is equipped with an LCD material screen with a resolution of 240 x 190, a physical button at the bottom of the screen, and also uses a Windows 10 style tile-like UI, the main feature is that it can be linked with Lumia equipment. In addition, Moonraker is equipped with basic configurations such as NFC and gyroscopes, but it is not equipped with a heart rate sensor and therefore does not have corresponding health data tracking. As early as 2016, the media exposed the Nokia smart watch project, but since Nokia was acquired by Microsoft, this smart watch has not entered the market.

It is understood that the Moonraker prototype adopts a 200x190 LCD screen with a physical button on the bottom, and the overall use of a tile-like UI similar to the Windows 10 style can be linked with the Lumia device like the smartphone. Moonraker does not have a heart rate sensor but has other configurations devices such as NFC and gyroscopes.

The video released this time shows the user some of the basic functions of Moonraker, such as making calls, sending text messages, counting steps, changing mobile phone sound modes, playing music, viewing call records, etc. The overall degree of completion of the system is still high. Unfortunately, it has not been introduced to the market.

Xiaomi may become the new owner of GoPro

In outdoor sports circles, GoPro is a well-known sports video camera with a market value of up to US$10 billion once. However, GoPro's share price has been declining and the market value has shrunk to about 700 million U.S. dollars now, after successively experiencing unsuccessful drone product failures, over-quota pricing, and the influx of more entry-level users being blocked by more brands. So GoPro's CEO Nick Woodman also said that he welcomes the purchase transaction. According to media reports, Xiaomi from China will likely become the new owner of this sports camera giant.

This is not really the first time GoPro has found a new owner. After the investment bank made contact with the Chinese drone manufacturer DJI on this matter, DJI at the end did not initiate an acquisition of GoPro. DJI did not consider the acquisition of GoPro will give it explanatory value. And Xiaomi, we know that in addition to the main business of smart phones, they also invested in a large number of consumer electronics companies, including a lower-priced sports camera, the Mijia Xiaomi Action Sport Camera, and also invested the Xiaoyi Technology which also has corresponding sports camera products.

Therefore, it is not a strange thing that Xiaomi is now trying to acquire GoPro. For Xiaomi, the acquisition of GoPro will allow it to quickly establish its advantages in the sports camera field. For example, GoPro's market brand, excellent performance products and related technologies are places where Xiaomi is worth investing. For GoPro, with Xiaomi's brand and channels, it may be possible to reverse the decline again. After all, the importance of the Chinese market is more than necessary. Everyone knows clearly.

GoPro's share price soared by 8.8% in the news that Xiaomi might acquire GoPro. This shows that the market has responded positively. But then again, according to analysts, this year, GoPro's sales will fall again by 8%, still unable to make profits, so the acquisition can be successful or not is not sure yet.