Lego constructor: manufacturer, brand history. Lego constructor: manufacturer, brand history What does the Lego company produce

To create the most popular toy in the world, it was necessary to combine all the best: a fabulous atmosphere (and this is in abundance in the homeland of Hans-Christian Andersen), high-quality materials, love for the world of childhood and devotion to the idea. Most of this wealth was owned by any Dane, but only Ole Kirk Christiansen was able to build a company from these fundamental blocks. It was he who invented and created the designer number 1 - LEGO. And it all started with stairs, stools and ironing boards…

The history of the creation of the LEGO constructor: brick by brick

Today, LEGO is positioned as a toy that can be used to build anything from a habitable house to a self-programming robot. But the path to the success of its creator was quite long and difficult.

Ole was born in 1891 in the west of Denmark into a poor farming family. He was the tenth child in the family, and he had no prerequisites for a carefree childhood. Ole began learning carpentry at the age of 14, and by 1916 the young master managed to work as a carpenter abroad (Germany, Norway) and save up even a small amount of money, which was enough to purchase the "Billund carpentry workshop and timber warehouse." By the way, there was enough money either for a workshop or for a house, therefore, having bought a workshop, Ole used it as a dwelling, first only for himself, and then for his wife and four sons.

In the 30s of the twentieth century, he founded a company that was engaged in the production of wooden everyday items. And in the beginning, things were going very well, but the financial crisis took its toll, and, despite the fact that Ole had an excellent assistant (his son Godfrick began working with him from the age of 12), things were getting worse for the company.

He needed an idea, and he spied it on his son, who collected scraps of boards, painted them, and played with the neighbors. Then Ole thought that people buy toys even in the most difficult times and decided to focus on making wooden toys.

You know what is surprising: in 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen was left not only with a barely working enterprise, but also with four children in his arms (his wife died), but at the same time he found the strength to continue his business, despite all the circumstances.

The name of the company came from the combination of two Danish words "LEg" and "GOdt", which means "play well". And of course, the first products were not plastic cubes that we are used to seeing, these were wooden cubes, after that there were ducks on wheels, wooden cars and miniature furniture sets.

Things began to improve, but in 1942 the toy factory burned down completely. The family managed to recover and revive production, and the updated version was more reliable and powerful, and the staff of 7 people was expanded to 40.

By the way, "blocking" plastic cubes were invented not in Denmark, but in the UK. They were made in 1947 by the Kiddicraft company, based on the sketches of the child psychologist Mr. Hilary Harry Fisher Page. True, the fastening of the first samples was rather weak, and it was quite difficult to combine the cubes into a stable structure. LEGO owners were able to consider the potential of the designer and launched their own line of plastic "bricks", but with a modified mount.

For eleven years, the company expanded its range, tried to create new elements and introduced plastic bricks, and in 1953 launched the LEGO Mursten production line (Lego bricks).

The first sets were subjected to unprecedented criticism: that it would be uninteresting, and plastic was short-lived, and much more, but the Christiansen family did not turn off their course, and developed their capacities to an international company and worldwide popularity and recognition.

In addition to automatically connecting parts, the company also developed its own game system: a certain set of parts made it possible to create part of a separate plot (house, car, ship). Every year the system has become more complex and interesting (new elements, figurines, characters, animals have been added), which is probably why playing with LEGO is still captivating not only for children, but also for adults of all ages.

Simplicity + versatility = endless possibilities

Unlike many other examples, LEGO is still a family business, today run by the grandson of the founder, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, who continues to create classics with fashion in mind.

So in the arsenal of the company there are several series of designers:

"LEGO" or "LEGO System". It has sub-series: castles, cities, space travel, pirates. There are separate models dedicated to popular characters: the Harry Potter movie, the Star Wars saga and many others.
"Primo" line for newborns.
for preschool children "LEGO DUPLO". Bright cubes are comfortable to hold in your hand, play, build and explore the world.
"Znap" is a lesser known line of constructors, which differs from the classic version, and is optimally suited for creating bridges and original ceilings.
the most modern variants of "Technic" and "Mindstorms". With their help, you can design and program your own robot.

