The Legoland park was pretty disappointing.
Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
41–50 of 345 posts
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#42The 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…
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.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#43It 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® 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…
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.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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, di…
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.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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, di…
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.
Yes.
Commodities are priced at cost plus.
Differentiated goods are priced based on value delivered.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#46Interesting 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 off…
They are also the largest manufacturer of rubber tires in the world
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/100909-la...
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#47The Legoland park was pretty disappointing.
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.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#48Interesting 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 off…
>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.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#49Interesting 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 off…
> 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.
> 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.
Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility
#50I’m so confused by Lego’s market share. They sell cheap plastic at insane premiums. Why is there not more competition?
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.