[HN Gopher] Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
___________________________________________________________________
Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
Author : thunderbong
Score : 291 points
Date : 2023-04-23 14:33 UTC (8 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.manufacturingdive.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.manufacturingdive.com)
| bricemo wrote:
| I grew up in this tiny town of Chester, Virginia and moved to
| Silicon Valley after college. Seeing this factory and my hometown
| at the top of Hacker News is blowing my mind.
| skybrian wrote:
| It will be the first US Lego factory in a while, but here is some
| history:
|
| > The first LEGO factory in Enfield opens in 1975 - a packing
| facility for LEGO DUPLO(r) bricks. The elements to be packed
| arrive from factories in Billund, Denmark, and Baar, Switzerland
| - transported to the US in container ships.
|
| > The Enfield factory is constructed as a "conversion ready"
| building with open steel structures which can quickly be
| converted from warehouse to packing, packing to production.
|
| > In 1980, LEGO Systems Inc. sets up its own molding shop in
| Enfield, starting with 10 molding machines. The factory is
| equipped with state-of-the-art technology. One of the features is
| an air-drying system for plastic granulate, which must contain no
| moisture when it enters the molding machine, as the finished
| bricks would otherwise fail to meet the LEGO Group's high-quality
| standard.
|
| > In November 2000, the LEGO Group announces its decision to
| close the molding plant in Enfield and in future mold LEGO bricks
| only in Europe. Shutting down the molding facility is a step in
| the LEGO Group's plan to improve its financial results in the
| years ahead - preliminary accounting figures for 2000 are
| negative.
|
| Before that, there was a licensing agreement with Samsonite.
|
| [1] https://www.lego.com/en-us/history/articles/e-production-
| of-...
| tedivm wrote:
| I came here to say this- I toured the Enfield facility, as LEGO
| sponsored my robotics team. They had a whole manufacturing
| setup there. Everyone was kind of pissed that they closed it
| when they did.
| jacquesm wrote:
| The same thing happens in reverse quite frequently.
| Tandy/Radio Shack comes to mind as a particularly nasty
| episode (gear received the day before they closed for
| warranty claims just disappeared because they didn't tell
| customers they were going to close). Ford had some factories
| close in different EU locations and many other examples
| besides, usually for reasons of tax venue shopping.
|
| Large companies don't care about employees one way or
| another, if you're lucky you're a row in a spreadsheet
| somewhere and woe to you if your row, the column where you're
| totalled or the entire sheet ends up in the red.
| canadianfella wrote:
| [dead]
| mproud wrote:
| LEGO Group had significant financial hardships 20, 25 years
| ago. It's been mostly well documented that they made many
| different changes in strategy and operations, and have become
| wildly successful.
| twic wrote:
| They also had their main e-commerce development operation in
| Enfield at one point. I worked there for a while! Nice bunch.
| JasserInicide wrote:
| And now they're moving to Boston. CT loses another
| multinational company, they just can't catch a break. Then
| again it is entirely the state's own fault for driving
| businesses away.
| zeristor wrote:
| Enfield, not just for the Enfield rifle, or Royal Enfield
| Motorcycles, or Matchbox cars; but Lego too?
|
| How did I miss that?
| lkramer wrote:
| I suspect this is Enfield in Connecticut and not Enfield in
| Middlesex, UK which is where the Rifle and Motorcycle
| originated.
| aksss wrote:
| Small bit of trivia, but the M1917 Enfield rifle, used by
| American forces in WWI and a derivative of the SMLE from
| the UK, _was_ actually produced in CT, but in New Haven not
| Enfield. :^)
| KevSlater wrote:
| Funny how nobody mentions plastic pollution, which is the main
| output of this factory.
| saiya-jin wrote:
| Consifering how much plastics we use for once in restaurants
| and starbucks, or how much we use in cars or home appliances
| and dispose (=landfill) without second thought, this is
| miniscule.
|
| Do you post same question on every Tesla or Apple thread? The
| added value between creation and landfill is what defines
| utility, and I'd say Lego is one of the better uses of it. The
| last thing I want to see is Lego forced to use some more eco-
| friendly material that lasts a fraction of plastics longevity,
| for higher costs, and questionable ecological impact down the
| line.
| osigurdson wrote:
| I suspect OP feels that everything "human" is bad, not just
| Lego.
| osigurdson wrote:
| If kids can't even have Lego we are truly lost. For many kids,
| their love of science and technology stemmed from playing with
| Lego. You are likely benefiting now from some of those things
| now. I am so tired of this anti-human, simplistic, single
| variable optimization that so many seem to subscribe to.
| pyrale wrote:
| If Newton and Einstein hadn't played with legos, we would
| probably not even be having this discussion!
|
| _that being said, I did enjoy my legos_
| osigurdson wrote:
| Are you seriously implying that I think Lego is universally
| responsible for all science and technology?
| Sargos wrote:
| I'm not sure Legos actually contribute much to pollution. They
| almost never get thrown away as bricks generally get passed
| down to offspring. You rarely see Legos at thrift stores as
| they are so highly demanded and are snapped up quickly. These
| little plastic bricks stay in circulation for decades and will
| probably be loved by humans in a century.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Given that Lego lasts for _decades_ and that my kids are still
| playing with bricks that were sold in the 60 's of the previous
| century the pollution part is a bit overblown. But yes, some of
| it will end up in landfill, but not nearly as much as you might
| think compared to say plastic bags, tie wraps and other large
| scale plastic products.
| sgtnoodle wrote:
| Legos are a very creative and inspiring toy and art form. As a
| kid I got thousands of hours of imaginative play from them.
| There are far less useful things being made out of plastic in
| large quantities. I myself despise happy meal toys for the
| needless waste.
| jeppester wrote:
| I thought the same. But Lego is arguably more sturdy and
| reusable than most toys available.
|
| I wonder what the "half-life" is for various types and brands
| of toys. I would be surprised if it doesn't vary wildly.
| rolph wrote:
| These Lego-like blocks let you build your own concrete walls -
| Block Moulds
|
| https://www.blockmoulds.com/applications/
| dblooman wrote:
| Do americans really call Lego bricks Legos? Based on the
| comments, it seems common enough, I always thought it was a
| plural like data
| Armisael16 wrote:
| Americans do generally call them legos. The company hates it.
| downrightmike wrote:
| They are Legos, as in "go clean up your legos"
| That-Dude wrote:
| I wonder how much it hurts you in the interview if you call them
| legos instead of "LEGO (TM) bricks".
