LEGO® bricks in the making

It all starts in our LEGO® factories that are located all around the world. 

 

Tiny colorful grains of plastic are poured into special molding machines that are shaped like the pieces you build with.  

 

We turn up the heat in the molding machines to a temperature of about 450 degrees Fahrenheit (230°C) to melt the plastic. These high-tech machines apply hundreds of tons of pressure so we can make bricks with 1/10th of a hair’s width precision.  The molds are then cooled and the pieces are ejected, which only takes about 10 seconds.  

 

The finished pieces roll down conveyor belts into boxes. When a box is full, the molding machine sends a radio signal to one of the robot trucks that patrol the hall. The robot trucks are guided by grooves in the factory floor. They pick up full boxes and place them onto another conveyor belt that takes them onto the next step of the manufacturing process. 

 

In state-of-the-art assembly halls, bricks get their unique details. Giant printers add faces, symbols and other designs, while machines snap together minifigure legs and more intricate pieces with precision.  

 

Finally it’s time to pack them up into LEGO sets! With hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pieces per set, our team has to be fast and accurate. LEGO boxes glide underneath bins that release the exact amount of pieces and packing operators fold the boxes, add building instructions, additional pieces, and check for mistakes. 

 

If you’d like to check out the entire process in action, you can watch our short documentary, LEGO Bricks in the Making, to see the journey from start to finish.