A distinctive feature of the designers is the use of a special ultra-precise technology, thanks to which parts of different years of manufacture fit together, and you can build anything from them.

The history of the creation of the LEGO constructor was a long and thorny path that the company overcame with success. Today the company is in the TOP-10 most popular toy manufacturers. Its production facilities are concentrated in several countries, but the largest production is in the same place, in Billund (Denmark), where it all began. Today alone, this LEGO factory uses more than 60 tons of plastic per day to produce 21 billion quality parts every year.

The love for LEGO is so great that Lego festivals are organized every year in different parts of the world. Outstanding structures are being built there from simple blocks. The tallest tower made of Lego bricks is considered to be a 36-meter structure in Tel Aviv (Israel). In addition to the designer itself, 4 Legoland parks have been built in the world (in Denmark, Great Britain, the USA and Germany), which are visited by millions of people every year.

Today Bugaga invites you to Denmark, to the city of Billund, where the factory for the production of the world famous LEGO constructor is located:

This is the head office of the LEGO Group (located in the same place), the entrance to which is decorated with the world-famous "bricks".

It is noteworthy that the elements of the constructor in all their versions always remain compatible with each other: for example, the "bricks" that were created in 1958 and 2010 are completely compatible with each other, even though their shape and design are completely different. All thanks to the fact that LEGO parts are produced with high precision (2 micrometers) according to a certain standard.

This is the reception area of the LEGO Group head office, the interior of which is stylized as the famous "bricks".

All parts of the designer are made of the same plastic (based on butadiene, acrylonitrile and styrene), supplied to the factory directly from suppliers. Stored in huge bunkers, it is usually either red or clear. Individual dyes for specific elements are added directly to the molding machines.

In front of you is a molding machine. Hot, liquid plastic is poured into the molds located on the right side of it. Then it, spreading through small channels, enters the pressing part through small cuts. And when cold water is poured into the molding machine, the plastic cools down, the mold opens and the "bricks" freely fall onto the conveyor belt.

Currently, about 7,000 active molds are used in the production of elements for the LEGO constructor. However, the company has a total of 9 thousand, just many of these forms are still waiting in the wings. On average, one such form costs about 72,000 US dollars. The most complex and expensive one can cost the company $360,000.

This photo shows the plastic being poured into the pressing area.

And in this photo, two ellipsoid-shaped elements are visible, just removed from the mold. After just a couple of seconds, they will be on the conveyor belt.

Here you see the mold itself for the production of ellipsoidal elements (such as in the photo above).

The manufactured elements can subsequently be used in different ways. For example, these blue elements will either become the "heads" of tiny figures, or will decorate other details.

Just a few minutes ago, these purple LEGO bricks were under pressure.

There are twelve molding modules (special production rooms) at the plant, each of which is divided into 2 blocks and accommodates 32 working molding machines.

Thanks to this robotic arm, waste generated during the melting and production of elements is removed from the molding machine. The plastic is sent back to be remelted and will soon find a use for it.

Waste products are dumped into this basket.

Despite the fact that the plastic left over from the production process is almost always used, some of the waste still has to be thrown into such garbage bins (much like balls of thread, right?).

Plastic granules enter the molding machines through these pipes.

Every four weeks, the molding machines are taken out and thoroughly cleaned. In this photo, a factory worker is just cleaning up.

At this stage of the manufacture of figures, handles, legs, heads, as well as additional elements and details are attached to them.

In this automated area, handles are attached to the figure.

And here faces and shirts are stamped on the figurines.

The display shows the weight of the bag containing the LEGO pieces (called a "pre-pack"). Its weight should vary between 94.9-95.7 g. As we can see, it passed the test.

Through this conveyor, preliminary containers with LEGO fragments are sent for weighing.

