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Inside the Lego Factory

gizmodo.com — This video shows something that very few people have had the opportunity to witness: the inside of the Lego factory, with no barriers or secrets.

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  • lonelycoo, on 07/21/2008, -3/+44I wanna go, i wanna go, i wanna go!
    • yokozuka, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4It's tough to get in, but it can be done. However, what is almost impossible is to film with no limits. I had to fight for that and thanks to Lego USA's pressure, I finally did it. And still, they didn't want me to zoom in the molds, but I managed to get quite a few close-ups.
    • chaoswings, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4I don't get why they are so secretive. LEGO is great but the whole concept revolves around molded plastic bricks. Anyone could technically start manufacturing them (legal issues not withstanding) what exactly are they trying to protect? There is no big secret, unless they are violating laws in some manner then I could understand how they don't want film...
      • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3It's called trade secrets or intellectual property; take your pick.
      • overridemymind, on 07/21/2008, -0/+8"I don't get why they are so secretive."

        Because they don't want anyone to find out about their Oompa Loompas
    • vypergts, on 07/21/2008, -0/+13Anybody else watch it with the electronic music from "How It's Made" in their head?
    • blazes816, on 07/21/2008, -3/+2Anyone else think it doesn't sound safe to hang out in a room full of mold?
  • RedCt, on 07/21/2008, -3/+52I like how the entire process is basically robots all the way down the line.
    • maxthreepwood, on 07/21/2008, -1/+12Yeah, and all controlled by a mainframe. Those endless lines look straight from the Matrix.

      Hmmm... there's a pattern getting in focus here.
    • welliwonder, on 07/21/2008, -7/+6yes they charge insane prices
      • fantasticjon, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Don't know why you are getting dugg down, You are right. Some of the bigger sets are $100+ dollars. And you are talking about $2 worth of raw plastic. Talk about adding value.

        They have to pay high european taxes and follow strict regulations and that adds cost. I am sure that facility wasn't cheap, even if it does produce billions of pieces per year.

        I wouldn't complain though. You could get chinese made fake "legos" of much less, but then you don't know what kinda lead and other crap is in them and you know they would pollute much more in their manufacturing. Give me expensive european made toys anyday.
    • jonborthwick, on 07/21/2008, -1/+10I thought it was turtles all the way down.
    • Pittance, on 07/21/2008, -1/+7The endless strive for efficiency will eventually be the death of us. Absolute efficiency requires that no humans are involved in any of the processes.
      • rvaldes04, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5who do you think engineered those machines?
    • welliwonder, on 07/21/2008, -7/+4yet they charge insanely for them
      • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1Not much more than about 10cents per piece... the more complex the piece the more it costs/ but each set is roughly a dime per piece... From the massive Millennium Falcon 5195 pieces @ 499$ to the the new Town Plan 1981 pieces at 150$ down to #5610, 23 pieces for 3.50$
      • punkcat, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1oh $500 is that all for the falcon? i'll take 2.
        /sarcasm
    • NexusV2, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5I think they should of made the robots out of lego :)
    • fantasmacanino, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2I thought there would be more puppies and pixie dust, too.
    • phort99, on 07/22/2008, -0/+2Now they just need robots at the end of the line that tear open the packages and build them to complete the full automation.
  • epicweb, on 07/21/2008, -2/+11Those storage cathedrals, it's lego heaven!
  • knottylindsi, on 07/21/2008, -5/+7omfg, I love legos. Must...build!
  • duggtodeath, on 07/21/2008, -7/+69How awesome would it have been if the factory was made of Legos®?
    • BoonTobias, on 07/21/2008, -1/+12o_O
    • yokozuka, on 07/21/2008, -1/+14Pretty awesome, because it would collapse under its weight :-)
      • user12345x, on 07/21/2008, -1/+9That would be even more awesome :-)
    • theotheragentm, on 07/21/2008, -2/+29Not even Willy Wonka's factory was made of chocolate on the outside.

      Also, it's LEGO.
      • thingamajig, on 07/21/2008, -0/+8I'd be expecting to see a LEGO waterfall in a LEGO garden and singing LEGO Umpa Lumpas inside
      • duggtodeath, on 07/21/2008, -2/+2Don't you mean, BLOCKO?
      • AlexanderZero, on 07/22/2008, -0/+3Lego bricks god damn it! :P
    • welliwonder, on 07/21/2008, -1/+10Who uses ® in a comment? So what position are you at lego?
    • JoeDiggsIt, on 07/21/2008, -0/+15http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3AcPEPbH0

      This is halfway to your dream.
    • ciano, on 07/21/2008, -0/+6Get The Ultimate LEGO Book. It has replicas of all those machines, built out of LEGO bricks.
    • machocheese34, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4powered by Mindstorms
    • ginogrz, on 07/22/2008, -0/+2But where did the LEGOs to build the LEGO factory come from?
      • duggtodeath, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1It's self-replicating. Like bacteria.
  • DestroyFascism, on 07/21/2008, -4/+19Robots everywhere, yet they charge so much?
    • edru, on 07/21/2008, -2/+3i was coming to comment on the exact same thing..