| twic wrote:
| "Elements", not "bricks". A lot.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| A little local color from a resident of Virginia
| (Charlottesville): Late last year Virginia's Governor Youngkin
| took significant heat in the legislature and media for quashing a
| Chinese battery factory that was set to locate in the state.
|
| https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/01/12/youngkin-halted-f...
|
| https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/democrats-call-out-...
|
| He said that supporting China's venture was not in the best
| interests of the U.S. in terms of security.
|
| When the Lego factory was announced,
|
| https://richmond.com/business/local/1-billion-lego-factory-i...
|
| there wasn't a word anywhere about that proposed battery factory.
| ethbr0 wrote:
| I'm just glad that we're bringing LEGO manufacturing back to
| the US.
|
| For too long US builders have been subject to the geopolitical
| risks of Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary, China, and
| Mexico.
|
| This is a strategic raw material, without which trains,
| helicopters, fire engines, pirate ships, and hospitals cannot
| be built. To say nothing of the dependence that US media IP has
| on continued fresh brick availability.
|
| It's good to see US manufacturing coming back!
| alexchamberlain wrote:
| I think this was parody... but geopolitical risks of
| Denmark!?!
| mianm wrote:
| I'd be more concerned about Lego setting up a factory in a
| country with very poor labour laws compared to most
| countries in that list, than the stability of Denmark.
| ethbr0 wrote:
| It's a little known fact that Sweden has been in the
| process of declaring war on Denmark.
|
| As soon as they finalize the phrasing of the declaration
| and approve it through committee, probably in the next
| few centuries, all hell is going to break loose.
| kingcharles wrote:
| I heard the pirate shipbuilding unions are celebrating.
| ethbr0 wrote:
| I mean, that's obviously driven by politics. They're an
| important economic driver in Florida.
| adhesive_wombat wrote:
| Don't offend the Teamstarrrrrs, matey.
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| The Legoland park was pretty disappointing.
| dclowd9901 wrote:
| It's not great, but I do think it's best enjoyed by a child of
| a certain age. I'm gonna go with 7-11 years of age.
|
| It's not even close to Disneyland, but if your kid likes legos
| and they're of that age group they'll have a good time.
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| Disneyland has long waits for each attraction. Combine that
| with lots of sun and impatient kids and the result is an
| unpleasant experience.
| jedberg wrote:
| We have a Legoland pass. We've spent two weeks there already
| this year. My kids would go every day if we let them.
|
| It's not great for adults -- although my first time there was
| when I was 23 and childless and I loved it.
|
| However, it's fantastic for my 6 and 8 year old, and as their
| parent I get extreme joy watching them have so much fun, and
| it's entertaining enough for me to not get bored.
| [deleted]
| r00fus wrote:
| I have a different take - kids loved it.
|
| Though compared to say, Disneyland it's certainly less built
| out.
|
| A lot of parks closed rides and such during COVID. I wonder if
| LL did that too.
| minton wrote:
| I'm so confused by Lego's market share. They sell cheap plastic
| at insane premiums. Why is there not more competition?
| LegitShady wrote:
| 1) Entrenched market leaders
|
| 2) Leader in terms of quality
|
| 3) Good product design and successful branding deals
|
| 4) Difficulty of starting a dedicated competitor includes high
| startup costs (mold making is veeeery expensive)
|
| 5) There are competitors, but since startup costs are high even
| they aren't super cheap, and some have quality control
| problems, not as much piece variety, etc.
| diskzero wrote:
| I am an adult who has built several Lego kits recently. These
| include the NASA Saturn rocket, the NASA LEM, a grand piano and
| a Fender guitar amp combo.
|
| The plastic parts are more than just generic shapes; many of
| them are custom and designed for the specific kit. The plastic
| itself has a good feel and is durable.
|
| The kits are unique and must have required numerous hours of
| research and development, prototyping and user testing.
|
| The documentation is extensive, high-quality and complete. In
| addition to the instructions, there is nicely researched and
| presented material about the subject of the model.
|
| If anyone is reasonably able to come up with a process to
| compete with the sum total of all of these elements, I wish
| them luck. I would also like to invest!
| audunw wrote:
| > The plastic parts are more than just generic shapes; many
| of them are custom and designed for the specific kit.
|
| With Lego, it's surprising how often the parts are NOT
| designed for a specific kit.
|
| You can look through the parts list at the end of the
| instruction manual. You'd be surprised how often they've re-
| used parts you'd think are specific to a kit. With Saturn V
| in particular, I was SURE the fairing must be a part specific
| for that kit. Turns out it's the spire from a Hogwarts castle
| kit. Okay, so that's the only other kit it was used, but
| still..
|
| If you look at clone kits, they often have more kit-specific
| parts. I think this is counter-intuitively a part of a
| strategy based on low-cost. They spend less on extremely
| precise plastic molds, and designing a kit-specific part can
| make it easier for designers. They don't have to spend a lot
| of time thinking of creative ways to re-use existing parts.
| They don't need to have knowledge of obscure parts they could
| re-use either.
|
| > The documentation is extensive, high-quality and complete.
|
| And it's easy to find them online if you've lost them, and
| you can easily find missing parts of bricklink. So you can
| dump all your Lego in a box, save it for your kids, and be
| sure that they can still be used, and that you can rebuild
| the sets if you want.
|
| I saved my Lego from my childhood. I recently took them out
| to play with my kids and they're still perfectly good. The
| only thing that doesn't match with modern Lego is the
| electric stuff.
| diskzero wrote:
| > With Lego, it's surprising how often the parts are NOT
| designed for a specific kit.
|
| OK, that is interesting.
|
| I wonder if and or what the software used by kit designers
| looks like? Does Lego have a custom CAD system that
| references the catalog of existings parts? Are they any
| Lego employees here that are able to comment?
| gdegani wrote:
| Yes we do :) and we are actually hiring engineers to the
| team that builds the software! ( LEGO Digital Designer )
| https://www.lego.com/da-
| dk/careers/search?keyword=digital+de...
| twic wrote:
| Can this role be remote, or would a hire have to move to
| Billund?
| gdegani wrote:
| unfortunately we dont support full remote. but offer a
| nice relocation package. we hire for software engineers
| in Billund, Copenhagen and London, we have hired 1000+
| last 2 years, massive digital growth
| twic wrote:
| > With Lego, it's surprising how often the parts are NOT
| designed for a specific kit.
|
| Mildly famously, frogs have been used for all sorts of
| things:
|
| https://www.brickfanatics.com/five-best-uses-of-lego-frogs
| otabdeveloper4 wrote:
| Do you have kids? You can test this empirically: buy them some
| Chinese Lego-compatible sets and see what comes about.
