Where is Lego made?

[wokajablocka]

Hi guys, I was wondering where Lego elements are made? I spoke to the Australian rep(yes there is only one here)a few months ago and he told me there are no Chineese Lego factories that produce PBS Lego elements. He told me that only Bullin and Mexico are producers of elemements, they then send to packaging facilities. He aslo said the Chineese factorys only make pagaging material and then the send them to other factories like in the US where the package sets. I keep reading comments like 'its chinese plasic, or china PBS'. Does anyone know if they do make some elements in China like the pens and other premotional stuff. Someone commented that the young Han fig in the Padawan Menace is chineese plastic, is this true? Can anyone with some credability set me straght on this topic, thanks.

Sorry if this has already been talked about, I tryed to searching for it but found nothing.

[Pennas2000]

watch this: http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPuo6yvgoKfI&rct=j&q=youtube%20megafactories%20lego&ei=QiqATqSUKciViAfNoey8Dg&usg=AFQjCNFdzyuYjnaNasMe_EPmJxY4CzNGpw&cad=rja

and watch all 3 parts. You'll learn heaps.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Pennas2000

[Darth Dino]

Hi

i really do not care where something is made, especially not if we are talking about plastic.

It is all about quality regarding the raw material and the machines. The last ones could be made worldwide and the material quality is easy to hold.

It always depends on the manufacturers/developers specifications and requirements. And as we all know Lego cares a lot about that.

If Lego e.g. would mix DK plastic with China plastic and both are so different - because it is a different material - they would never work together. This would cause different clutch and different colors - and both will not have their acceptance by the buyers.

So all the plastics are the same - but if they are not all made in DK, it does not matter if it is the same material plus high quality Lego designed moldibg machines.

There is no bad "China plastic" there are only bad designers and or engeneers. But Lego do not have these...

Dino

[Destroydacre]

Special pieces appear to be made in China. Things such as the Gungan heads and Captain Panaka's hat in the Star Wars line. Magnet figs and the first few collectible minifigure series were made in China as well. I'm not sure if that's still the case, someone else on here undoubtedly knows the answer. I do not believe any regular building bricks are made in China. IIRC it's been confirmed however that the plastic used in China is slightly different than that which is used in Mexico and in Europe.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Destroydacre

[Aanchir]

Hi guys, I was wondering where Lego elements are made? I spoke to the Australian rep(yes there is only one here)a few months ago and he told me there are no Chineese Lego factories that produce PBS Lego elements. He told me that only Bullin and Mexico are producers of elemements, they then send to packaging facilities. He aslo said the Chineese factorys only make pagaging material and then the send them to other factories like in the US where the package sets. I keep reading comments like 'its chinese plasic, or china PBS'. Does anyone know if they do make some elements in China like the pens and other premotional stuff. Someone commented that the young Han fig in the Padawan Menace is chineese plastic, is this true? Can anyone with some credability set me straght on this topic, thanks.

Sorry if this has already been talked about, I tryed to searching for it but found nothing.

A lot of LEGO parts are made in China actually, and have been since Chinese production began in (I believe) 2008. One example is the Collectible Minifigures, which are exclusively produced in China. Many specialized parts in various LEGO themes are also produced in China, such as the Rock Monsters from LEGO Power Miners or the specialized head molds in LEGO Toy Story. And as you suspect, pens, magnet packs, and other "extended line" products are often made in China (although in the case of the pens, they are made by a company other than TLG anyway so differences in quality are a given).

The plastic in Chinese-made parts seems to have slightly different qualities than the plastic used at TLG's other production facilities, and TLG seems to have acknowledged needing to use a different plastic supplier for the parts they use in China, due to Chinese manufacturing laws requiring a certain amount of raw materials to be from domestic suppliers. However, it seems as though TLG has put forth a conscious effort to use the closest available plastic formulation to what they use in other factories worldwide. The main plastic used in Chinese parts is still ABS, but it may be slightly different in formulation (although TLG's use of high-quality ABS plastic has for a long time been an advantage they have over their competitors, it is not as though ABS is their exclusive property, and there exist many formulations used by many companies).

The main difference observed in Chinese-made parts is a slight translucency to certain parts like minifigure legs. Differences in texture have also been observed, although in many cases the Chinese production facility uses different mold designs from those used for near-identical parts in other facilities, so things like texture could easily be a result of mold differences rather than material differences. There are also other incidental differences to parts made in China-- minifigure torsos made in China lack neck printing, minifigure arms made in china have embossing on the surface that's normally against the torso, and a lot of the Chinese parts have different design numbers than the ones used in other production facilities.