      no man hours really (from what we see), robots crunching out legos non stop...
    • Pittance, on 07/21/2008, -0/+17Think about the investment it takes to create such a factory. And then the expense in running it. That and they are proprietary and no one else is as good as they are. So they can charge whatever the market will bear.
    • buckygrad, on 07/21/2008, -0/+6Do you think robots are free? You can exploit people, but not machines. They price manufacturing robots based on how much money they think the manufacturer will make. Labor is often much cheaper - especially in 3rd world countries with lax labor laws.
    • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -0/+6Not much more than about 10cents per piece... the more complex the piece the more it costs/ but each set is roughly a dime per piece... From the massive Millennium Falcon 5195 pieces @ 499$ to the the new Town Plan 1981 pieces at 150$ down to #5610, 23 pieces for 3.50$
    • sexybobo, on 07/21/2008, -1/+7Try megabloks and you will see why they are so expensive. Quality control.
    • ciano, on 07/21/2008, -0/+7Not to mention the price of oil. From how it figures into the manufacture of plastic granules to the transportation of the pieces and boxes, oil affects LEGO greatly.
    • NinjaPirateDude, on 07/22/2008, -0/+2stupid robot union!! why do robots even need 2 weeks off a year?
  • chrissku, on 07/21/2008, -3/+75Where's the river of melted plastic and the Lego-Lumpas?
    • alecks, on 07/21/2008, -1/+7Unfortunatelly, all that was inside the metal pipes
    • thingamajig, on 07/21/2008, -0/+9They were forced to remove the river of melted plastic after some fat kid awhile back fell in and nearly drowned.
  • vroom101, on 07/21/2008, -2/+3The article and the videos are excelléntly excellent! I love me some Lego!
  • PhonicUK, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3Video won't load for me, Mirror?
    • diggrnumber1, on 07/22/2008, -0/+2try using a different browser. it didn't work on firefox for me for some reason, so i tried safari and it worked fine.
  • phonixed, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4I'd love to get into that mold room and mold me some of those grey 1'ers that you can NEVER FIND!
  • jonmlm, on 07/21/2008, -6/+5ohhh. so that's where all the ***** in the landfill comes from. thanks!
  • c4sh, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3"Are you an angel? They live on the moons of Lego, I think."
  • macweirdo42, on 07/21/2008, -1/+24When you see it, you'll ***** (Lego) bricks.
    • LtAction, on 07/22/2008, -0/+0I think they actually have machines that do that more efficiently and with less odor. ;D
  • LeeDoyle, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4I wonder how many people work there? Its run by robots :( No wonder every ones losing there jobs
  • welliwonder, on 07/21/2008, -10/+3enough ***** lego spam, jeez guys
  • jerwin, on 07/21/2008, -2/+5But if the factory was able to make a kit that was a lego factory, couldn't that new lego factory then do the same?

    Does Obama know about this?
  • spyd3rweb, on 07/21/2008, -1/+10It'd have been so much cooler if their robots were made of legos.
  • neil1492, on 07/21/2008, -4/+3I thought it would have been cooler. I'm disappointed. I'm still surprised that Lego is still around. They are so cool though.
  • nicksource, on 07/21/2008, -6/+5It's Lego, not Legos. Tssk!
    • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4Actually it's LEGO Bricks, LEGO Elements, or LEGO Sets.
  • screamingjoker, on 07/21/2008, -22/+3Enough of the goddamn Lego on Digg. Get Real, Lego got boring at age 12.
    • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -0/+4Sounds like somebody needs their diaper changed and a nap.
  • Ryanwb, on 07/21/2008, -6/+9So liquid plastic is injected into molds and the resulting product is packaged and shipped to stores? Wow, thanks for shedding a light on the mystery of where Lego comes from, I would have never imagined this top secret process.
  • buckygrad, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4Damn, I was hoping to see elves. The magic is gone...
  • doommachine, on 07/21/2008, -3/+4From the videos: The Lego factory also happens to be the largest producer of white noise.
  • mmmmmmmCHIPOTLE, on 07/21/2008, -2/+5And i thought that every Lego was made with love by an old lady.

    boy, i was mistaken...
  • lolwutpear, on 07/21/2008, -1/+6the most important part of the molding machine is the mold, eh?
    • vpotok, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1i thought it was the machine
      • PdxPhoenix, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1The machines themselves are common as dirt and can be easily replaced. It's the molds that are the most valuable part of the factory. & why they're stored in their own special fire protected (not fire-proof, mind you) room in the middle of the factory.
  • r2builder, on 07/21/2008, -2/+4It'd be cooler if the big robots were actually made out of LEGO.
  • cmapes2, on 07/21/2008, -2/+4Yes, but wheres the lego elves?
  • thomas040, on 07/21/2008, -2/+8Lego is actually an abbreviation... sort of... in Danish it means Play Well.... or more accurate Have Fun Playing...

