A new Lego manufacturing plant is coming. To America. The legendary Danish toy maker plans to build a Lego Virginia factory to deal with supply chain issues and increase production. The new factory is being planned in Chesterfield, Virginia, and will be its seventh factory worldwide. It is the second factory in North America and will help meet rising demand in the Americas.
The new Lego factory USA will spread out over 1.7 million square foot and is expected to create over 1700 jobs. The onsite solar plant will supply the factory’s energy requirements.
Governor Glenn Youngkin took to Twitter to make the announcement with a post saying that he is thrilled to welcome the toy maker to Virginia and that he looks forward to a long and fruitful partnership with the iconic company.
Lego was founded in 1932 and is popular amongst young and old alike for its interlocking plastic bricks. It is one of the world’s largest toy making companies, and operates numerous amusement parks as well as retail stores.
In a written statement, Niels B. Christiansen, CEO, the LEGO Group said: “This is an exciting step for the LEGO Group. More and more families are falling in love with LEGO building and we are looking forward to making LEGO bricks in the US, one of our largest markets. The location in Virginia allows us to build a solar park which supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy links to country-wide transportation networks. We are also looking forward to creating fantastic employment opportunities for the people of Virginia.”
Lego is well-known for working to meet environmental standards in its business units. The Virginia facility will be a carbon neutral factory, and the site will be designed to consume less energy and reduce the use of unsustainable resources. Construction of the Lego manufacturing plant will begin in the fall of 2022 and will mostly be completed by the latter half of 2025. To meet growing demands in the US, a temporary packing site will be opened near the Lego Virginia factory in early 2024 and employ close to 500 people. Furthermore, the current site in Monterrey, Mexico, which supplies the brick-shaped toys to the US market, will be upgraded and expanded. Lego investing billions to nurture a market makes sense as the company has always followed the strategy of placing producing sites near key markets. Addressing this principle, Carsten Rasmussen, Chief Operations Officer, the LEGO Group said: “Our factories are located close to our biggest markets which shortens the distance our products have to travel. This allows us to rapidly respond to changing consumer demand and helps manage our carbon footprint. Our new factory in the US and expanded capacity at our existing site in Mexico means we will be able to best support long-term growth in the Americas. We are fortunate to find a location where we can begin construction quickly and create temporary capacity in under two years.”
From production to packing, the Lego Virginia factory will use cutting-edge technology to ensure that the final product meets the company’s high quality standards. Rasmussen mentioned that they are looking forward to working with American colleagues at the Lego new factory and will also be a part of the Virginia Talent Accelerator programme as they develop a world-class team to run daily operations. The Lego Group currently employs around 2,600 people in the US. The plant will be built at a cost of $1 billion.
Lego manufacturing plants are spread across Europe and Asia. The Denmark-based group is raising manufacturing capacities of these plants, and a new factory in Vietnam was announced in December 2021.