In the packaging department, most of the parts are in bags that fall into the container automatically. However, some bags are too big and need to be shaken by hand: the parts are evenly distributed throughout the bag, making it flatter and thinner.

These are cardboard blanks, from which boxes with Star Wars-themed LEGO sets will subsequently be made.

This machine is designed to control the height of the boxes: so that they close tightly, and the parts do not fall out during transportation.

On the conveyor belt are boxes of Star Wars-themed LEGO sets.

In this automated area, the boxes are closed and sealed.

These fully packed boxes are ready to ship.

In this area, ready-made boxes with LEGO sets are placed in boxes of 6 pieces.

And the boxes themselves are sent on a conveyor belt for loading.

They are sent to the Czech Republic (where the official distribution center of the company is located), to the warehouse of the plant located in the city of Kladno. This plant, by the way, produces about 35-40% of all LEGO products, which is more than 1,000,000 parts. In a giant robotic warehouse, one of the largest in Europe, orders are placed and products are sent to stores around the world.

The company was founded in 1932. Its founder was the Dane Ole Kirk Christiansen, who was the foreman of a team of carpenters and joiners. In 1947, the company expanded its production and began producing plastic toys. Since its inception in 1949, LEGO elements in all their variants have remained compatible with each other. So, for example, items created in 1958 still pair with items released in 2010, despite radical changes in the design and shape of the items over the years. All LEGO bricks are manufactured to a specific standard with a high degree of precision that allows them to be assembled with little effort. In addition, after connection, the parts must be securely attached to each other. To ensure these conditions, the elements of the designer are produced with an accuracy of 2 micrometers.

Since 1991, with the beginning of the era of computer video games, the Lego company has suffered losses for 11 years, correcting this situation only with the release of new robotic sets. The process of creating Lego bricks is actually not that complicated. The production of building blocks consists of pouring liquid plastic into a mold and placing it under a press. The form cools down, opens - and in your hands you have a ready-made Lego brick. Then the second, more difficult part of the process follows - processing, adding artistic details such as suits, ties, etc.

This is the reception area at Lego headquarters. Pay attention to the ceiling and chairs - it seems that they are made of designer bricks.

All Lego sets are made from the same plastic based on acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene. It comes to Lego directly from suppliers and then stored in giant bins. It is usually either red or clear, and the paint for specific pieces is added to the molding machines. This is a container filled with liquid plastic based on acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene, with the addition of individual dyes.

This is a molding machine. First, very hot plastic is poured into the molds on the right side. It then spreads through small channels and enters the pressing area through very small incisions. When cold water is poured into the molding machine, it cools the plastic and the mold opens, allowing the bricks to fall unhindered onto the conveyor belt.

Currently, there are about 7 thousand active forms that are used in the production of Lego. However, in general, the company has more than 9 thousand such forms at its disposal, many of which are waiting in the wings on the shelves, such as this one. The average form costs about 72 thousand dollars, the cost of the most complex and expensive one is 360 thousand dollars.

Here you can see how the plastic is poured into the pressing area of the molding machine.

In this photo, we see two parts of an ellipsoid shape that have just been in the mold. After a few seconds, they will fall onto the conveyor belt.

In this photo, a mold for making parts of an ellipsoidal shape from the top photo.

Produced bricks and other elements can be subsequently used in different ways. These blue pieces can be used as heads for tiny figurines or as decorations for other elements.

Thousands of purple Lego bricks that were under pressure a few minutes ago.

It is one of twelve molding units located in Billund. In each module, or special production room, there are up to 64 working molding machines, divided into two blocks of 32 machines each.

A robotic arm that removes waste from the melting process and the production of parts from a molding machine. The plastic will be re-smelted and will be used very soon.

Waste basket.

Production at the Lego factory is virtually waste-free as plastics are used. However, some of the waste generated during the production process is still sent to the wastebasket.

Pipes through which plastic granules enter molding machines. The noise it creates is reminiscent of the noise that billions of grains of rice would make moving through plastic pipes.

