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Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

manufacturingdive.com

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Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#51

Post by mlyle »

bhaak wrote: post #3
taraharris wrote: post #2

Who among us hasn't stepped on enough Legos to last a lifetime? Oh well, let's have some more <3

That sounds like an organizational problem, not a problem with Lego bricks. You can never have enough Lego. :)

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#52

Post by GenerWork »

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#53

Post by anchochilis »

minton wrote: post #5

I’m so confused by Lego’s market share. They sell cheap plastic at insane premiums. Why is there not more competition?

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#54

Post by syngrog66 »

bombcar wrote: post #42
syngrog66 wrote: post #20

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…

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.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#55

Post by tonyedgecombe »

casion wrote: post #13
minton wrote: post #5

I’m so confused by Lego’s market share. They sell cheap plastic at insane premiums. Why is there not more competition?

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 LE…

Yes, we still have the lego from my childhood. After nearly fifty years it is in excellent condition.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#56

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jasode wrote: post #19
minton wrote: post #5

I’m so confused by Lego’s market share. They sell cheap plastic at insane premiums. Why is there not more competition?

>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.

Megablocks (??? I forget the name) has a licensing deal with transformers, Pokémon, 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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#57

Post by tonyedgecombe »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #36
samstave wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 env…

I believe they plan to switch entirely to plastic derived from plant sources within a decade.

My understanding is they are struggling with that.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#58

Post by swarnie »

GenerWork wrote: post #52

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.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#59

Post by crazygringo »

samstave wrote: post #21
dontupvoteme wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They use extremely high quality mechanical tooling. It's some of the most expensive plastic you can buy.

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 env…

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#60

Post by [deleted] »

jedberg wrote: post #47
29athrowaway wrote: post #41

The 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.

[deleted]
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