by Gizmodo is back with another amazing LEGO exclusive and this time he has been afforded the opportunity to explore (and film) inside the LEGO factory itself. His report includes several short videos showing the LEGO manufacturing process as well as some astonishing footage of how the bricks are stored in massive silos where no humans are allowed.
Some interesting facts and statistics I took from this are:
- The plastic granules from which LEGO is made are a by-product of Diesel.
- The LEGO machines produce 600 pieces per second (36,000 per minute, 2.1 million per hour or 19 billion per year).
- The LEGO factory processes 60 tons of plastic granules every 24 hours.
- The plastic granules come in 70 basic colours, from which all other colours are derived.
- The moulds that produce the LEGO pieces are retooled after 5 million uses.
- Decorating the pieces is the most expensive part of the process.
Having spent a number of summer months working at an Injection Moulding company in a past life, I recognised much of the machinery and processes used but it is clearly off the radar in terms of scale, with pretty much everything controlled by a mainframe computer system.
Source: SlashDot
