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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

#161

Post by dwheeler »

avar wrote: post #138
arcanemachiner wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point still stands: By no reasonable definition is Lego the largest manufacturer of tires.

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 t…

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#162

Post by TheRealPomax »

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)

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#163

Post by AndrewKemendo »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #162

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 plan…

It is striking how quickly the US turned into a backwater for all types of labor.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#165

Post by fnordpiglet »

obblekk wrote: post #6

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 off…

Virginia is actually home to enormous amounts of solar. Not the least of which is Amazon production for AWS regions.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#166

Post by local_crmdgeon »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #121
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?

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.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#167

Post by systemtest »

mlyle wrote: post #51
bhaak wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That is why I always assemble my LEGO in a pressurised cleanroom.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#169

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

TexanFeller wrote: post #146
obblekk wrote: post #6

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 off…

> 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.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#170

Post by shadowgovt »

iso1631 wrote: post #157
shadowgovt wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 susp…

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.

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.
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