The molding machines are used for four weeks, and then they are taken out and thoroughly cleaned. In the photo we see a company worker behind this procedure.

At this stage of the production of figures, arms, legs, heads and other additional details and elements will be attached to them.

The robot attaches hands to the figurine.

Here you can see how the machine stamps faces and shirts on the figurines.

This display shows the weight of a small bag of Lego pieces, known as pre-tare. Weight should be between 94.9 and 95.7 grams. This provisional tare weighs 94.94 grams, so it passes the test. However, as the display shows, five bags were too light and one was too heavy.

Lego fragments are pre-packed on a conveyor, at the end of which they are weighed.

This is the packaging department, most of the details are in bags that fall into the container automatically. But some bags are too big and have to be shaken by hand to distribute the parts evenly and make the bags flatter and thinner.

Hundreds of cardboard blanks to make boxes for Star Wars-themed Lego sets.

Slogan: Play On
Just Imagine...

The most famous toy in the world, the dream of many little boys and girls - construction set lego appeared in Denmark, the kingdom of children's fairy tales, in the homeland of Hans-Christian Andersen. It seems that it was there, in a country with a magical atmosphere, with love for the world of childhood, that a wonderful designer was supposed to appear, they could come up with it and appreciate it. Wonderful invention - designer lego became a part of life in Denmark: there in 1968 was built Legoland- a whole small world of 45 million cubes lego, where children go with pleasure and, with no less pleasure, adults. Constructor lego repeatedly received prizes and awards in different countries of the world, quite rightly he was called one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.

lego- the most recognizable brand in the world of toys, was created in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from the small town of Billund in Denmark (Billund, Denmark). Ole Kirk Christiansen produced stepladders, stools, ironing boards and wooden toys in his small factory. The name of the company was received in 1934 from the phrase "LEg GОdt"– “play well” in Danish. Ole Kirk Christiansen announced a competition for the best name for the company among his employees and, in a tough competition, he himself won it.

1978 Lego set

Since then, the name adorns all the company's products. From adolescence, his son, Gottfried (Godtfred), who later headed the company, also worked next to his father. Many can envy the boy's "hard childhood", since from the age of 17 he devotes himself entirely to modeling and the production of wooden toys. Later leadership Lego Group will be taken over by the founder's grandson Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

In 1949 lego begins production of "Automatically connected blocks" with four or eight ledges - you can already recognize the prototype of the future famous designer in them. In 1954, such bricks began to be called "LEGO bricks". The modern dice attachment system was patented later in 1958. In the same years, the company also developed its own "game system" - a certain set of basic and additional elements of the designer, which every year became more and more complicated. Transport figures, figures of people, then animals, many additional elements and many, many, many more cubes were added to the cubes later.

Form for stamping Lego bricks. Before being on display at Legoland California in August 2008, she stamped over 120 million pieces (legogod photo).

In 1973, the logo appears lego, which we know now, before that, products were produced under several logos, but the company's active entry into the international market led to the creation of a single mark recognizable in all countries. In 1998, a new, more concise version of the logo was created.

lego produces products for children of all ages, and adults are happy to fold not so primitive cubes. most famous series lego that's what it's called Lego or Lego system it is represented by many series: "City", "Castle", "Space", "Pirates", series dedicated to "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter", etc. A series for young children is being produced - DUPLO and for the little ones Primo.

Have lego also a little known series Znap- there are no classic cubes in it, most of all this series is suitable for the construction of bridges, openwork ceilings. Series "Technic" equipped with more complex parts and suitable for robot lovers. Series Mindstorms offers to create not just your own robot, but also, using a computer module, program it at your own discretion. Of course, this takes much more effort and time than if you bought a ready-made robot, but the result exceeds all expectations.