|
| (That said, you're probably better off buying second-hand,
| Legos don't really spoil with age.)
| dontupvoteme wrote:
| They use extremely high quality mechanical tooling. It's some
| of the most expensive plastic you can buy.
| samstave wrote:
| As someone who has many thousands of dollars in lego, and one
| who, in the course of my life has owned many many hundreds of
| pounds of lego....
|
| Where the FUCK are they all? microplastic in the environment,
| no. it wast towed outside the environment to another
| environment where there are just fish, birds, sea and lego...
|
| anyway... as much as I love lego, they need to curb their
| roll on the plastics they put into the environment. No, not
| that one. The one where the lego doesnt fall off.
| crazygringo wrote:
| I don't think Legos are a big environmental problem.
|
| Seeing as they're expensive and the individual pieces have
| tons of value, people often resell them or donate them. Or
| even for those who toss them in the garbage, they are
| buried in a landfill. But it's hard to think of any kind of
| plastic that actually gets _reused_ more than Legos are. My
| nephews are now playing with the same Legos I played with
| 40 years ago, together with some new sets. Not a lot of
| toys (or objects generally) you can say that about.
|
| They're not a major concern for polluting the environment.
| The kinds of plastics that are of concern for pollution
| tend to be food-related (bags, utensils, lids) which people
| actively use and lose and discard outdoors (and blow away
| from trash cans etc.) and plastic commercial fishing
| equipment which is similarly used, lost and discarded in
| the ocean.
| frosted-flakes wrote:
| I believe they plan to switch entirely to plastic derived
| from plant sources within a decade.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| My understanding is they are struggling with that.
| outlace wrote:
| As someone with young kids who recently bought a $70 Lego set,
| it's not just the plastic blocks, it's a whole design. My
| daughter built this awesome Lego tree house with over a
| thousand pieces. She followed the instructions and built it
| step by step over a few days, which was fun for her in and of
| itself, and now that it is complete she continues to play with
| it.
|
| So sure the plastic pieces are easily reproduced but clearly
| Lego does great work on architecting some really cool designs.
| (I have no affiliation with Lego company to be clear)
| sharkweek wrote:
| And honestly the pieces aren't even that easily reproduced.
| Our son got a knock off brand as a gift and it was horrible
| to build compared to a LEGO set.
| samstave wrote:
| This is actually a trade secret of lego. They build to such
| tight tolerances that others cant compete in the
| interlocking... it is a known thing of theirs, and honestly
| - we should be _building_ that into actual construction
| mediums
| callalex wrote:
| They also have the exclusive patent for the raised dots
| being slightly dome/cone shaped so any competitors are
| doomed to be worse no matter how well made.
| Sivart13 wrote:
| yeah 41703 and a lot of the rest of the Friends line is
| awesome
|
| Consider Andrea's Theater School as well
| (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/andrea-s-theatre-
| school-4...) though it's a little pricier ($100)
| NegativeLatency wrote:
| Tight tolerances and good quality control cost money.
|
| I remember trying to play with my friends megablocks as a kid
| and they just wouldn't stay together well
|
| There are also some Chinese companies making decent compatible
| bricks now
| shadowgovt wrote:
| For a long time, that was a function of patents: LEGO bricks
| actually have slightly concave pegs, like inverted cones.
|
| Those patents only recently expired, which is one of the
| reasons they pushed so hard into licensing to distinguish
| their brand.
| delecti wrote:
| There are, lots of em, but they aren't as good. LEGO charges a
| premium, but their manufacturing precision really is
| phenomenal. Also, LEGO's premium isn't _that_ extreme. Their
| sets have worked out to about 0.10 USD per piece for decades,
| they 've just gotten bigger and more elaborate.
|
| The other brands also don't have the same brand deals, I can't
| get an X-Wing set from Mega Bloks, for example. Though notably
| you can only get Pokemon sets from Nanoblock, and the
| experience of assembling one will make you appreciate the work
| LEGO puts into their instructions and manufacturing precision.
| haunter wrote:
| Apart from what the others said is the licensing too. They have
| exclusives from Star Wars to Doctor Who to Mercedes trucks.
| Hard to compete against that from 0.
|
| Btw Aliexpress has countless chinese fakes.
| [deleted]
| casion wrote:
| Because they are the best quality, in every dimension, and when
| something is almost purely a hobby then many people are willing
| to pay a premium for a friction-free experience.
|
| There are other brands that are just fine, but you will
| occasionally get missing pieces, poor fitment, poor/strange
| construction etc... With LEGO you'll not get any of those
| (except the occasional strange construction).
|
| I used to buy ~50/50 LEGO/Clone, and despite improvements in
| clones, it's 95/5 now. The LEGO experience is simply
| disproportionately better relative to the cost.
|
| It's simply worth it.
|
| signed, Owner of A LOT of of LEGO kits/bricks _and_ clones.
| dclowd9901 wrote:
| I'll also add their design chops are top of market by a mile.
| The kinds of things master builders are able to put together
| honestly boggle my mind. It's half the reason I buy a set:
| just to see how they pulled off an odd angled piece or some
| design flourish. Truly great craftspeople doing their best
| work.
|
| Re: strange construction, I would actually posit that you
| will not get any strange construction because _they have laws
| against it_[1].
|
| 1. https://gameofbricks.eu/blogs/news/illegal-lego-building-
| tec...
| amelius wrote:
| That might be true, but it's still insane that a LEGO brick
| costs more than a small microcontroller which requires like
| 1000x the engineering effort if not more.
|
| The free market is clearly failing here.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| Pretty sure if you aren't buying the microcontroller
| wholesale and in quantity, it will cost more than a Lego in
| a typical set.
| magnuspaaske wrote:
| Also, the "cheap plastic" thing is clearly said by someone
| who don't know plastic. NASA included a bunch of pieces on
| one of their Mars crafts to check the cameras since they knew
| the parameters of the LEGO pieces losing their color better
| than the cameras. LEGOs are durable.
|
| Also, even if the unit cost of injection molding plastic
| might not be super high, the cost of making the molds is.
| I've heard discarded molds are used in the concrete for new
| buildings as a way to know where they are and ensure they're
| not suddenly in the wrong hands (although that might be a
| rumor)
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| all you'd have to do to a mold is overheat and deform it or
| crack it. Way easier and super easy to verify it.
| Suggesting someone dispose of it in concrete sounds like
| something the mafia would do.
