Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility • Hacker News Board

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#181

Post by localplume » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 8:36 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #163

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.

[dead]

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#182

Post by Armisael16 » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 8:46 PM UTC

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#183

Post by onion2k » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 8:50 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #108

sremani wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plastics - where are they cheap? That is the answer.

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 Star…

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#184

Post by jll29 » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 8:50 PM UTC

tenebrisalietum wrote: post #15

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

I have stepped on 1 LEGO brick in my life, and it truly is enough for my lifetime.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#185

Post by markus_zhang » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 8:53 PM UTC

meibo wrote: post #115

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 th…

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#186

Post by TedDoesntTalk » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 9:00 PM UTC

foobarian wrote: post #64

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…

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.

Have you ever been to Virginia? Have you compared it to the American southwest for sunshine?

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#187

Post by mproud » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 9:06 PM UTC

tedivm wrote: post #43

skybrian wrote: post #35

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® 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.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#188

Post by jacquesm » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 9:09 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #183

jacquesm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Star…

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.

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#189

Post by jacquesm » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 9:09 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #176

jacquesm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Star…

Did they discover adults or did those adults just grow up with Lego toys and never stop loving them?

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.

Re: Lego breaks ground on first US manufacturing facility

#190

Post by JasserInicide » Sun, Apr 23, 2023, 9:10 PM UTC

skybrian wrote: post #35

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® 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…

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.