Overall, if you can't see any differences between Chinese-made and non-Chinese-made parts then they shouldn't be a problem for you (unless, of course, you have some conscientious objection to buying Chinese-made products, which I can't fault you for). But remember that all LEGO sets will say somewhere on the packaging where the components were produced. TLG's current countries of production (at least, those which I know of) are Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, China, and the Czech Republic. Most production facilities are to my knowledge owned by TLG, besides the Chinese and Hungarian ones which are leased to them by external companies (TLG recently announced they are building their own production facility in Hungary to replace the one they are leasing from Flextronics).

[andhe]

watch this: http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPuo6yvgoKfI&rct=j&q=youtube%20megafactories%20lego&ei=QiqATqSUKciViAfNoey8Dg&usg=AFQjCNFdzyuYjnaNasMe_EPmJxY4CzNGpw&cad=rja

and watch all 3 parts. You'll learn heaps.

That was AMAZING! Thanks for sharing. The robots involved are incredible, the precision and programming and quantity of everything involved is mind-blowing.

[Brickus]

Someone commented that the young Han fig in the Padawan Menace is Chinese plastic, is this true? Can anyone with some credibility set me straight on this topic, thanks.

Yeah that was me. The Han fig is Chinese plastic, it is the same as the collectible minifigs.

-there is no printing on the neck,

-a thick ring underneath the hairpiece which attaches to the stud on the top of the head,

-and there are rectangular indentations underneath the armpits on each arm,

All are characteristic trademarks of Chinese figures the Collectible Minifigures line, and they're listed as being made in China.

Also surprisingly, the box of the Blu Ray, does not state where the figure is made, usually LEGO lists somewhere where their products come from.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Brickus

[wokajablocka]

Thanks guys for your helpful input, I was just wondering about this topic after reading people saying 'Chineese plasic'. Im not bothered by the chineese plastic as long as it passes TLG quallity control, alot of good quality products are now being produced in China these days. Im sure the DK elements are slightly better quallity than the China elements but im happy with the quallity on the collectable minifigs.

@ Pennas2000 thanks fore the video link, its was very intersting indead.

[Aanchir]

Yeah that was me. The Han fig is Chinese plastic, it is the same as the collectible minifigs.

-there is no printing on the neck,

-a thick ring underneath the hairpiece which attaches to the stud on the top of the head,

-and there are rectangular indentations underneath the armpits on each arm,

All are characteristic trademarks of Chinese figures the Collectible Minifigures line, and they're listed as being made in China.

Also surprisingly, the box of the Blu Ray, does not state where the figure is made, usually LEGO lists somewhere where their products come from.

To be fair, the thick ring around the head stud is a characteristic of that mold, which originated as a Chinese-made piece. If TLG were to make it in another country, it would still have that same characteristic.

TLG doesn't always state where "bonus" minifigures are from. For instance, I don't think the LEGO Star Wars Illustrated Encyclopedia lists where the figure is made. Sets and most extended line products will tell where they are made, though.

[Brickus]

To be fair, the thick ring around the head stud is a characteristic of that mold, which originated as a Chinese-made piece. If TLG were to make it in another country, it would still have that same characteristic.

TLG doesn't always state where "bonus" minifigures are from. For instance, I don't think the LEGO Star Wars Illustrated Encyclopedia lists where the figure is made. Sets and most extended line products will tell where they are made, though.

Yes they do, on the back down the bottom, they even list it on the Brickmaster books. Believe me I always like to know where the parts are coming from.

About the thick ring, take the series 1 Ninja and a TLG made Ninjago figure and look under the hoods, the CM has the thick ring and the Ninjago one has two slits and is thinner.

Don't get me wrong I love the CM line, and have no issue with specialised parts in sets that are made in China, as long as I can distinguish which parts are made where.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Brickus

[Aanchir]

Yes they do, on the back down the bottom, they even list it on the Brickmaster books. Believe me I always like to know where the parts are coming from.

About the thick ring, take the series 1 Ninja and a TLG made Ninjago figure and look under the hoods, the CM has the thick ring and the Ninjago one has two slits and is thinner.

Don't get me wrong I love the CM line, and have no issue with specialised parts in sets that are made in China, as long as I can distinguish which parts are made where.

Series 1 Ninjas and Ninjago figures also are different mold numbers, believe it or not. Ninjago figs have hoods with the Design ID 96034, while the Minifigures Series 1 Ninja has a hood with the Design ID 88430.

Note that I'm only talking about the Ninjago figs in building sets-- for all I know, the ninjas in spinner sets, which are Chinese-made, might have hoods with the Design ID 88430 just like the one from the collectible minfigures. After all, this is the case with the swords in Ninjago-- spinner sets use the Minifigures Series 1 version of the sword, 88420, while regular sets use the version from Prince of Persia, 30173 (which incidentally is the same Design ID as the classic ninja sword, confusing matters quite a bit).

I sort of expected the Brickmaster books to have info on where the parts were made, but didn't really expect that from the Star Wars books with bonus minifigures. Nice to see that TLG cares enough to provide that info. That makes it a real question why there is no info of that sort on the DVD case for "The Padawan Menace".