4 ms·

Lego will start building its bricks in the United States

12 points by onemoresoop 4y ago

dtagames 4y ago
It's great to see a legitimate business that makes well-loved products open a factory here in the United States. The story of how Lego evolved its physical toys and kept up with the digital world is a great lesson in transforming a company while remaining true to its core products and values.
samstave 4y ago
I wish I still had all the LEGO I had over my 47 years. I wonder what has happened to all those blocks, bricks, and specifically that one piece... With that said, as I know LEGO to be a great company, what does become of the trilllions of plastic squares? You know what I would like to see? Plant-based LEGO with degradable/plantable block (VEGAN LEGO).. Not because I am some hippy (even though I am) - but as a visual, the kid across the street from me (well my grandparents, in Saratogo - his dad did something with computers at nasa in the 70s and 80s) had a play-room.... When we would play with his lego sets - the bins, dumped out, covered the floor in literally like 3" deep of lego parts. It was impressive I have probably had ~2 or ~3 of those black and yellow bins full of legos. This kid has a literal ton of lego in his house. regardless, its all fish food now? Hopefully there is a LEGO heaven, and not a environment dumped with them. --- But lego designed to BE planted would be sweet.
- Someone 4y ago
  They’re _somewhat_ working on it: https://www.lego.com/en-us/sustainability/environment/sustainable-materials/ https://www.lego.com/en-us/sustainability/environment/sustai... That page doesn’t mention degradable blocks, though. I can see the challenges for that. You want a brick to connect strongly with other bricks for decades, even when it’s left alone for years, yet decompose in years when left alone and lost, if not faster.
  - samstave 4y ago
    Agreed, I was specifically talking about the desire for them to compose. I am familiar with legos absolute requirement on tolerances... which achieves what you mention. But if I am going to buy all three of my daughters lego (which I have) knowing that they will not hold on to them for "decades" -- I'd rather they have a blast when they are a kid, and then move on to whatever, and the blocks can go into the ground without worry. Yes, I am familiar with block exchanges etc... I have no desire to manage the post-market-post-play relationship I have with LEGO. LEGO should be literally all over that service. "Send us your unused lego and we will provide them to a nice farm Up-Site" sorta thing...
    - benj111 4y ago
      Can't you just buy from charity shops, and then give back when finished? The backbone of my kids collections will be my old Lego and stuff picked up second hand.
WalterGR 4y ago
> The company announced Wednesday plans for a 1.7-million square foot plant in Virginia How much pollution will this generate? That's an often-overlooked factor in the exodus of manufacturing from the US. See, for example, the list of US Superfund sites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites
- iancmceachern 4y ago
  They claim it will be a carbon neutral plant. That is one key reason why offshore manufacturing was/is attractive, lack of environmental oversight. A plant built in thr US is subject to many more, much more stringent environmental and similar regulations. So a plant built in the US, Europe, etc. Will be by necessity much cleaner and environmentally friendly than one built on a country that does not have those same environmental regulations.
- HarvardClassics 4y ago
  Responding to the comment on another thread, as HN still is not allowing me to reply to those messages (this is a copy of a comment there): > Your site has a paid subscription option, yes? Not my site at all! I have no affiliation with myharvardclassics.com whatsoever. Just a fan of Dr. Elliot's original 1909 compilation. I just found them online a few years back and they have the free .pdfs of the volumes with the corresponding page numbers for the readings. If you know of a better resource for the books and the readings that have the correct corresponding page numbers, let me know. WalterGR, could you please stop flagging the posts now? I make no money from anything
  - grzm 4y ago
    > this is a copy of a comment there From my experience, copying and pasting comments from one thread to another isn't how HN is expected to be used. If there's an issue, email the mods via the Contact link in the footer. They're often busy (as they're few in number), so they may not respond immediately, but they do respond.
    - 4y ago

12 points by onemoresoop 4y ago

It's great to see a legitimate business that makes well-loved products open a factory here in the United States. The story of how Lego evolved its physical toys and kept up with the digital world is a great lesson in transforming a company while remaining true to its core products and values.

samstave 4y ago

I wish I still had all the LEGO I had over my 47 years. I wonder what has happened to all those blocks, bricks, and specifically that one piece... With that said, as I know LEGO to be a great company, what does become of the trilllions of plastic squares? You know what I would like to see? Plant-based LEGO with degradable/plantable block (VEGAN LEGO).. Not because I am some hippy (even though I am) - but as a visual, the kid across the street from me (well my grandparents, in Saratogo - his dad did something with computers at nasa in the 70s and 80s) had a play-room.... When we would play with his lego sets - the bins, dumped out, covered the floor in literally like 3" deep of lego parts. It was impressive I have probably had ~2 or ~3 of those black and yellow bins full of legos. This kid has a literal ton of lego in his house. regardless, its all fish food now? Hopefully there is a LEGO heaven, and not a environment dumped with them. --- But lego designed to BE planted would be sweet.

Someone 4y ago
They’re _somewhat_ working on it: https://www.lego.com/en-us/sustainability/environment/sustainable-materials/ https://www.lego.com/en-us/sustainability/environment/sustai... That page doesn’t mention degradable blocks, though. I can see the challenges for that. You want a brick to connect strongly with other bricks for decades, even when it’s left alone for years, yet decompose in years when left alone and lost, if not faster.
- samstave 4y ago
  Agreed, I was specifically talking about the desire for them to compose. I am familiar with legos absolute requirement on tolerances... which achieves what you mention. But if I am going to buy all three of my daughters lego (which I have) knowing that they will not hold on to them for "decades" -- I'd rather they have a blast when they are a kid, and then move on to whatever, and the blocks can go into the ground without worry. Yes, I am familiar with block exchanges etc... I have no desire to manage the post-market-post-play relationship I have with LEGO. LEGO should be literally all over that service. "Send us your unused lego and we will provide them to a nice farm Up-Site" sorta thing...
  - benj111 4y ago
    Can't you just buy from charity shops, and then give back when finished? The backbone of my kids collections will be my old Lego and stuff picked up second hand.

WalterGR 4y ago

> The company announced Wednesday plans for a 1.7-million square foot plant in Virginia How much pollution will this generate? That's an often-overlooked factor in the exodus of manufacturing from the US. See, for example, the list of US Superfund sites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites

iancmceachern 4y ago
They claim it will be a carbon neutral plant. That is one key reason why offshore manufacturing was/is attractive, lack of environmental oversight. A plant built in thr US is subject to many more, much more stringent environmental and similar regulations. So a plant built in the US, Europe, etc. Will be by necessity much cleaner and environmentally friendly than one built on a country that does not have those same environmental regulations.
HarvardClassics 4y ago
Responding to the comment on another thread, as HN still is not allowing me to reply to those messages (this is a copy of a comment there): > Your site has a paid subscription option, yes? Not my site at all! I have no affiliation with myharvardclassics.com whatsoever. Just a fan of Dr. Elliot's original 1909 compilation. I just found them online a few years back and they have the free .pdfs of the volumes with the corresponding page numbers for the readings. If you know of a better resource for the books and the readings that have the correct corresponding page numbers, let me know. WalterGR, could you please stop flagging the posts now? I make no money from anything
- grzm 4y ago
  > this is a copy of a comment there From my experience, copying and pasting comments from one thread to another isn't how HN is expected to be used. If there's an issue, email the mods via the Contact link in the footer. They're often busy (as they're few in number), so they may not respond immediately, but they do respond.
  - 4y ago