After 15 years of manufacturing entirely in Asia, French sportswear firm Salomon SAS, decided it was time to start makin

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After 15 years of manufacturing entirely in Asia, Frenchsportswear firm Salomon SAS, decided it was time to start makingits sports shoes at home. The challenge, in a country whereshoemaking died out years ago, was how to build the necessarysupply chain, writes The Wall StreetJournal (May 7-8, 2022).The Salomon Meta Cross produced in FranceThe first phase was to build an automated sneaker factory inFrance. It also redesigned its shoes, drastically shrinking itssupply chain by slashing the number of components in each sneakerby 2/3. (Salomon’s redesigned shoe has 26 parts, down from over 70in its other models). That still left the matter of sourcingmaterials in a region largely devoid of suppliers. Until now it hassourced soles and other parts primarily from China and Vietnam, twoof the main centers of shoemaking.For decades, Western companies have made everything fromclothes to toys in Asia or Latin America, taking advantage ofcheaper labor and highly developed supply chains. But the businesscase for that practice has eroded in recent years amid repeatedshocks to the global economy, prompting many companies into arethink. Then from 2020 onward the pandemic brought waves offactory closures, as well as port blockages and truck shortages,disrupting supply chains and pushing up freight costs. Russia’sinvasion of Ukraine rattled global systems anew.These crises have made “reshoring”— the return of production toa company’s home country—increasingly attractive. Some 2/3 of U.S.and European manufacturers say they will bring some of their Asianproduction home by 2025, with 1/5 saying they will bring back mostor all of it.Footwear production is particularly tricky to repatriate,because Asian shoemakers use cheap, plentiful, low-skilled labor.That model can’t be recreated in the West, prompting companies toturn to automation. The France-made shoes will be as profitable asthose made in Asia, thanks to savings from lower transportationcosts and the elimination of customs duties.The new Salomon plant requires only 15 humans a shift; atypical shoe factory in Asia would require 5 times as many to matchits output. Some operate sewing machines—this intricate work isstill best done by hand—while others monitor the automatedproduction lines. If the French project is successful, Salomonwants to build a similar automated plant in the U.S. to meet demandthere.Questions:1. Why is this reshoring effort difficult?2. Of the 10 OM decisions in your Heizer/Render/Munson text,which directly relate to reshoring shoe manufacturing?After 15 years of manufacturing entirely in Asia, Frenchsportswear firm Salomon SAS, decided it was time to start makingits sports shoes at home. The challenge, in a country whereshoemaking died out years ago, was how to build the necessarysupply chain, writes The Wall StreetJournal (May 7-8, 2022).The Salomon Meta Cross produced in FranceThe first phase was to build an automated sneaker factory inFrance. It also redesigned its shoes, drastically shrinking itssupply chain by slashing the number of components in each sneakerby 2/3. (Salomon’s redesigned shoe has 26 parts, down from over 70in its other models). That still left the matter of sourcingmaterials in a region largely devoid of suppliers. Until now it hassourced soles and other parts primarily from China and Vietnam, twoof the main centers of shoemaking.For decades, Western companies have made everything fromclothes to toys in Asia or Latin America, taking advantage ofcheaper labor and highly developed supply chains. But the businesscase for that practice has eroded in recent years amid repeatedshocks to the global economy, prompting many companies into arethink. Then from 2020 onward the pandemic brought waves offactory closures, as well as port blockages and truck shortages,disrupting supply chains and pushing up freight costs. Russia’sinvasion of Ukraine rattled global systems anew.These crises have made “reshoring”— the return of production toa company’s home country—increasingly attractive. Some 2/3 of U.S.and European manufacturers say they will bring some of their Asianproduction home by 2025, with 1/5 saying they will bring back mostor all of it.Footwear production is particularly tricky to repatriate,because Asian shoemakers use cheap, plentiful, low-skilled labor.That model can’t be recreated in the West, prompting companies toturn to automation. The France-made shoes will be as profitable asthose made in Asia, thanks to savings from lower transportationcosts and the elimination of customs duties.The new Salomon plant requires only 15 humans a shift; atypical shoe factory in Asia would require 5 times as many to matchits output. Some operate sewing machines—this intricate work isstill best done by hand—while others monitor the automatedproduction lines. If the French project is successful, Salomonwants to build a similar automated plant in the U.S. to meet demandthere.Questions:1. Why is this reshoring effort difficult?2. Of the 10 OM decisions in your Heizer/Render/Munson text,which directly relate to reshoring shoe manufacturing?