| tomcam wrote:
| I for one am glad the FBI was able to get Mafia mold
| crackers under control. I'm afraid the Mexican cartels
| may have taken over that business in recent years.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| Yes, we still have the lego from my childhood. After nearly
| fifty years it is in excellent condition.
| lnsru wrote:
| I am the guy, who thinks, that Lego is heavily overpriced. But
| then I bought some competition products. No one of them had
| nice Lego experience where parts just fit. Earlier the parts
| used to fall off and now they are still enough different to
| cause frustration while building. So yeah, only Lego knows how
| to make it right and can get away with premium pricing.
| thatguy0900 wrote:
| It's not cheap plastic, that's why it's a premium. They have
| plenty of competitors that actually do sell cheap plastic, they
| all suck to play with.
| post_break wrote:
| If you look on Amazon or Aliexpress there is definitely
| competition, just not in stores. I have a few not lego kits
| that are fantastic.
| [deleted]
| sprak wrote:
| Do you remember any of the brand names that was of good
| quality?
| bombcar wrote:
| Iirc there are some that are literal direct ripoffs (exact
| same sets with a ELGO or some obvious ripoff brand) that
| appeared at a time, and were pretty obviously run off of a
| Chinese Lego line (I believe Lego got them shut down by
| winning a copyright case in China).
|
| The quality of off-brand is way up in the last 20 years but
| it's still not the same; they run the molds way too long.
| cardanome wrote:
| Just to add my own two cents: Cobi produces exclusively in
| the EU and with superior quality than Lego, albeit focused
| mostly on adult market with military stuff.
|
| There is Mould King, Cada, Bluebrixx which also have more
| decent sets but you need to do your own research and
| specific sets. Newer sets are generally higher quality than
| older ones as Lego competition as drastically improved in
| recent years.
| jasode wrote:
| _> Why is there not more competition?_
|
| I didn't downvote your comment but there does seem to be
| competitors unless I'm misunderstanding this list:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_clone#Brands
|
| It's just that the LEGO is the most well-known. Probably due to
| the quality plastics, licensing deals (Star Wars, Marvel movies
| themed kits, etc), famous advertising campaigns, and so on.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| Megablocks (??? I forget the name) has a licensing deal with
| transformers, Pokemon, and hot wheels. I think Halo also,
| still not a very strong competitor. They are sold at Fred
| Myer in my locale, but they keep distance from the Lego
| section.
|
| I guess Lego has that Optimus prime set now, so maybe not
| exclusive to transformers anymore.
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| look at where their focus lies - exclusive tie-ins to every
| possible mass-market cultural event. Sure, they make the best
| bricks, but they make their money with Star Wars, Super Mario,
| Jurassic Park, etc.
| bragr wrote:
| You can get knock-off or "compatible" bricks much cheaper from
| other companies but they suck. Lego bricks have incredibly good
| tolerances which allows you to build large structures without
| them going all banana on you, not to mention consistent holding
| power and material quality.
|
| Get some Alibaba bricks and you'll see right away.
| brookst wrote:
| Why do CPUs cost $400 when they only have about $1 worth of
| sand, aluminum, and other elements in them?
|
| Raw material cost is not a good proxy for end user value of
| finished goods.
| gjsman-1000 wrote:
| People make this mistake all the time. "The iPhone sells for
| $999, but only costs $320 in materials!"
|
| Well, sure. But you aren't including shipping costs, storage
| costs, training costs, labor costs, marketing costs, office
| costs, employee costs, research and development costs, legal
| costs, patent licensing costs, wasted material costs,
| environmental costs, electricity costs, packaging costs,
| margins for resellers, distribution costs...
| GalenErso wrote:
| All costs are personnel/employee costs in the end.
|
| Office costs? Those are going to the office owners, who pay
| themselves. Patent licensing costs? Those are going to the
| patent owners, who pay themselves. Wasted material costs?
| Those are going to the material producers, who pay
| themselves? Electricity costs? Even those are going to the
| power utilities, who pay themselves. Power utilities pay
| workers to maintain the power network and buy equipment
| from manufacturers. Those manufacturers pay themselves.
| Packaging costs? Those are going to the packaging
| manufacturers, who pay themselves.
|
| Even the costs of extracting raw materials from the ground?
| Those are going to the mining companies, who pay their
| employees to extract the materials, and to the companies
| selling them mining equipment, who pay their employees to
| produce the equipment.
| cedilla wrote:
| This isn't even _the_ mistake. Price has very little
| relation to costs - except that most products can 't be
| sold below cost, at least not for long.
|
| The price of the iphone is a good example. All the costs
| that you name exist, but they are completely irrelevant.
| Apple sells the iPhone for a thousand dollars because
| enough people still buy them at that price.
| brookst wrote:
| Yes.
|
| Commodities are priced at cost plus.
|
| Differentiated goods are priced based on value delivered.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| >Differentiated goods are priced based on value
| delivered.
|
| I prefer "perceived utility" rather than "value
| delivered".
| brookst wrote:
| Sure, I enjoy semantic rhetoric as much as anyone does.
| homarp wrote:
| hence the cost of linux centos (before being killed)
|
| "value delivered": same as RHEL
|
| "perceived utility": a path to RHEL subscription
|
| Since the second is not true anymore for IBM, centos was
| converted to be less of a threat to RHEL by decreasing
| its delivered value, and offering a 'new' utility: kind
| of work like RHEL but please pay to get the full RHEL
| experience.
| mlhpdx wrote:
| Understanding the cost of a product to a vendor is
| important to me as a consumer.
|
| If I'm having my house painted I will have many vendors
| willing to do the work at very different prices. It's not
| a commodity since I have quality expectations and vendors
| have different levels of experience, skill and diligence.
| I know how much the paint, other consumables and
| equipment costs, so if they quote low or high on that I
| can take it into account. I can figure out what portion
| is labor, and conclude what level of skilled folks
| they'll use. I can ballpark their profit and make sure it
| is in line with my values (I want them to have a
| successful business if they do good work, I don't want to
| pay for a shiny new lifted F-350 4x4 dually Cummins
| diesel crime against humanity).
|
| Maybe it's just me.
| mejutoco wrote:
| They were having more and more competition, and they focused on
| licenses: star wars, harry potter, etc.
|
| Others can copy lego (with less quality) but the licensing
| deals protect them. Very wise.
| GalenErso wrote:
| Lego is also often the only game in town.
