The benefits of additive manufacturing go well beyond the custom fit shoe creation and improved cycle times. If a completely new shoe design is desired the cycle time required for design, prototyping, testing, manufacturing, and shipping can push design to delivery time on the order of 15-18 months. While it is difficult to compete with traditional manufacturing on scale, 3-D printing has a massive advantage when considering the cycle time of design, prototyping, production, and delivery. Ultimately, this technology can scan consumers feet in stores, gather data about their gait, and deliver personalized shoes in a printing process that is “100 times faster” than the roughly 24 hours required of traditional 3-D shoe printing utilized by competitors like Under Armour. The 3-D printer receives input from cloud based software that can be easily customized. Unlike traditional 3-D manufacturing which overlays two dimensional layers of material on top of each other to create a three dimensional product, DLS uses light and oxygen to make plastic objects like sneaker mid-soles from a pool of resin without waste or a need for injection molding. Carbon uses a form of 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, that it calls “Digital Light Synthesis (DLS)” – a method of continuous liquid interface production. In order to do so, Adidas is in investing heavily in 3-D printing through a partnership with Silicon Valley based startup Carbon. With a look towards the future, Adidas is investing in 3-D additive manufacturing to produce the footwear that may just unseat the market heavyweight that is Nike. It’s focus on scale, online presence, and success in recognizing trends are just a few reasons behind its’ surging performance. Nevertheless, Adidas has recently taken market share from Nike, doubling its 2016 share of 6% to 12% in 2017. With roughly 35% of a $64 billion market that is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of slightly over 5% from 2018 to 2025 – Nike sits in a dominate position. For the past two decades Nike has absolutely dominated the global athletic footwear market.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |