Why is LEGO now being made in China?

[legobear]

Quality doesnt slip when it is made in China. All things including high end tech such as iphones are made in China. The real fear is that we may see more copyright infringement or black market copies. US copies that want cheaper materials will get thise materials but China in itself doesnt equate to low quality. This can only happen if The Lego Group wants cheaper plastic and sends in cheaper plastic.

[fred67]

One big reason is for selling in China without having to pay high import costs. Seeing how big that market is, it is logical for Lego to produce locally for that market.

Right... so we go back to the answer "to increase profits." I still don't know why it's even a question.

[dr_spock]

Right... so we go back to the answer "to increase profits." I still don't know why it's even a question.

Cost savings in China may or may not translate higher profits. You could use the savings to pay your employees or management more or offset decreases in revenue.

[fred67]

It's all the same thing, though, you guys are just mincing words. Cost savings = higher profit, paying employees from cost savings may not equal higher profits, but it equals no loss (or less loss) of profit than you would have otherwise. If it wasn't financially beneficial to produce products in China, companies wouldn't do it - it's really just that simple. It doesn't matter if it's just plain cheaper, or they avoid taxes or tariffs or shipping costs... the bottom line is it saves them money.

Edited June 17, 2015 by fred67

[JanetVanD]

Am I the only AFOL who has never come across a poor quality LEGO element? I would call myself very discerning and I closely examine any new sets, bricks, etc. I get, but (so far) the quality has always been top-notch. The only discrepancy is in the variations within a colour (e.g. yellow) but that's a different issue.

[TheLazyChicken]

Am I the only AFOL who has never come across a poor quality LEGO element? I would call myself very discerning and I closely examine any new sets, bricks, etc. I get, but (so far) the quality has always been top-notch. The only discrepancy is in the variations within a colour (e.g. yellow) but that's a different issue.

Same, thee only things I have came across are differences in the yellow hands and arms but that is basically it.

[Chocolatecake]

Am I the only AFOL who has never come across a poor quality LEGO element? I would call myself very discerning and I closely examine any new sets, bricks, etc. I get, but (so far) the quality has always been top-notch. The only discrepancy is in the variations within a colour (e.g. yellow) but that's a different issue.

I have had problems with some cheeseslopes that cracks and then the variation in colour, but that are the only two things I have noticed.

[Saberwing40k]

I think certain parts might be manufactured in China because TLG did the math and they found a subcontractor who could do it for them at the same quality, but cheaper than tooling up their own factory. In particular, Power Functions components. It eliminates the hassle, for Lego, of having to procure motors, importing them, and then putting the casing on them.

[dr_spock]

I would think parts that involve manual assembly like motors or hand painted details would be made in a region with lower labour costs.

[Brickus]

If you look at all the new pictures for the new 2016 sets, it seems that every set lists China as a country of manufacture, even for small sets in the Creator line, which usually wouldn't list China, because they are made up of existing and non-specialised pieces. It seems as though the new factory is up and running, and they are adding parts manufactured in China to all sets.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Brickus

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I'd say the low quality is noticeable in the CMF theme.

One of my friends got a S12 Jester with issues in his headpiece. The fitting is so bad that the head literally expels the hat.

That's just embarrassing for a company like LEGO

I had this exact problem. And replacing it with Customer Service was a pain... They sent a new CMF 12 packet and it didn't even have the jester.

Edited November 28, 2015 by johnnyvgoode

[LegoFjotten]

The main reason for having a factory in China is to produce bricks for the Asian market. It does not make any kind of business sense to produce the product in a high cost country and then ship it halfway around the world to a low cost country. You may call it "costs savings" or whatever and give it a negative spin all you want, but it is just common business logic. The factory in China is not a second rate facility, it is run according to the same standard as the other LEGO factories.

Considering the amount of LEGO bricks produced worldwide every day, I think LEGO has fantastic consistency in their products and excellent QC.

[CCarmichael89]

Manufacturing parts/sets in China isn't necessarily a bad thing, until the issue of parts being created/sold by other 3rd party manufacturers is considered. Since the moving of manufacturing to China there has been an increased amount of piracy in particular of minifigures. This was especially evident when several Chrome Stormtroopers from the Star Wars the Force Awakens line of sets appeared on eBay claiming (with proof) to be official LEGO minifigures.

These actions have led to the increase in prices of minifigures on sites such as eBay and Bricklink. OK this isn't just limited to LEGO but, they have to take action against the production of "illegal" copies of their products due to a workforce taking "samples" from the production line. Any action taken has been limited and the attitude that it is ok to sell fake minifigures at toy fairs, that LEGO endorse, as long as you remove the LEGO logo is wrong. They have become so fixated on making profits that they will not take any substantial action against the sellers of fake products and the people who supply them.