|
| Star Wars' Kenobi TV show had this sleek black ship to
| transport the Imperial Inquisitors. Lego made a set of it. No
| other toy manufacturer has, so if you want to play with your
| own Inquisitor shuttle, Lego is the only choice. Why, I
| wonder? There are Star Wars toys that are not Lego, so why
| are those toy makers not jumping on the opportunity? I
| honestly don't get it. Unless Lego has a deal with Disney to
| be the only ones authorized to make toys of certain
| vehicles/scenes/characters.
| anchochilis wrote:
| One major draw of Lego is their licensing of expensive creative
| IP. Look at the Harry Potter, Star Wars, DC, Lord of the Rings
| themed sets. Smaller competitors likely can not afford the same
| offerings. And Lego probably has deep enough pockets to ensure
| exclusive deals.
|
| There's also something to be said for having such a dominant,
| established brand. Lego is a cultural icon, beloved by multiple
| generations. Picking up a knockoff kit is sort of like taking
| your kid to a random local theme park instead Disney World.
| While in theory the two options have similar features (rides!
| characters running around in costume!) they are of course not
| the same.
| routerl wrote:
| > One major draw of Lego is their licensing of expensive
| creative IP.
|
| This is the real genius beyond the manufacturing (which other
| comments are correctly praising). Lego was/is the _only_
| brand that gets to make, e.g. both Mikey Mouse and Bugs
| Bunny, both Marvel and DC, etc. By making Lego versions of
| those properties, they 've convinced those enormous IP
| holders that this does not compete with other products;
| Disney can't make Lego Star Wars themselves.
|
| Lego's corporate accomplishment is to have elevated
| themselves to the status of a _platform_. And doing so while
| their product isn 't software or hardware is pretty unique.
| haunter wrote:
| > Lego was/is the only brand that gets to make, e.g. both
| Mikey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, both Marvel and DC, Balenciaga
| and Ralph Lauren etc.
|
| Fortnite does this too. They have DC and Marvel, Naruto and
| DBZ etc.
| bluetomcat wrote:
| The quality of the bricks is generally high, but set design is
| something they capitalise on. Instead of selling themed
| playsets with minifigures and encouraging kids to build new
| adventure worlds, nowadays they sell mostly pop-culture-
| referenced plastic display models with tiny finicky 1x1 pieces
| that are of not much use for general building. These models
| employ complex building techniques, but are not easy to turn
| into something else. They create an incentive for people to
| collect all the models rather than unlock creative potential.
| elpool2 wrote:
| I helped my kid put together a lego kit recently that did
| something interesting. It was a spaceship but the
| instructions were kind of a story, and there were parts where
| it just went "ok, now it needs to go faster, what can you add
| to do that?", and there were lots of extra pieces (wings,
| boosters, other spaceshippy things) to allow for a bit of
| extra creativity. My kid loved it.
| sgtnoodle wrote:
| Lego pieces are unique in their extreme manufacturing
| precision. It's very difficult to replicate at a large scale.
| You're paying for their engineering.
| local_crmdgeon wrote:
| You'd think that concept would be more popular here, but I
| guess the desire to consume overrides everything.
|
| I think that engineering like Lego is gorgeous in and of
| itself. Like a Swiss watch at scale.
| grrdotcloud wrote:
| As mentioned the quality is amazing.
|
| I've been playing with them for thirty years. Same set thirty
| years ago has the same quality and matches perfectly to the
| identical pieces purchased today.
|
| Despite different types and audiences the quality remains.
| TheRealPomax wrote:
| Hopefully all American employees get the same treatment as
| European employees, rather than hiring a bunch of US-entrenched
| management and having them go "well this is an American plant, so
| we don't have to give you a minimum number of vacation days, and
| we only need to wage gauge you a tiny bit less than other
| companies in this space int he US for you to feel like we're
| treating you well".
|
| It's so easy to open a plant in the US and then let them run it
| like a US company instead of a _good_ company.
|
| (And sure, Lego has has its fair share of employer scandal, but
| nothing on the level of US worker exploitation. So far)
| sergiotapia wrote:
| Is there any way to find a company that has those kind of
| benefits in the US? Or are the market forces in the United
| States just too harsh to allow for such a company to exist?
| gtop3 wrote:
| If I was looking for a manufacturing job with great benefits
| and fair treatment from management I'd look for someplace
| with a labor union.
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| It is striking how quickly the US turned into a backwater for
| all types of labor.
| localplume wrote:
| [dead]
| drstewart wrote:
| What's striking is that every time I talk about moving to
| Europe I have to cut my salary expectations in half. Talk
| about backwater expectations.
| sdze wrote:
| [dead]
| taraharris wrote:
| Who among us hasn't stepped on enough Legos to last a lifetime?
| Oh well, let's have some more <3
| bhaak wrote:
| That sounds like an organizational problem, not a problem with
| Lego bricks.
|
| You can never have enough Lego. :)
| mlyle wrote:
| It's not an organizational problem... it's a swoooosh-
| playing-with-my-lego-thing-oops-a-piece-shattered-off-and-I-
| can't-find-it problem.
|
| And then later, the lego piece waits for nightfall, and
| crawls out from the dark nook to the middle of the most
| inconvenient walkway for its moment to strike.
| doubled112 wrote:
| All this time I thought that it was house hippos playing
| with the ones I dropped.
| systemtest wrote:
| That is why I always assemble my LEGO in a pressurised
| cleanroom.
| minton wrote:
| As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.[1]
|
| [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego
| blibble wrote:
| I wonder how many cubic kilometers of plastic that is
| bombcar wrote:
| 400 Lego 2x4s makes a kilogram. So let's say a cool billion
| kilograms.
| adhesive_wombat wrote:
| And since Lego essentially never is thrown away (except
| by spite or accident), that's more or less 1 megaton of
| carbon capture right there.
| layer8 wrote:
| Significantly less than one; probably just roughly a cubic
| hectometer at most. A cubic kilometer corresponds to about
| 1.6 x 10^15 1x1 Lego blocks, so over a quadrillion. 600
| billion is only 0.6 x 10^12.
| tenebrisalietum wrote:
| I have stepped on 1 LEGO brick in my life, and it truly is
| enough for my lifetime.
| jll29 wrote:
| I first stepped on my own LEGO bricks (usually blue bricks
| that were part of some space station). Now, I equally proudly
| step on the bricks owned by my offspring. It's wonderful that
| some fascination transcends generations.
| rolph wrote:
| if they are made large enough, one may reside whithin, and
| eliminate the discomfort of treading upon them.
| layer8 wrote:
| Fakirs will love it.
