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LEGO Factory Coming to China


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LEGO has announced plans to build a new factory in Jiaxing, China, the products of which will be sold throughout Asia. Construction is planned to start next year and it should be fully operational by 2017.

LEGO currently does not own its own factory in China, but instead has contracts with other facilities they don't actually own. These factories mostly produce mass quantities of minifigures for various purposes. Examples of this are the collectible blind-bag minifigures, the minifigures and pieces included with Ninjago spinner sets, "battle pack" minifigures (small packs containing multiple minifigures), and promotional minifigures like the LEGO Universe Nexus Force Astronaut. More recently, Chinese-made pieces with more complex printing have started appearing in normal sets.

So, what's the difference? Well, LEGO cannot import their standard plastic materials and molds into China. As a result, Chinese-made minifigures and pieces not only use different molds (which are similar but slightly different from their European counterparts), but the plastic is also noticeably different.

But what about this Chinese factory? Will this result in all LEGO sets and products sold in Asia being inferior in quality? If so, then what will happen in the aftermarket on sites like Bricklink when it's impossible to know where the pieces you're buying originally came from? Here's what LEGO has to say in the press release:

“It is our strategy to have production close to our core markets in order to secure short lead-time and world class service to our customers and consumers, and it has proven a successful strategy. Asia – including China – is a future core market for the LEGO Group and therefore I am excited to share our plans for the new factory. Having full control of the production process is essential to deliver products of a consistent high quality and safety and in harmony with our values†says Bali Padda, COO...

... “The new factory will be built and run with the same technology, automation and standards for employee safety and product quality as our LEGO factories in Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico, and it will have a distinct LEGO look and feel.†says Michael McNulty, Senior Vice President, Procurement.

Let's hope they can get the same kind of plastic this time.

Sources: LEGO Newsroom
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RobExplorien

No offense, but I always feared that the quality might deteriorate, when LEGO moved (some of) its production to China. Many plastic toy brands are being produced in that country (especially LEGO copies, if I'm right), and the quality isn't always as good as you hope to expect. I guess that's why LEGO copies are much cheaper. Even though there isn't really a (big) deterioration of quality, there IS a difference in quality.

 

Let's hope they can get the same kind of plastic this time.

Yes, that concerns me, as well as the slightly different molds. Will colour be affected by this 'new' type of plastic too? I hate to see consistency failures between LEGO sets, or even worse, consistency failures in a single set! I've read that the bricks are to be sold in Asia only, but with Ebay and Bricklink (and whatever else there is), European and Asian sets can easily get mixed up. I hope for the best, I really do.

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Examples of this are the collectible blind-bag minifigures, the minifigures and pieces included with Ninjago spinner sets, "battle pack" minifigures (small packs containing multiple minifigures), and promotional minifigures like the LEGO Universe Nexus Force Astronaut.

 

Well, that explains the different quality of the plastic for those things. Thanks for clearing that up, james. 

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There is a reason why auto makers use different colors for different parts: Rarely if ever can you get a color match across different materials. If TLG were using polycarb for the alternate parts, then it would be just fine, but it in all likelyhood they are not. It looks like a HIPS, the type of plastic used by Megabloks.

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