These issues can be solved by bringing there manufacturing back to places such as Europe and where they could control quality and product security far more easily.

Quality can only be controlled one way. Spend more money i.e. bring back the term "Made in the EU".

[MAB]

^ while that may seem reasonable, Lego doesn't care about secondary markets. So long as the product is selling at retail, why should they care about secondary prices? Or indeed, fakes. Some buyers might buy fakes as they are cheap and think Lego products are poor quality, but so what? If they weren't going to buy real Lego anyway it doesn't matter, especially when Lego seems to be at capacity anyway.

[wgemini]

Just because some workers are higher paid does not mean they produce better products. Plus, I highly doubt Lego pieces are still made by "workers", they are made by machines.

[BimmerBoy]

Here's what I know:

Yes, some Made in China items are absolute garbage.

When I dabbled in N Scale (small) model railroading, my best locomotives were made in China. My absolute best locomotive was made in Japan, but I had some duds from Japan. The Chinese made locomotives were consistently good (that said, I avoided brands known to have issues). These are intricate machines, not some basic plastic toy.

I have never had a Lego element made anywhere that has had a problem. Clutch power is good, color uniformity within the element is good, and so on. I had a set once missing a complete bag of parts, but that is not a manufacturing problem (and Lego took care of it to my satisfaction).

As noted above, the problems, or lack thereof, of manufacturing in China lie mostly at the feet of the company having the item produced. If they spec high quality and/or have their people in place to make sure things work out, China can deliver. If the company specs low quality, that is what you will get.

[dr_spock]

Just because some workers are higher paid does not mean they produce better products. Plus, I highly doubt Lego pieces are still made by "workers", they are made by machines.

You still need workers to setup, operate and fix the machines. Assembling Power Function motors, some detailed painting, etc. may still have to be done by hand.

[AlphaX]

....some detailed painting, etc. may still have to be done by hand.

knowing the possibilitys of print, its more the other way around.

[Aanchir]

Manufacturing parts/sets in China isn't necessarily a bad thing, until the issue of parts being created/sold by other 3rd party manufacturers is considered. Since the moving of manufacturing to China there has been an increased amount of piracy in particular of minifigures. This was especially evident when several Chrome Stormtroopers from the Star Wars the Force Awakens line of sets appeared on eBay claiming (with proof) to be official LEGO minifigures.

These actions have led to the increase in prices of minifigures on sites such as eBay and Bricklink. OK this isn't just limited to LEGO but, they have to take action against the production of "illegal" copies of their products due to a workforce taking "samples" from the production line. Any action taken has been limited and the attitude that it is ok to sell fake minifigures at toy fairs, that LEGO endorse, as long as you remove the LEGO logo is wrong. They have become so fixated on making profits that they will not take any substantial action against the sellers of fake products and the people who supply them.

These issues can be solved by bringing there manufacturing back to places such as Europe and where they could control quality and product security far more easily.

You're kidding yourself if you believe bringing manufacturing back to Europe would make a dent in Chinese LEGO knock-offs. There were extremely authentic-looking Bionicle knock-offs by Chinese brands like Enlighten LONG before LEGO manufactured non-electronic parts in China. In fact, they've been around since the days when most Bionicle parts were manufactured exclusively in Denmark. And Bionicle parts were at that time some of the most technically-intricate LEGO parts in existence.

LEGO copycats don't need to rely on theft from LEGO factories to produce a convincing fake. Some bootleg brands have even manufactured copies of

that never existed outside of unused LEGO Universe concept art. Literally all they had was a drawing and they were still able to create a spitting-image imitation.

Long story short, the increasing frequency and technical accuracy of knock-offs has everything to do with improvements in manufacturing technology and the LEGO Group's increasing global relevance, and next to nothing to do with where LEGO does their own manufacturing.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Aanchir

[HoganPrime]

So I have been fortunate enough to work briefly at the Lego factory being opened up in jiaxing near shanghai. Its effectively open now but hasn't gone into full working production yet. The quality of the factory really surprised me and is unlike any other Chinese factory that my company has sent me to. Working conditions there are fantastic, which doesn't surprise me for a natively European company, though in China. The dining halls are good and have a mixture of foreign and local foods. I was told that workers work (though I cannot 100% confirm as I don't work for Lego) the same hours as their counterparts abroad, plus everyone even the factory floor staff go to Denmark for training when they start working there.

Obviously a lot of the deals made were in conjunction with opening a factory and getting a theme park made, and the Chinese government do have very strict regulations on what a foreign company is allowed. For example this could result in a lot more knock offs being made as government regulation requires Lego to reveal the documentation and blueprints of all equipments used in the factory so you can absolutely bet that those will end up in the hands of cheap knock off makers who will then produce more of their crappy versions. My only hope is that this will make official products slightly cheaper here while retaining the same quality I have always received from my Lego.

[Brickadier General]

So I have been fortunate enough to work briefly at the Lego factory being opened up in jiaxing near shanghai. Its effectively open now but hasn't gone into full working production yet. The quality of the factory really surprised me and is unlike any other Chinese factory that my company has sent me to. Working conditions there are fantastic, which doesn't surprise me for a natively European company, though in China. The dining halls are good and have a mixture of foreign and local foods. I was told that workers work (though I cannot 100% confirm as I don't work for Lego) the same hours as their counterparts abroad, plus everyone even the factory floor staff go to Denmark for training when they start working there.

Obviously a lot of the deals made were in conjunction with opening a factory and getting a theme park made, and the Chinese government do have very strict regulations on what a foreign company is allowed. For example this could result in a lot more knock offs being made as government regulation requires Lego to reveal the documentation and blueprints of all equipments used in the factory so you can absolutely bet that those will end up in the hands of cheap knock off makers who will then produce more of their crappy versions. My only hope is that this will make official products slightly cheaper here while retaining the same quality I have always received from my Lego.

You were able to see it? Wow, nice! I lived in China for about a year (2010-2011) and remember LEGO being quite expensive - something like 30% more expensive than in the U.S. Hopefully having the factories in China will help lower these costs because those prices were too expensive for the average person in China.

Interesting note about having to share the blueprints. Weren't the collectible minifigures made in China? That would help explain the rise of counterfeit minifigures.

[HoganPrime]

Yeah Lego can still be a bit expensive here, but I've learned to accept it. As an example, cmf's are 29 kuai which is around £2.90 so the difference isn't too bad. But 29kuai is also the price of dinner too so take from that what you will. For me, I get one set a month and they average between 200 and 600 rmb so again £20 and £60. If its anything more expensive I will usually wait another month and then get a bigger set. Plus taobao is a godsend for cheaper Lego, and also I have a friend that also collects Lego. He often goes to Japan and he says its much cheaper there than China, so he brings things back. He gave the last star destroyer set for free and that thing is big. I've got no complaints really getting Lego here.

Yeah the factory is really nice, it's mostly up and running now, I get to go there occasionally to help groups of workers with english.

[Brickadier General]

Yeah Lego can still be a bit expensive here, but I've learned to accept it. As an example, cmf's are 29 kuai which is around £2.90 so the difference isn't too bad. But 29kuai is also the price of dinner too so take from that what you will. For me, I get one set a month and they average between 200 and 600 rmb so again £20 and £60. If its anything more expensive I will usually wait another month and then get a bigger set. Plus taobao is a godsend for cheaper Lego, and also I have a friend that also collects Lego. He often goes to Japan and he says its much cheaper there than China, so he brings things back. He gave the last star destroyer set for free and that thing is big. I've got no complaints really getting Lego here.

Yeah the factory is really nice, it's mostly up and running now, I get to go there occasionally to help groups of workers with english.

I guess a lot has changed in the past 5 years. I was living in a small city and couldn't find LEGO anywhere in town. Plenty of fakes, though. It seemed like more LEGO was readily available in Shanghai and Beijing. But maybe this has changed?

Good that you are able to get decently priced LEGO over there. I think U.S. prices tend to be among the lowest, so the difference in price was pretty noticeable. I miss 29 kuai dinners, though...

[HoganPrime]

I guess a lot has changed in the past 5 years. I was living in a small city and couldn't find LEGO anywhere in town. Plenty of fakes, though. It seemed like more LEGO was readily available in Shanghai and Beijing. But maybe this has changed?

Good that you are able to get decently priced LEGO over there. I think U.S. prices tend to be among the lowest, so the difference in price was pretty noticeable. I miss 29 kuai dinners, though...

Well this morning I had a four kuai breakfast. Yeah its readily available in toy stores in shanghai and other cities I have been to. Absolutely in store there is a mark up, but online (taobao/JD/tmall) the prices are much better.

This month the largest Lego store in the world opened in shanghai and I am desperate to go visit (next to the new disney) but money is tight for me this month as it was rent month... So sadly I have to miss out on the promotional offers, I could cry!

[Wodanis]

I am hoping that with the new factory in China that certain quality issues will get cleared up. I have also had CMF with legs loose or hair/hat pieces not fitting as snugly as they should. There is also a noticeable different in the sheen of legs components. It is easy to tell if a torso has been made in China as it will lack the sensor black neck printing and the hands/arms will be turned to the sides.