Beleive it or not, I think my head is still spinning from spending just one day in the footwear factory, where the DC opened. There was just so much to take in, I took 200 pictures!
First, Pam showed me around her floor and the rest of the DC a bit more in depth that what I had seen at the grand DC opening. Then Kevin, her mentor here took us into the sample room. It was shocking how big just their sample floor was. Very organized and lots of Reebok logo's and branding all over the place. Even the little stools the operators sat on had vector's on them. I totally loved it and it was a nice change from seeing 3 stripes almost everywhere.
For whatever reason, I really thought the making of footwear would be more automatic and the machines would run systematically. It's more manual than apparel! There are so many operations and people all involved to make just one pair of sneakers. My head hurts at the thought of how many hands a sneaker, pant, top, or whatever the product may be touches before the consumer actually purchases it - it's just so insane!
The three of us spent about 2.5 hours just walking through the sample room. As I'm sure you can imagine the process to make just one pair of sneakers is very long, many steps are involved, and there is just so much to see and absorb.
I ran into my team at the canteen for lunch. They were totally confused when they saw me. "What are you doing here? What do you mean you are working in footwear today? You aren't working with us anymore? Are you coming back tomorrow?" Were just a few of the questions I was asked, they were so disturbed but quickly got over it once they understood why I was over on the footwear lot that day which is 2 lots away from us. We are in lot B, and footwear is in lot D. This complex has 4 lots total: A, B, C, D.
After lunch we continued our tour to the rubber room (my favorite part of the tour of all). By the end of the day Pam and I both felt a bit woozy from being in the rubber room for so long. The fumes are very pungent, I do not know how the workers function all day, day after day. It must be something you get used to over time.
So when the factory first receives the rubber for the bottom, outside sole (called a last) it comes in a huge block in a plain, nothing color. It is then melted and fed through these huge machines that flatten it out, die is added and it keeps moving through these wheels, it looks like taffy in this process. Then it moves into another machine and another and another until it is completely flat and the right color that matches the pantone color swatch they were given. Many sheets are cut of this rubber and they are sent to get "die cut." This is the basic shape the last will be.
Some last's have many rubber components and each rubber piece has to be weighed and weight the amount it is supposed to weigh. Once all the components are cut, they are given to an operator who works at the metal mold station. He places each piece in the mold and presses the mold down. It is then fed into this hot oven type thing that also presses the mold down, some of these machine's are automated and the mold pops in and out with the help of a button, older ones are manual and these little guys have just a crowbar to use to pull the heavy (probably 75 lb) mold in and out of the oven. No women are allowed to work on this line bc they could really hurt or burn themselves.
Some molds are also more complex than others and have 3 different levels to use of the mold. New molds are made for any new last that has been approved and developed. A last mold can cost anywere from $900-5,000 to make for just one!
It was interesting to hear how much lower their targets are - 150 pair in a day. The process is just so labor intensive and the factory works on 2 shifts - for a total of 22 hours the factory is up and running, 6 days a week!
Once I stopped or at least tried to stop my head from spinning we continued onto one of the main production lines. There was a nice, organized, somewhat rhythm the production flowed in and I really enjoyed watching one model move through the line - beginning to end. Anyone could tell where the line started and ended which is always important to know. In some of the factories that do not practice lean manufacturing it can be very difficult to have any clue what's going on the floor...
At one point in the day Pam looked over at me and said, "I feel really bad for you right now..." I made a puzzled expression asking her why? And she told me how she felt bad for me that I was taking so much in and seeing so much in such a short period of time. I told her I didn't mind, I loved it and was just being a sponge soaking it all in.
When we got to the end of the line, where the sneakers were laced up with correct laces, placed in tissue wrapping, and then boxed we went across the way to where the testing took place, embroidery, and screen printing. I loved looking around the lab, they had this really cool contraption in a seperate room. It looked like something straight out of Dr. Seuss. It was this wheel that had about a dozen sneakers attached and it just kept walking around in a circle on a track. They keep this machine running for a week straight to see how the sneaker wears. They also perform leather tearing tests, shoe lace failure, rubber tearing, flexibility, and many others.
We then checked out the embroidery room and lastly screen printing. Both of which are the same as apparel. Lots of similarites but footwear just has way more!
During this time there was a huge rainstorm outside and the streets were starting to flood, everyone wanted to leave by 4:30 bc we know it would take us a while to get home. I fell asleep in the car on the way home for a bit and then Dave decided to have Pam, he, and myself play the alphabet game. You have to look at every sign and go from A-Z, you can only use a word that starts with that letter and you can only use 1 word/sign. Dave started it off as we were driving through what felt like an ocean. I thought the water was going to start coming in through the car - the drainage system here is awful!
Pam and I were silent and Dave asked if we were still playing. He forgot to mention we were all in charge of our own list, whoever got to Z first won...We thought we all took turns...Dave made it all the way to Y once we were home - it's tricky playing this game in Vietnamese!
There had been a resturant Pam and I kept passing. It was always bustling and looked like a scene. We decided to go there for dinner that evening and it was so delicous. It was all Vietnamese and the food was so fresh and delicous! They had so many different fresh rolls and rice paper rolls to choose from, Che (sweet woup), Pho (the dish of Vietnam, it's just a rice noodle in a broth with beef, chicken, or shrimp) everyone loves it and most Vietnamese eat it for every meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner! Usually you'll see them eating in at a plastic pre-school chair at a cart on the sidewalk outside, I guess it's just the tradition here!?!?!?!
Once we finished dinner I was basically falling asleep at the table. I guess taking in a days worth of new information will wear you out!
No comments:
Post a Comment