| obblekk wrote:
| Interesting learnings for me from this article:
|
| - Lego operates multiple $1B+ factories around the world - they
| are not just a design and marketing company
|
| - 1400 manufacturing jobs in Virginia expected - not just an
| automated thing. Anyone know what changed economically to justify
| the high US labor costs? Particularly compared to MX
|
| - 100% Carbon neutral via on-site Solar in Virginia (not
| particularly sunny). No offsets shenanigans. Oil prices might be
| too high today if this is about to happen to most new factories
| in the world.
| bombcar wrote:
| It's highly automated but you still need people to watch the
| machines. Many Lego factory videos are available.
|
| If this lets them source much of the plastic locally, it will
| save on millions of boxes being shipped across the ocean.
| That's a huge reduction in carbon, even if the local
| manufacturing costs a bit more.
| hanniabu wrote:
| Let's not pretend they care about the reduction in carbon.
| They'd only care about reduced shipping costs.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Also, the general container shortage and supply chain issues
| over the years have showed that you want to hedge your bets
| with a global supply chain.
| mupuff1234 wrote:
| Easy, build a container from Lego.
| sremani wrote:
| Plastics - where are they cheap? That is the answer.
| jacquesm wrote:
| The plastics cost are relatively low for this product
| compared to many other products made of plastic. Lego is
| first and foremost a marketing machine (which they excel at)
| before they are an injection molding specialist (which they
| _also_ excel at).
|
| They've had their ups and downs over the years but the value
| add on 1 KG of ABS to sell for >> $200 is such that the
| plastic bit is almost an afterthought. Without the StarWars
| franchise and discovering adults rather than kids as a market
| Lego would be in an entirely different position today.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| Did they discover adults or did those adults just grow up
| with Lego toys and never stop loving them?
| jacquesm wrote:
| Most people from the Lego scene were out of it for a
| decade or more and then sort of rediscovered it, usually
| in tandem with their own kids.
| onion2k wrote:
| I'd bet a large sum that the price of licensing the Star
| Wars brand is a greater part of the cost of a Lego Star
| Wars set than all of the plastic in it.
| jacquesm wrote:
| I definitely would not be taking the other side of that
| bet, you can simply compare the per kg price of the
| branded sets vs the ones that are 'just' Lego.
| iso1631 wrote:
| > 100% Carbon neutral via on-site Solar in Virginia (not
| particularly sunny). No offsets shenanigans. Oil prices might
| be too high today if this is about to happen to most new
| factories in the world.
|
| No mention of exporting kWh during the summer days and
| importing during winter nights?
|
| Still good as every kWh of solar is a kWh of gas not burnt.
| mlyle wrote:
| > No mention of exporting kWh during the summer days and
| importing during winter nights?
|
| Almost certainly a great deal of this.
|
| But
|
| > > No offsets shenanigans.
|
| Means they're not entering some shady arrangement with
| someone else that is doing green things and doing accounting
| magic to claim it's about the same. It's much harder to play
| games when you're talking about netting zero on-site.
|
| > Still good as every kWh of solar is a kWh of gas not burnt.
|
| This is becoming much less true in many places with a lot of
| solar, e.g. California.
| iso1631 wrote:
| Is California not able to export electricity?
|
| The lowest I see in thee last week was 3.1GW of natural gas
| for CISO. Similar amount to the lowest gas usage last June
| and July (2.7GW I think on June 19)
|
| https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/elect
| r...
| shadowgovt wrote:
| IIUC it's complicated.
|
| Because the grid is, fundamentally, still storage-starved
| (though that's been improving in recent years), even with
| export the CA energy companies run into grid over-
| saturation problems on clear, sunny days. Eventually
| losses catch up with you pushing the power geographically
| far enough; they couldn't, for example, power the entire
| United States off of enough California solar.
|
| So I naively suspect the issue is either exporting just
| saturates the adjacent grids too or other power companies
| are loathe to crash their prices by letting their grids
| saturate and therefore use whatever restrictions are
| allowed against exporting to keep CA's surplus off their
| grids.
| iso1631 wrote:
| Except the data seems to show that California Independent
| System Operator (CISO) has not had a single hour where
| Gas hasn't produced at least 1GWh of electricity, even in
| the height of the day in the height of summer with the
| lowest demand, not even close
|
| Maybe there are local bottlenecks inside the CISO
| network, but that's a very separate problem.
| shadowgovt wrote:
| Interesting. That makes me wonder if the gas plants have
| to operate at some minimal output level because they
| can't go all the way into cold shutdown without risking
| grid integrity should something unexpected happen. Except
| that I was under the impression that gas-plants, in
| general, are bootstrappable plants and can kickstart
| themselves from a cold shutdown.
| dukeyukey wrote:
| > Anyone know what changed economically to justify the high US
| labor costs? Particularly compared to MX
|
| My understanding is the US:
|
| 1. Is more politically, economically, and frankly physically
| secure than Mexico.
|
| 2. Has cheaper energy
|
| 3. Has a better-trained manufacturing workforce for the kinds
| of machine Lego is gonna use.
| HeWhoLurksLate wrote:
| Mexico has political stability problems, for one...
| [deleted]
| homonculus1 wrote:
| [dead]
| GalenErso wrote:
| Maybe they just received some good old-fashioned tax
| incentives? It's not always about geopolitics.
| Kye wrote:
| Tax incentives are geopolitics. That's why all the best
| sci-fi TV shows came out of Vancouver for a while and every
| movie and TV show for the last several years thanks the
| state of Georgia.
| newjersey wrote:
| My guess is that Lego customers are also increasingly
| older.
|
| I mean look at the millennium falcon.
|
| https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/millennium-falcon-75192
|
| https://i.imgur.com/vsxVnSJ.png
|
| ages 16+
|
| When I think of fancy lego, I think of something like this
| https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-medium-creative-
| bric... because it has wheels and stuff, not just bricks.
|
| I would have imagined "regular" lego was just different
| sizes of bricks, not even a sloped "roof" brick or wheels.
|
| Also I think "made in USA" might help sales in the US and
| at the very least calms investors?
| [deleted]
| buck4roo wrote:
| Investors?
|
| LEGO Group A/S remains privately held by the family that
| started it in Denmark.
| [deleted]
| gtop3 wrote:
| Questions:
|
| * Does the cheaper energy come into play with such a large
| onsite solar system?
|
| * (From the point of view of a manufacturing company opening
| operations in the us) Does the US currently have a surplus of
| well trained manufacturing workers? I hear a lot of factory
| management/executives still complaining that the skilled
| labor they need just doesn't exist.
| fnordpiglet wrote:
| Virginia is actually home to enormous amounts of solar. Not the
| least of which is Amazon production for AWS regions.
| foobarian wrote:
| How do you mean not particularly sunny? Even Boston is at a
| similar or lower latitude than Southern Europe, can imagine
| Virginia being even better for solar.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Have you ever been to Virginia? Have you compared it to the
| American southwest for sunshine?
| TexanFeller wrote:
| > Anyone know what changed economically to justify the high US
| labor costs?
|
| Based on prices I've seen shopping for my nephews they seem to
| be a luxury brand now that can afford to. Lots of elaborate and
| expensive sets sold for $50-200. In my day they were closer to
| plain bricks.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| I've posted before that Lego in the USA in the 1970s
| consisted of multi-colored bricks of different sizes. That's
| it. And usually someone replies "You're wrong" and points to
| some Lego mini-figure or elaborate kit that existed in the US
| in the 70s but in reality, I never ever saw one and neither
| me nor any of my friends ever had anything besides basic
| bricks. It's like there is some alternate 1970s Lego reality
| that other children must have lived. Or revisionist history.
|
| I think there were jet packs in the 1970s, too. But I never
| knew anyone who owned one.
| majormajor wrote:
| The 90s are when fancy sets with specialized pieces REALLY
| took off. The 90s space stuff compared with the 80s was a
| big shift.
|
| But that's still _30 years ago_ so Lego has been fancy
| pieces and custom kits for a couple generations of kids
| now.
| gtop3 wrote:
| > But that's still 30 years ago so Lego has been fancy
| pieces and custom kits for a couple generations of kids
| now.
|
| You can get a 790 piece big box of Lego brand plastic
| building blocks on Amazon for $35. These types of
| collections tend to end up in yard sells, or passed
| around extended families because they last longer than a
| single childhood. The none-fancy Lego branded blocks
| still exist, and are still a common part of childhood in
| America. Lego just doesn't have to market them as hard,
| and the sale volume is naturally lower.
| nicoburns wrote:
| They push the sets pretty hard. I know someone who ran a
| toy shop, and Lego wouldn't sell them plain brick packets
| unless they bought a certain number of expensive sets.
| majormajor wrote:
| Sure, and my young relatives do things basically the same
| as I did: have a stable of "common" bricks + a bunch of
| specialty models.
|
| Then when you get bored with the specialty model as-it-
| is, the pieces go in the bins and you remix them with
| everything else :)
| rdsnsca wrote:
| They are also the largest manufacturer of rubber tires in the
| world
|
| https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/100909-la...
| akiselev wrote:
| They're the "largest" manufacturer of tiny little toy car
| wheels that use a few grams of rubber.
|
| It's a paid ad for LEGO, not a serious record.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| It's a fun piece of trivia. Jeez.
| munificent wrote:
| As opposed to those serious Guiness records like "farthest
| eyeball pop", "loudest purr by a domestic cat", "most face
| flesh tunnels", "most tennis balls held in the mouth (by a
| dog)", "most eyebrow waxes performed in eight hours by a
| team", and "longest head massage chain".
|
| Guiness has always been a half-commercial silly enterprise.
| It's literally founded by a beer brand to resolve pub
| trivia arguments.
| arcanemachiner wrote:
| The point still stands: By no reasonable definition is
| Lego the largest manufacturer of tires.
| dmonitor wrote:
| they produce the most tires? they're incredibly small
| tires but there's still a lot of them and they're
| definitely tires.
| fsckboy wrote:
| G*P said largest tire manufacturer, but if you click the
| link the article is titled "toy tyres". The article also
| points out that this 300M is also more than any
| automobile tire mfer. So it's not like any wool is being
| pulled, the record is for toy tyres.
| avar wrote:
| Why isn't it reasonable to call them the largest tire
| manufacturer?
|
| They're not claiming to be the largest _automotive_ tire
| manufacturer.
|
| But structurally they make real tires, as opposed to some
| other brands, which might produce solid plastic wheels.
|
| They're not pressurized, but neither are e.g.
| https://crocodiletires.com
|
| If you're going to claim that toys don't count, that's
| going to get quite fuzzy. Some RC model tires are larger
| than those on some "real" vehicles.
| dwheeler wrote:
| It's also a _delightful_ answer when you 're "in a pub
| having an argument", if no one thought of that as a
| possible answer. Something that makes you smile is a
| _good_ thing.
| [deleted]
| simplotek wrote:
| > The point still stands: By no reasonable definition is
| Lego the largest manufacturer of tires.
|
| This is clearly not true. All it takes is to acknowledge
| that Lego produces tires (which it does), check how many
| they produce per time period (which they provided) l, and
| compare with other statistics from other tire producers
| (which they do).
|
| At best, you can claim that your personal definition of
| what a tire is doesn't match Lego's.
| eli_gottlieb wrote:
| >Guiness has always been a half-commercial silly
| enterprise. It's literally founded by a beer brand to
| resolve pub trivia arguments.
|
| Oh, those are the same Guinness! I always wondered.
| pantalaimon wrote:
| And the Michelin Guide is published by the tire company,
| originally as a means to encourage car travel.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| >Oil prices might be too high today if this is about to happen
| to most new factories in the world.
|
| I don't imagine this will have much impact on oil as the solar
| is offsetting electricity from coal/gas/nuclear/etc.
| [deleted]
| weinzierl wrote:
| They also operate a respectable number of theme parks and
| hotels around the world.
|
| https://www.legoland.com/
| Dextro wrote:
| If I remember right, they were forced to sell the theme park
| business when they were in dire financial straights in the
| early 00s.
|
| While Legoland still exists, it's now a license and the parks
| owned by a separate company
| simse wrote:
| That is correct, but has since been bought back. Well it's
| a little more complicated, but it's 50% owned by the Kirky
| family.
| pattle wrote:
| On a somewhat related note. For the last few years I've been
| working on a website that tracks the value of LEGO sets and
| minifigures. For example here is a list of most valuable LEGO
| minifigures.
|
| https://brickranker.com/rankings/minifigures
| vrglvrglvrgl wrote:
| [dead]
| fnordpiglet wrote:
| I'm really glad to see domestic manufacture of national
| necessities onshoring to the US.
| syngrog66 wrote:
| The title is somewhat misleading. The story might be about LEGO's
| first directly built and branded factory. But it wont be the
| first LEGO factory in the US.