    Leg Godt.... Le Go... lego
  • helenkupo, on 07/21/2008, -3/+4It would be most impressive if the factory and all the robots and conveyor systems were made of Legos!
  • smilgy, on 07/21/2008, -2/+4I wonder how much free lego the employees get...
    • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5not much I think... tho they do have an employee store.
    • punkcat, on 07/21/2008, -0/+750% off
      • PdxPhoenix, on 07/21/2008, -0/+3But 50% off Danish Krone is still about 100% US price.

        The big set from Indy Episode 4 is 80$US and at the exchange rate of 4.45US to 1DK should have been about 356DK, not the 699DK they wanted for it at the park or in the hotel.
      • punkcat, on 07/22/2008, -1/+1danish employees would get 50% the DK price. its a danish company, so im not sure why they would watch the US market to adjust their at home prices. if you are going to pick and choose what currency to convert why not Indonesian or china, sure it would be an even better price.

        park and hotel have zero to do with employee pricing so not even sure why thats brought up.
      • PdxPhoenix, on 07/22/2008, -0/+1@ punkcat
        But as an American who got to visit the employee store in early June, the prices weren't that much better than I could have gotten in the States. (nor was the selection that great, actually; tho they did have things you can't get in a general retail toy store, LEGO Store, or shop.lego.com) Or an American who gets hired as a model designer won't see that much of a discount going to the LEGO employee store, given the current (at the time) exchange rate of 1$US to 4.45DK (got it backwards in my first post). And that most(many) of the readers of Digg are in the US, the currency used is relevant.

        As for the park & hotel prices, if they're selling them to their customers for that much in Denmark, then that would seem to be the price that they would discount by 50% to their employees. Wouldn't it?
    • yokozuka, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3No free Lego sets, but they get discounted prices. I was the employee shop the day after filming all this and there was stuff with 80% off. They had some technic at dirty-cheap prices.
    • fantasticjon, on 07/21/2008, -0/+7All you can smuggle out in your gastrointestinal tract.
  • UtahApocalyse, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3ahhh my chidhood
  • sezano, on 07/21/2008, -8/+2i never got the Lego joke. may be i am a retard, but for pete town's sake enuf with the lego s-hit
  • dracostimpy, on 07/21/2008, -9/+3One thing I've never understood is why Lego insists on inanimate, throwback sets that resurrect dead franchises like Star Wars. Why not instead offer something hip and contemporary, like hmm... I dunno... how about a bust of Heath Ledger? He's hotter than a compost pile in Albuquerque in august! Cmon Lego fans... let's start a letter-writing campaign! GIVE US HEATH OR ***** YOU!
  • bezz, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4They left out the brute who beats the robots with a whip to make the work faster
  • GreenChaos, on 07/21/2008, -1/+4Free samples?
  • joelav22, on 07/21/2008, -2/+5Very few? My grammar school took field trips there every year (4th graders got to go). It was awesome, and YES they did give us a free sample. At the time (1986) it was something Starwars, a speeder I think. At the time I was still impressed, but overwhelmed but the horrible fumes and the extremely loud machines.
    • maxthreepwood, on 07/21/2008, -5/+2Yeah, very few. I know Denmark must be feel huge for you, but it's tiny and nobody gives a *****.

      Also, did your grammar school filmed it?

      Yeah, that's what I thought.
    • simoncallesen, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5Aye, I'm Danish and I've gone to see the factory here twice. Second time was with my highschool, a "technical college" of sorts, and we got to see the research and development department. Of course, no pictures were allowed, but we did have full access.

      And by God was it anticlimatic... The few workers who had yet to be replaced by machines were sweaty, grumpy old men that made no effort to conceal the fact that we were in everyone's way while they pumped little plastic pieces out by the ton. Secret pieces or not, it sucked.
  • tillerman00, on 07/21/2008, -2/+3You can take your $175 burger and shove it up your ass. How's about that?
  • cloudcity, on 07/21/2008, -4/+4Is anyone else sick of being corrected when you call plural Lego, "Legos". I know it's incorrect, but I have been playing with Legos since I was 2, back in about 1982 - too late to change!
  • crapmatic, on 07/21/2008, -1/+3It's all pipes!
  • dhandle, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Amazing videos, quite interesting... good digg!
  • minsley1021, on 07/21/2008, -0/+7I know what I'm telling the Make-A-Wish foundation next time I get a terminal cancer.
    • xGuerrillaRadio, on 07/22/2008, -1/+2Next time? What'd you wish for the first time?
  • martinc00, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Am I the only person who imagined there to be mountains upon mountains of brightly coloured bricks piled up all over the factory?
  • iaminside, on 07/22/2008, -1/+3i am disapointed that everything in the factory is not made of multicolor bricks and populated with single emotion block men
  • mcmurch, on 07/22/2008, -0/+3wouldn't it be awesome if they could take LEGO and somehow make it bigger and stronger, then build real houses out of it
  • terencec, on 07/22/2008, -1/+2i wonder if the factory is built with lego
  • hayden.evans, on 07/22/2008, -0/+3a whole factory full of awesome!
  • P3NGUIN8, on 07/23/2008, -0/+0kool
  •  

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