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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

#211

Post by nicoburns »

gtop3 wrote: post #194
majormajor wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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 pa…

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#212

Post by Kon-Peki »

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…

> Why isn't it reasonable to call them the largest tire manufacturer?

Because they don’t make the largest tires?

(Joke)

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#213

Post by zebnyc »

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?

I have a 5 year old who loves building blocks and legos. We are not even too particular about quality. When I buy blocks for my kid, I am looking for him to learn to have fun by himself without Mom/Dad becoming involved and that is very hard ask with lego competitors. We tried buying from lego competitors but then they are missing pieces or their instructions are lacking which is very difficult for a small child to deal with.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#214

Post by AndrewKemendo »

drstewart wrote: post #207
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

Then perhaps you're being paid too much compared to the other people in society

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#216

Post by Dylan16807 »

shadowgovt wrote: post #68
iso1631 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/electr...

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…

Ultra high voltage lines can reach all the way to the east coast with 10% losses and supposedly about 10 cents per kWh for construction and maintenance. And that's AC, which HVDC might beat.

So it seems to me like you could power the US off california solar if they had enough.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#217

Post by dukeyukey »

gtop3 wrote: post #191
dukeyukey wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

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.

1. Yes, absolutely. There are very few developed countries with large population centres on or adjacent to strong solar potential, and fewer again if you limit them by others stuff Lego is looking for (e.g. workforce compatibility, market access).

2. That's probably true, but the US labour market is simultaneously huge, flexible, and well-educated. That gives it an advantage over most competitors.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#218

Post by Dylan16807 »

Armisael16 wrote: post #182
dblooman wrote: post #179

Do americans really call Lego bricks Legos? Based on the comments, it seems common enough, I always thought it was a plural like data

Americans do generally call them legos. The company hates it.

In terms of Lego vs Legos I think they hate both.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#219

Post by drstewart »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #214
drstewart wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Then perhaps you're being paid too much compared to the other people in society

Europeans will do anything to justify their abysmal salaries, won't they?

>Current: Labor activism.

lmao

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#220

Post by proudeu »

dukeyukey wrote: post #217
gtop3 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

1. Yes, absolutely. There are very few developed countries with large population centres on or adjacent to strong solar potential, and fewer again if you limit them by others stuff Lego is looking for (e.g. workforce compatibility, market access). 2. That's probably true, but the US labour market is simultaneously huge, flexible, and well-educated. That gives it an advantage over most competitors.

Is this well educated labour force the part of the voter base of the two biggest parties across the pond? if yes then I wish the very best to the manufacturing trials there. We already have seen the quality of Us manufacturing recently with Tesla cars. The times that made in America was synonymous with good quality are long gone.
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