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Or they can have a website where one can order a set and have a robot setup the kits from standard bricks. This should work for the majority of sets and would

Or they can have a website where one can order a set and have a robot setup the kits from standard bricks. This should work for the majority of sets and would require a relatively small set of custom bricks.

froindt 7y ago
I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about manufacturing stuff. Lego used to make custom pieces all the time. That, along with other missteps, nearly killed the company. Product variety means changeovers (switching molds in the plastic injection molding machines). More quality problems will occur. Low volume parts for one set may use a tiny fraction of the mold's useful life, making the unit cost much higher than a 2x4 brick. You need more inventory to successfully fulfill any bulk order you receive. You also need to store the molds in an environment where they won't degrade over time. Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) and Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) work hand in hand dictating how to economically run a facility like this. EOQ considers storage costs, the fixed cost to setup the tool, demand per unit time, and time value of money to minimize the per-unit cost. SMED reduces the fixed costs which are spread across a batch of pieces. This is the lever you can pull to reduce batch sizes, reduce inventory levels, reduce working capital, and help maximize profits. To your specific comment, the difficulty lies in fulfillment. Making sure the robot picks up the right number of pieces which are unceremoniously ejected from the injection molder in no particular order. Having inventory of all the pieces people want - or having a relatively long lead time hoping you get enough demand to run batches on a make-to-order basis. SMED would make this a much more viable business model. This article goes into more depth on the turnaround they went through. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/04/how-lego-clicked-the-super-brand-that-reinvented-itself https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/04/how-leg... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-minute_exchange_of_die https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-minute_exchange_of_di... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_order_quantity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_order_quantity
- systemtest 7y ago
  The upside of custom pieces is that I was able to identify all my LEGO sets from a single pile of bricks. By grabbing the custom pieces and looking them up in online databases, I could see which sets they were used in. It was usually two or three sets and based on my memory I would pick the one I most likely owned. Going by the database I was able to grab all other bricks belonging to that set and build the item. I would mark the missing bricks online, tear everything down and put it in a ziplock bag labeled with the number of set. After a couple of days of going through the pile I was able to find all my LEGO sets and have them separated in labelled ziplock bags. I can now browse through my personal database of LEGO sets, pick one, find the ziplock bag and build it. It's also nicely preserved for future generations.
  - bane 7y ago
    It's weird, I never cared for the sets the bricks came in, I just wanted bricks. I might build the set once, and then tear it up and never again. I usually ended up tossing or segregating the really special pieces somewhere else so they wouldn't pollute my buckets of normal pieces. I never really understood that other people actually really were into the sets and as I grew up, and as Lego got more and more into the ultra specialized sets, the magic went away and I stopped enjoying them as much.
toomanybeersies 7y ago
They used to have this, not sure if they still do. The problem is that some sets have custom parts that are no longer manufactured.
alexfarran 7y ago
Bricklink.com is a lot like that. They have a large catalogue of set inventories and a database of sellers' stocks of bricks. Here's a how-to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGytOTiZJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGytOTiZJg

froindt 7y ago

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about manufacturing stuff. Lego used to make custom pieces all the time. That, along with other missteps, nearly killed the company. Product variety means changeovers (switching molds in the plastic injection molding machines). More quality problems will occur. Low volume parts for one set may use a tiny fraction of the mold's useful life, making the unit cost much higher than a 2x4 brick. You need more inventory to successfully fulfill any bulk order you receive. You also need to store the molds in an environment where they won't degrade over time. Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) and Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) work hand in hand dictating how to economically run a facility like this. EOQ considers storage costs, the fixed cost to setup the tool, demand per unit time, and time value of money to minimize the per-unit cost. SMED reduces the fixed costs which are spread across a batch of pieces. This is the lever you can pull to reduce batch sizes, reduce inventory levels, reduce working capital, and help maximize profits. To your specific comment, the difficulty lies in fulfillment. Making sure the robot picks up the right number of pieces which are unceremoniously ejected from the injection molder in no particular order. Having inventory of all the pieces people want - or having a relatively long lead time hoping you get enough demand to run batches on a make-to-order basis. SMED would make this a much more viable business model. This article goes into more depth on the turnaround they went through. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/04/how-lego-clicked-the-super-brand-that-reinvented-itself https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/04/how-leg... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-minute_exchange_of_die https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-minute_exchange_of_di... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_order_quantity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_order_quantity

systemtest 7y ago
The upside of custom pieces is that I was able to identify all my LEGO sets from a single pile of bricks. By grabbing the custom pieces and looking them up in online databases, I could see which sets they were used in. It was usually two or three sets and based on my memory I would pick the one I most likely owned. Going by the database I was able to grab all other bricks belonging to that set and build the item. I would mark the missing bricks online, tear everything down and put it in a ziplock bag labeled with the number of set. After a couple of days of going through the pile I was able to find all my LEGO sets and have them separated in labelled ziplock bags. I can now browse through my personal database of LEGO sets, pick one, find the ziplock bag and build it. It's also nicely preserved for future generations.
- bane 7y ago
  It's weird, I never cared for the sets the bricks came in, I just wanted bricks. I might build the set once, and then tear it up and never again. I usually ended up tossing or segregating the really special pieces somewhere else so they wouldn't pollute my buckets of normal pieces. I never really understood that other people actually really were into the sets and as I grew up, and as Lego got more and more into the ultra specialized sets, the magic went away and I stopped enjoying them as much.

toomanybeersies 7y ago

They used to have this, not sure if they still do. The problem is that some sets have custom parts that are no longer manufactured.

alexfarran 7y ago

Bricklink.com is a lot like that. They have a large catalogue of set inventories and a database of sellers' stocks of bricks. Here's a how-to video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGytOTiZJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGytOTiZJg