New LEGO Factory opens in Nyíregyháza: A pioneering greenfield investment, put together in just one year The LEGO Group’s new factory in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, took a year to build and a large part of the existing Hungarian capacity has already relocated to the new site. The facility meets up-to-date sustainability, safety and comfort requirements. The factory builds its operation on 1,500 employees recruited mostly from the region. The manufacturing complex was inaugurated earlier today in the presence of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The LEGO factory in Nyíregyháza opened in 2008, and has since then been producing LEGO® DUPLO® and LEGO toys to markets around the world. The new plant, a three digit million Euro investment, will have a production area of 122,000 m2 and replaces a smaller factory at another location in the city. A 21st century production plant The new Nyíregyháza factory, an overall greenfield project, aggregates The LEGO Group’s experience in efficiency, safety and sustainability.
The facility demonstrates the company’s vision of a 21st century production plant that has a positive impact on society and the environment. The electrical and lighting systems have been automated and high-performance thermal insulation building materials have been used to ensure energy efficiency, and by using rainwater the factory’s water demand has been reduced by 65,000m3 per year. Employee safety always comes first in the LEGO Group. For example, the new factory walkways inside the factory area have been designed to ensure that pedestrian and vehicle routes never cross, in order to exclude the possibility of accidents. Additional units of the factory, such as the automated high-bay warehouses – the biggest of their kind in the country - will be completely installed by 2015. Should there be a need for it in the future, the production complex can be expanded by the addition of further modules. The company increased its consumer sales by 11% in 2013, and its revenue has quadrupled in less than a decade.
In order to meet huge global demand for its toys, the LEGO Group has stepped up its investments in production capacity development to over DKK 2.6bn (EUR 354m) globally in 2013. It has expanded its factories in Mexico and the Czech Republic as well, while the construction of the first Asian LEGO factory is also underway in China. The major investment in Nyíregyháza is part of this overarching strategy. Roar Rude Trangbæk, Press officer, Charlotte Simonsen, Senior Director, • A three digit million Euro investment, financed from the LEGO Group’s own sources • 100 acres of land • Factory area bigger than 122,000 m2 • Number of new jobs created by the investment: 250 • 672 moulding machines, 53,000 m2 moulding area • Manual warehouse: 6,000 m2 • High Bay Warehouse: 14,000 m2, for the storeage of boxes and pallets • The two High Bay Warehouses can store ca. 82,000 pallets altogether • 16 packing lines • In 2013 the LEGO factory in Nyíregyháza produced 18 million boxes.
Planned capacity for the new factory is 30 million boxes • Apart from moulding all the LEGO® DUPLO® bricks of the world and a huge number of LEGO elements, the new factory will also handle the packaging of both DUPLO and classic LEGO products. • 26 acres of biodiverse eco-park will be established • Points of vehicles crossing pedestrian traffic: 0 • Saving 60,000 m3 of drinking water per year • 500 tons less CO2 emission on a yearly basis (if compared to a factory that uses traditional technology) • Intelligent lighting in all buildings About the LEGO Group The LEGO Group is a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company is still owned by the Kirk Kristiansen family who founded it in 1932. The LEGO Group is engaged in the development of children's creativity through playing and learning. Based on the world-famous LEGO® brick, the company today provides toys, experiences and teaching materials for children in more than 130 countries.
The company stirred excitement this month by offering a line aimed at girls called the Research Institute, Lego’s first offering to feature women in a professional setting rather than at play or partying.The set included three female scientists in their respective labs (without the pink frilly dresses worn by the girl Legos in the company’s best-selling Friends line).Its introduction made news, especially given the pressure the company faced this year when a little girl’s letter went viral — she had begged Lego to produce more realistic sets for girls that gave them adventures and jobs rather than beach get-ups or baking duties. Within days of its appearance early this month, the Research Institute — a paleontologist, an astronomer and a chemist — sold out on Lego’s website and will not be available at major retailers, including Target and Walmart. Toys “R” Us did carry the line, but according to associates reached by telephone at two of its New York stores, it sold out at those locations as well.
A Toys “R” Us spokeswoman, Kathleen Waugh, said in an email that it would be available in about a week at the company’s Times Square and F.A.O. Schwarz stores. Lego said the set was manufactured as a limited edition, meaning it was not mass-produced. , however, but for about three times its $19.99 retail price. Another sign of the set’s popularity is a Twitter feed @LegoAcademics created by Donna Yates, an archaeologist who is a research fellow at the University of Glasgow. She has been posting the figures in humorous scenes of academia — and since her first Twitter post on Aug. 8 has attracted more than 24,000 followers.Two years ago, Lego introduced its Friends line aimed at girls, a series of kits that has been successful. In 2013, profits at the company, based in Denmark, rose 9 percent to 6.1 billion kroner (about $1 billion). The Friends figures, set against backdrops like a catwalk, a beach house, a fashion studio and a beauty shop, met with some criticism, and parents clamored for figures with less traditional gender roles.
(In addition to the catwalk, Lego Friends now includes a “first aid jungle bike” and a “jungle rescue base” where the figures help their friends.)The Research Institute was developed by Ellen Kooijman, a geochemist based in Sweden, and submitted through Lego’s fan-sourced Ideas platform, where fans can propose their dream Lego landscapes. Lego can choose to green-light submissions that get 10,000 votes, and typically produces them as limited-edition items, according to Michael McNally, Lego’s senior director of brand relations. The Ideas lines currently include a DeLorean time machine, based on the car made famous in the “Back to the Future” movies, and the Ecto-1 car featured in the “Ghostbusters” films. Mr. McNally said the company began reviewing the proposal for the Research Institute in January. “This awesome model is an inspiring set that offers a lot for kids as well as adults,” Lego said of the Research Institute on its website in June. As is typical with Lego’s Ideas products, the set received limited distribution and marketing, according to Mr. McNally, who declined to say how many units the company produced.