Day #11 was our earliest day of the entire program! We were out the door by 6:45 AM, which was earlier than the opening of the hotel breakfast. As a result, we were given sandwiches for the ride over. We took a bus and a train to get to LEGO, where we were given a tour of their facility.
At this LEGO factory, they do not manufacture blocks. Instead, they “process” blocks, which refers to adding stickers and decal to blocks. It also involves fixing blocks together that are too difficult for users to deal with, such as pushing the small arms into the sockets of the LEGO minifigures.
I was surprised by the many, many steps involved in the process of preparing already-made blocks into packaging and boxes to be ready to be shipped. According to our tour guide, the factory is about 80% automated, but people are used all throughout the factory for quality control and preparing systems. While there are a few robots that move without any human interaction, most machines need a person to interact with it while it does the majority of the work. Despite how complicated the factory is and how many bricks are constantly moving, I was impressed by how much space there was within the factory and how organized everything was.
The community also seems very friendly. All the employees greet each other with an “Ahoj” and a smile. The factory is incredibly efficient without pushing the employees to their limits or keeping a sharp eye on every of their movements.
After our tour of LEGO, we took a bus to the Brownfields site, which was an old railroad/train station. The area is abandoned and fenced in with barbed wire. Sponsored by the Czech government, the group is working on repurposing the facility to make it a school!
Overall, a very fun and informative day! We are almost done with our time here, but we’ll keep moving at our quick pace for these last few days.
Swanson School of Engineering 