|
| Back in the 60s/70s the company Samsonite had a license from LEGO
| to make (or at least package up) LEGO sets right here in US
| facilities. I know this for a fact because when I was a kid my
| father worked for Samsonite. He would often bring home bags of
| loose LEGO that he got free at work. Excess, floor spilled,
| perhaps flawed beyond tolerances, test batches, or simply perks
| for employees, etc.
|
| We did buy a few sets here and there, retail. But the vast
| majority of my childhood LEGO collection was built up from these
| endless bags of loose unsorted LEGO my father brought home at the
| end of his work shifts.
|
| Proof:
| https://www.google.com/search?q=did+Samsonite+make+LEGO%3F&o...
| https://www.lego.com/en-us/history/articles/e-production-of-....
| flomo wrote:
| A cousin had a small Samsonite suitcase with the Lego logo on
| it, I was jealous.
| bombcar wrote:
| Iirc the samsonite factories mainly did packaging of bulk
| bricks sent from Europe. But they may have made some of the
| other parts.
|
| LegoLand California has a molding machine slowly making bricks,
| which I guess technically is a factory.
| syngrog66 wrote:
| I believe some pieces were made in Europe and shipped to
| Samsonite in the US.
|
| But some pieces were truly made in the Samsonite factory in
| Denver, using molds provided by LEGO corporate. I imagine the
| pieces that LEGO felt were most IP sensitive or tolerance
| critical were shipped in.
| meibo wrote:
| They really need to work out their quality deficits first, a lot
| of recent mishaps have been inexcusable.
|
| You can't sell a $600 display model(which is a ridiculous price
| in the first place) with very visible gate locations from the
| molding process and uneven colors. These are purely caused by
| cheap molds and plastic mixes - it didn't used to be this way,
| but somehow they decided that they had to start jeopardizing
| their good reputation for some cheap gains.
| pcurve wrote:
| that's a shame. At least they're pretty good about sending you
| replacement parts for free
| meibo wrote:
| Yeah, it is. Sadly for a lot of these cases(e.g. the big
| 10307 eiffel tower) the parts you would get back are very
| likely going to look the same way, as the molds themselves
| are the problem and it's not usually a "bad batch". Might get
| more lucky with colors though.
| eastbound wrote:
| Especially since Lego is expensive because of the high quality.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| Which models are you speaking about specifically? Actually if I
| want to avoid the lower quality models, is there a list of Lego
| products sorted by year? I guess after year 2xxx they finally
| decided to cut corners and then feet, legs, etc.
| PostOnce wrote:
| LEGO absolutely has a quality problem now.
|
| I am in my 30s and I had never seen a LEGO defect, and I have
| seen quite a few bricks. In the past year, I have seen several
| in-person among the toys I've bought for my kids, and several
| more anecdotally around the internet.
|
| Now I even see it here on HN.
|
| the LEGO brand had an unassailable, invincible reputation for
| quality, and now, for what seems like the first time, that is
| being called into question?
|
| I find this fascinating and worrying. Are all good things
| destined to cheapen and collapse in search of short-term
| profits eventually?
| danielheath wrote:
| Pretty sure they switched to recycled plastics in the past
| few years; I would expect a few more years of issues, at
| least.
| vendiddy wrote:
| What is motivating companies like Lego to bring manufacturing
| back home?
| AnonymousPlanet wrote:
| Keep in mind, Lego is a Danish company. This is an investment
| in a foreign country.
| vendiddy wrote:
| Had no idea, thanks for the clarification
| saiya-jin wrote:
| Funny as it is, I wonder where the general mindset as this
| comes from, is it US media or even education?
|
| I mean the idea that anything good comes from US and only US,
| rather than mankind overall and that >95% of human race
| doesnt live within US borders. A bit if humility and critical
| thinking also about ourselves goes a long way, especially
| long term.
| 0xDEF wrote:
| To be honest The Lego Movie franchise was annoyingly
| American for my Danish taste. It doesn't surprise me that
| many people think Lego and other European companies are
| American when they behave and market themselves as pseudo-
| American companies and insert themselves in American socio-
| cultural issues.
| GenerWork wrote:
| This makes it sound like there's quite the demand for Lego
| sets/bricks. Has their market (people who want to play with
| Legos) grown a lot? I stopped playing with Legos about 2 decades
| ago, so I haven't really kept up with any potential growth that
| they've experienced/predicted to experience.
| swarnie wrote:
| My understanding is the company was pretty dead a decade or so
| ago, since then its had a massive revival after moving away
| from the family-run-inheritance model.
|
| Three (anecdotal) things i've seen with Lego:
|
| > Its a toy that old and young can play with together which is
| semi-intelligent/challenging. Parents and Grandparents seem to
| be the driver of sales for the physical product rather than the
| kids.
|
| > They have brand deals with other popular IP which extends to
| Movies and video games, this is where you get your age 0-16
| sales via brand recognition.
|
| > The 30 year old man child demographic seem to bloody love
| this stuff. Think of it similar to lightsabers, Funco pops and
| novelty t-shirts.
| dclowd9901 wrote:
| Yeah, the licensing aspect especially. Also, recognition of
| their fans by way of their fan-created sets. It's almost
| unbelievable to me that it took them that long to have such a
| division.
| bcrosby95 wrote:
| Yeah, my neighbor is a 60 year old retired firefighter and he
| has thousands of dollars worth of Legos that he has bought
| and assembled. Basically everything they put out for star
| wars.
| GenerWork wrote:
| Thanks for the answer. I had no idea that Lego had brand
| deals with other IPs like Marvel, which would definitely
| explain the drastic ramp up in sales.
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| It's amusing ?hat your GP comment is downvoted, but yes,
| LEGO pivoted hard in recent years, most notable with Adults
| Welcome.
|
| There were some threads on HN if you are interested.
|
| https://www.lego.com/en-us/categories/adults-welcome
| pattle wrote:
| I the last 3-4 years LEGO has definitely decided to focus more
| on the adult market. There's a lot more 18+ big sets now than
| there used to be in the past.
|
| Kind of make sense because a lot people who played with LEGO in
| their childhood in the 80's / 90's are now at the age where
| they are more likely to have disposable income and get back
| into the hobby.
| patfla wrote:
| I wonder how much of this is about getting closer access to
| relatively inexpensive US energy in general and petrochemicals in
| particular?
| osigurdson wrote:
| Oh come on. Can't the humans have anything fun?
| unixhero wrote:
| Injection moldiiiing
| dclowd9901 wrote:
| I wonder if this kind of facility will enable a new generation of
| Americans in precision plastics manufacturing. I don't think we
| have any other facilities of this kind here, except for maybe
| semiconductor facilities.
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