In the 1990s, Adidas moved its entire production to low-wage countries in Asia, but in 2015 it re-opened highly automated Speed Factories in Germany and recently also in the US. These factories are only responsible for a few per cent of Adidas’ total yearly production, but they guarantee extra short delivery times. Why are Adidas and other companies moving a small share of their manufacturing activities back home? Professor Robert Boute and some of his colleagues developed a unique algorithm to answer this question.