Manufacturing and assembly of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by automated placement and assembly of shoe parts. For example, a part-recognition system analyzes an image of a shoe part to identify the part and determine a location of the part. Once the part is identified and located, the part can be manipulated by an automated manufacturing tool.

Described are a method and a system for automatically manufacturing shoes. The method includes automatically manufacturing a plurality of soles in a first station and automatically manufacturing a plurality of uppers in a second station, wherein the first and the second station are operating in parallel and are arranged in a common facility so that a manufactured sole and a manufactured upper can be transported to a joining station and be automatically joined there.

A method for automated manufacturing of shoe soles comprises the steps of: loading a transfer device with at least one outsole element and at least one supporting element, positioning the loaded transfer device adjacent a first part and a second part of a sole mold, transferring the at least one outsole element from the transfer device to the first part and transferring the at least one supporting element from the transfer device to the second part of the sole mold, filling the sole mold with a plurality of individual particles, and applying a medium to bond and/or fuse the particles with each other and with the at least one outsole element.

Manufacturing and assembly of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by automated placement and assembly of shoe parts. For example, a part-recognition system analyzes an image of a shoe part to identify the part and determine a location of the part. Once the part is identified and located, the part can be manipulated by an automated manufacturing tool.

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by automated placement of shoe parts. For example, a part-recognition system analyzes an image of a shoe part to identify the part and determine a location of the part. Once the part is identified and located, the part can be manipulated in an automated manner.

A method for automated manufacturing of shoe soles comprises the steps of: loading a transfer device with at least one outsole element and at least one supporting element, positioning the loaded transfer device adjacent a first part and a second part of a sole mold, transferring the at least one outsole element from the transfer device to the first part and transferring the at least one supporting element from the transfer device to the second part of the sole mold, filling the sole mold with a plurality of individual particles, and applying a medium to bond and/or fuse the particles with each other and with the at least one outsole element.

Manufacturing and assembly of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by automated placement and assembly of shoe parts. For example, a part-recognition system analyzes an image of a shoe part to identify the part and determine a location of the part. Once the part is identified and located, the part can be manipulated by an automated manufacturing tool.

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated manner. A material handling system suitable for use in an automated shoe-manufacturing process has a guide rail and first and second moveable holding elements, each of the holding elements having gripping elements for engaging a part or part stack during the manufacturing process.

A shoe outsole dispensing apparatus having a dispenser located above the conveyor carrying adhesive-coated shoe outsoles that are classified into left outsoles and right outsoles and that are dispensed such that the left outsoles to a first side of the conveyor and the right outsoles to a second side of the conveyor is provided. A controller controls the operation of the dispenser. As a result of the outsoles coated with adhesive being automatically classified as left and right outsoles by the dispenser, and the outsoles are dispensed on opposite sides of the conveyor carrying the outsoles, this has the result that productivity of assembling shoes greatly increased as a result of the ability to dispose outsoles very quickly compared to the prior art operation of manually sorting the outsoles, and also the occurrence of shoe defects due to manual errors may be prevented, thus enhancing shoe quality.

A shoe outsole dispensing apparatus having a dispenser located above the conveyor carrying adhesive-coated shoe outsoles that are classified into left outsoles and right outsoles and that are dispensed such that the left outsoles to a first side of the conveyor and the right outsoles to a second side of the conveyor is provided. A controller controls the operation of the dispenser. As a result of the outsoles coated with adhesive being automatically classified as left and right outsoles by the dispenser, and the outsoles are dispensed on opposite sides of the conveyor carrying the outsoles, this has the result that productivity of assembling shoes greatly increased as a result of the ability to dispose outsoles very quickly compared to the prior art operation of manually sorting the outsoles, and also the occurrence of shoe defects due to manual errors may be prevented, thus enhancing shoe quality.