Modern sets are much brighter than their predecessors. lego transport

Basis for success lego- its simplicity and versatility. Responding to the needs of its customers, constantly changing and improving lego has firmly taken its place in children's rooms, it is not boring with it and your imagination is practically unlimited. Small cubes can turn into any toy, any object, embody any fantasy, it all depends on the player. Receiving a box as a gift lego, the child receives a future, potential world, creating which he plays, learns, and develops at the same time. The only but significant drawback lego in the eyes of most buyers is the high cost of the designer, which is far from accessible to everyone.

All kids love LEGO. This is a designer who gave millions of children the opportunity to enjoy, develop, invent, think logically and spend hundreds of hours with their parents, assembling different cars, ships, planes, houses, robots and mechanisms. Of course, not only children love LEGO. Many adults are addicted to the original hobby - to collect the LEGO constructor.

In 2014, I watched the National Geographic film Megafactories: Lego. And then it all started. I became more interested in the history of the creation of this brand and everything connected with it, I studied the work of the company and how the processes and production itself are arranged. Of course, the idea of visiting the LEGO factory haunted me, and I began to act. Not everything is as simple as it turned out.

Over the course of 2 years, I wrote hundreds of letters directly to the LEGO Group website, as well as to factories in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary. I couldn't believe it was so difficult to get into the factory to see the construction set. There were a dozen stories on the Internet from a factory in Denmark, people somehow got there and wrote beautiful stories. Having contacted a couple of such lucky ones, I realized that my goal is moving away. The Danish Lego factory in Billund held tours of the production only three times a year, and then for “their own”. Others said that the cost of a group tour to the factory was 1,600 euros. I did not give up, I connected various travel agents. Unsuccessfully. Nobody was willing to help. One tour operator said they would try to help me for 400 euros, but there are no guarantees. And at the beginning of 2016, on a Hungarian site, I found the news that the LEGO factory in the city of Nyiregyhaza conducts excursions for schoolchildren. However, for 2 months I did not manage to find a contact that would help with the organization of the excursion. I even found those who went to the factory and posted their photos on Instagram and Facebook, no one answered. This is where I stopped hitting the wall. For a while :) Six months later, I continued my steps towards finding a tour to the Lego factory in Hungary.

Know that if you really want something and go to your dream, then you will always succeed! Thanks to the assistance of the Consul of the Consulate General of Hungary in Uzhgorod, Mr. Laszlo Vid and Oleksandr Koval, the head of the Tourinform Zakarpattya portal, the dream came true, and we visited the LEGO factory in Nyiregyhaza. Read about how it was after a small selection of facts about the LEGO Corporation.

History of LEGO

LEGO was founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from the small town of Billund in Denmark, in 1932. At first, the company consisted only of carpenters and joiners, whose task was to create a toy that would develop the imagination and creativity of the child.

LEGO is an abbreviation derived from two Danish words "leg godt" which means "to play with passion". “This is our name, and it reflects our ideal,” says the company. In 80 years, Lego has gone through a difficult path - from a small carpentry workshop to an international company, which today is the third largest toy manufacturer in the world in terms of sales.

The LEGO company passed from father to son and is today owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the founder's great-grandson.

Ole Kirk Christiansen with son Gottfried Kirk Christiansen and grandson.

The first Lego toys were made of wood, and they had nothing to do with the bricks we play with today. Along with wooden toys, the company produced chairs, stepladders, and ironing boards.

A wooden duck on wheels released by LEGO in 1935.

At first, the company employed 7 people, and they produced 42 toy models. Things started going well. But as a result of a short circuit in 1942, the LEGO factory burned down. All stocks and drawings of new toys burned down. Ole Kirk even thought about abandoning the continuation of the business, but gathered his will into a fist and started all over again.

In 1947, LEGO became the first company in Denmark to purchase equipment for the production of plastic toys and parts for them. And already in 1949, LEGO produced more than 200 models of plastic and wooden toys, including those with an easily connected mechanism, which laid the foundation for the future designer.

In 1958, a landmark event occurred - LEGO patented a special method of fastening parts, which is called stud-and-tube. Since then, all kits released by the company are fully compatible with each other. You can take the Lego bricks that were released in 1958 and the bricks of 2017 - they will be completely comparable to each other. This is great!

