NIKE, Inc.
Assembly line article tracking system

Abstract:

Manufacturing of article of footwear include temporarily mating a sole and an upper to determine processes to be performed to the sole and/or the upper before permanently mating. As specific operations are determined based on the particular combination of a sole and an upper, the sole and upper are individually tracked through the subsequent processes to ensure the correct pairing is achieved at the time of permanent mating. The tracking may leverage identifiers in the tooling supporting the upper and in the sole.