The LEGO Group is now an international company with production in Denmark, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary and China. Lego now employs over 18,500 people worldwide.

LEGO company slogan

"Det bedste er ikke for godt" - "Only the best is worthy."

Do you know where this slogan came from?

When twelve-year-old Gottfried Kirk, the son of the founder, boasted to his father that he saved money in making ducks and instead of three layers of varnish, he covered only twice, the father was upset and told his son to varnish all the toys that he did not do as expected all night . Gottfried's experience inspired him to immortalize his father's words by carving them on a piece of wood.

From 6 Lego 2x4 cubes, you can collect 915 million different combinations.
On average, 15 Lego bricks are sold worldwide per second. On holidays - 50 constructors per second.
About 600 bricks per second are produced at the Lego factories, and this number is growing every month. In some sources, there is a figure - 1300 bricks per second.
The number of Lego elements in different colors is 34703. The number of colors in which the details are painted is 136.
Around 400 million tires are produced annually at LEGO factories, making it the largest tire manufacturer in the world.
LEGO plastic is heated to 232 degrees Celsius during production. You can knead it like dough :)
Billund Airport in Denmark was built by LEGO creator Ole Christiansen.
The first rack for the Google server was assembled from Lego.
Almost all Lego minifigures are yellow.
The LEGO Group has banned any mention of the LEGO® brand in Internet domain names.
The quality of production is such that out of 1 million bricks, only 18 pieces do not meet a high standard.
Everyone can upload their own constructor to the Lego website and offer it for mass production. If the model gets 10,000 votes, the company's employees will consider your option.

LEGO factory in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary

In 2014, a new, second Lego factory was opened in the Hungarian city of Nyiregyhaza for the production of bricks for the LEGO® DUPLO® constructor. It's just incredible to build such a huge plant in 1 year. The fact is that in 2008, a LEGO factory was already built at the other end of the city. But its capacity was not enough, and the LEGO Group Corporation built another factory, which has great potential for expansion.

The Nyiregyhaza plant manufactures and packs LEGO® DUPLO® bricks.
The plant employs 2,400 people, mostly local people. The salary is the average for the country, but everyone has very good social packages, insurance and bonuses. For example, each employee can buy a construction kit directly from the factory at a price 50% below the market price.
Plant area - 120,000 square meters. m.
672 plastic injection molding machines installed on 53,000 sq. m.
16 product packaging lines.
High warehouse with an area of 14,000 sq. m for storage of boxes and pallets.
Two high warehouses that can store 82,000 pallets of products at the same time.

Photo source: lego.com.

Development plans for the LEGO Group in Hungary

The company has ambitious plans and development strategy until 2020. It is planned to double the area of the plant in Hungary. There will be a mirror reflection, the land area allows. The number of staff is planned to increase by 1,600 people, depending on the season, resulting in more than 4,000 employees.

Planned:

Expansion of the factory area to 290,000 sq. m.
Production hall, where 768 casting machines will be installed.
A new module where the assembly of molds will be.
New warehouse for 500,000 boxes and 40,000 pallets.
New packing room.
New hall for processing garbage and waste.
New administration building.
New crafting building for decorating and assembling LEGO System elements.
New crafting building for decorating and building LEGO Duplo pieces.
New building to manage the energy consumption of the entire plant.

Tour of the LEGO Factory

At 5 am, our group in a minibus left Uzhgorod for Nyiregyhaza. Taking into account the border crossing, the road took about 5 hours, although the drive is less than 100 km. We were kept at the border for a very long time. It is important to remember that even if you are traveling abroad in a minibus, the child must have a child seat or booster!

Hungary greeted us with sunny weather, the mood was excellent, a meeting with a dream is ahead :) Immediately after passing the border, the driver took out a navigator and laid out a route, everything seemed to go according to plan, and we made it to the pre-agreed time. Arriving in Nyiregyhaza, I immediately noticed a huge number of sites for the sale of cars, both new and used. Just a huge amount!

Nyiregyhaza is a sister city of Uzhgorod. It is the seventh largest city in Hungary. Residents of Transcarpathia often go here for shopping and recreation, in thermal pools. There is also the best zoo in Europe, but how to spend time in Nyiregyhaza, in a separate photo report.

A sign appeared on the horizon, and then the plant itself. Everyone perked up, our crew commander went to find out how to enter the plant.

Outside the window, you could see the corporate red color of LEGO, there were trucks, probably, they were being loaded with fresh designers. It was not the same plant! I read that there are 2 LEGO factories in Hungary. The driver knew only this address, where to go next and where to look for the plant that we need, he did not know.

And here, once again, the maps.me application came to the rescue, which works exclusively with offline maps without the Internet, which is very, very useful when you do not want to pay for roaming. I strongly recommend that everyone install this application on their smartphone and have up-to-date maps of the area where you are going. I even use this program in Ukraine, in general it is a must have.

The joke was that we had to drive in the opposite direction for more than 10 km, it’s good that there weren’t any traffic jams.

And here it is - the right LEGO factory, where the scale is even greater.

The parking lot near the plant is huge, it is full of cars. There are also parking spaces for electric vehicles. I didn’t count the number of poles with charging, but there are clearly not even 10 or 20 of them here. There is a separate parking lot for bicycles with a canopy.

Good cars go to Lego :)

Everything is so interesting and clean, I take out a bigger camera and start shooting around, heading towards the entrance to the factory.

The plant has its own street, with the correct name. Address: Nyiregyhaza, LEGO Street 15.

Checkpoint at the LEGO factory.

I don’t even have time to take two shots when the guard tells me to hide the camera and not take pictures - this is forbidden!

How so!? I was not ready for this, but what to do, such rules. We are determined to memorize everything we see, without photographs.

This time we arrived at the right address, a guide came out to us. A guy of about 25, who works as a tour guide at the factory, tells and shows everything that is included in the tour program.

First, we were shown a film about the plant for 10 minutes, which told about safety, where you can walk, where you can’t, where you can take pictures, and where you can’t. We signed a special visitor's book, handed over our backpacks, cameras and went from the entrance to the main building of the plant.

It’s 50 meters from the entrance to the factory, and here you can take pictures, so I didn’t miss the opportunity to take a couple of shots on my smartphone.

You see a yellow cube behind the glass, do you know what's inside?

That's right, these are Lego bricks. I don't know how many there are, but there are a lot. And there are many such containers throughout the plant.

View of the entrance of the plant from the side of the main building.

There was a group of schoolchildren in front of us, and this is the chaos they left behind :)

The tour is for 2 hours. We had a cool translator who knew the Hungarian language, Alexander, with us. Many thanks to him for participating in the tour and translating everything interesting!

Excursion to the LEGO factory: let's go

First, we were told in detail the history of the creation of the LEGO company, introduced to the factory using the example of a large mock-up of the factory under glass, with details in blocks.

This factory manufactures and completes LEGO® DUPLO® building sets for children from 1 to 5 years old. The territory of the plant is huge, and soon exactly the same plant will appear nearby, only in a mirror image, the construction is already in full swing.

We then moved even closer to the heart of brick production, where we were shown a piece of history, the brick casting machine. Nearby is a container with granulate, which is used as a raw material for production. And now attention! In one day, the factory produces 80,000,000 LEGO elements!

Photo source: nyugat.hu.

Workshop with machines for casting LEGO elements

The number of such machines at the plant is more than 600!

Photo source: LEGO Group website www.lego.com.

This was the first shop we went to. I hung for a couple of minutes and looked at it all with my mouth open. Organization of communications at the highest level. The workshop is completely clean, ventilated and, by the way, not very noisy, with such and such a number of cars. Each machine stamps its parts, filling containers for them. When the container is full, the plant employee changes it to an empty one, transferring the filled boxes with parts along the conveyor to another workshop.

The whole plant is “entangled” with wires, which are laid in special gutters, they are marked differently in each workshop, but at the same time, this numbering has clear standards. Water supply pipes in case of fire are connected so that they cover the entire workshop completely. Ventilation is also top notch. In general, I was amazed at how well everything works.

Information Technology Department at the LEGO Group

In order for the entire infrastructure of the corporation to work like clockwork, it is necessary to coordinate the work of design, development, production, logistics, analytics, finance, a very strong computer system and, of course, its support and modifications, which are carried out by a large staff of IT specialists. And here the Hungarian computer scientists were very lucky. The Nyiregyhaza plant is the headquarters of the LEGO IT department. They serve information systems around the world, there are more than 60 highly qualified specialists. And plus another IT team working directly with the systems at the plant in Hungary. You should have seen how cool their offices are :). This is an open space, inside which, in addition to tables and computers, there are assembled constructors everywhere.

The plant employs 2400 people. Although for 2 hours of the tour you can’t say this. People are almost invisible.

Lego testing

The department or, more correctly, the testing workshop is located in an isolated room. Here, employees check the quality of parts. Viewed and scrolled in the hands and put in special containers. The guide told us an interesting fact. There is a head test. The load to remove the head from the minifigure must not exceed 50 kg.

Lego packaging

Almost all processes at the plant are automated, except for one, packing bags into cardboard boxes. As they explained to us, it was not possible to automate this process, since the boxes themselves often change, therefore it is easier and cheaper to do it manually. But, I will tell you that 5-6 people who are at the same table, working on the conveyor, do their job without any problems and, apparently, do not feel discomfort. One takes the disassembled box, aligns it, passes it on, the second takes the bags, which already contain the elements of the designer, puts them in the box, the third still adds bags and, apparently, instructions, the fourth glues and starts up. Then the next worker collects 5–10 constructors in one box and passes them on.

Packaging can be made branded for large chains, for example, designers for Tesco were packed with us before Christmas.

Warehouses Lego

All Lego products are stored in two high-rise warehouses that hold over 80,000 pallets. The warehouse is simply huge, and soon there will be twice as much storage space for Lego boxes. Designers are transported from these warehouses all over Europe by trucks that stand on the territory of the plant.

Canteen at the Lego factory

War is war, and lunch is on schedule. After an interesting excursion, we were rather hungry, and we were offered to visit the canteen right on the territory of the plant, where employees eat. An ordinary dining room, somewhat similar to our Puzata Hata, but a little simpler in terms of assortment. Despite the large number of people in line, we quickly waited for our food. On average, lunch for 1 person is 2-3 euros. Quite democratic.

From observations, we can say that not all employees of the plant eat in this canteen. Firstly, it is difficult to accommodate more than 2,000 people during lunch in this room, and on the other hand, we were shown rooms separated from the workshop by a glass wall, where employees can have a snack or rest.

At the reception. By the way, in Billund the logo in the foyer consists of Lego minifigures ;)

On the street there are wonderful monuments, assembled from Lego bricks.

Such a man can be found in many cities around the world where Lego is sold. In Poland, they saw the same;)

And how do you like such a Hutsul?

Completely assembled from Lego.

And, of course, the Hungarian breed of gray cows, which are also bred in Transcarpathia.

It was an unforgettable excursion to the Lego factory, which will be remembered for a long time.

LEGO Group for the 80th anniversary released a cartoon - a story about the company. Watch it with your kids!

This trip was made with the aim of developing the cross-border tourist route of Transcarpathia (Ukraine) and Szabolcs-Satmar-Beregskaya region (Hungary), thanks to the assistance of the Consul of the Consulate General of Hungary in Uzhgorod, Mr. Laszlo Vid. Also, special thanks to the portal "Tourinform Transcarpathia" represented by Oleksandr Koval for organizing the tour.