Editing Lego (section)

== Manufacturing ==
[[File:Kladno CZ LEGO factory from NE 007.jpg|thumb|right|The Lego factory in [[Kladno]], Czech Republic, in 2008]]
[[File:Arburg Lego.png|thumb|right|Lego [[injection moulding]] machines, made by the German company [[Arburg]]]]

Since 1963, Lego pieces have been manufactured from [[Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene|ABS]] plastic.<ref name="Pickering15" /><ref name="Companyprofile" /> {{As of|2008|September}}, Lego engineers use the [[Siemens NX|NX]] [[Computer-aided design|CAD]]/[[Computer-aided manufacturing|CAM]]/[[Computer-aided engineering|CAE]] [[Product lifecycle|PLM]] software suite to model the elements. The software allows the parts to be optimised by way of mould flow and [[Stress–strain analysis|stress analysis]]. Prototype moulds are sometimes built before the design is committed to mass production. The ABS plastic is heated to {{convert|232|C|0|abbr=on}} until it reaches a [[dough]]-like consistency. It is then injected into the moulds using forces of between 25 and 150 tonnes and takes approximately 15 seconds to cool. The moulds are permitted a tolerance of up to twenty [[micrometre]]s to ensure the bricks remain connected.<ref name="3d" /> Human inspectors check the output of the moulds to eliminate significant variations in colour or thickness. According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/AboutUsFactsAndFiguresContent/otherfiles/download98E142631E71927FDD52304C1C0F1685.pdf |title=Company Profile An Introduction to the LEGO Group 2010 |year=2011 |publisher=The Lego Group |page=8 |access-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121209100137/http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/AboutUsFactsAndFiguresContent/otherfiles/download98E142631E71927FDD52304C1C0F1685.pdf |archive-date=9 December 2012}}</ref>

Lego factories recycle all but about 1 percent of their [[plastic pollution|plastic waste]] from the manufacturing process. If the plastic cannot be re-used in Lego bricks, it is processed and sold on to industries that can make use of it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gizmodo.com/5019797/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-lego |title=Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego |publisher=Gizmodo.com |date=26 June 2008 |access-date=29 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419044733/http://gizmodo.com/5019797/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-lego |archive-date=19 April 2010}}</ref><ref name="howstuffworks">{{cite web |publisher=[[HowStuffWorks.com]] |url=http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lego.htm |title=How Lego Bricks Work |date=28 June 2006 |access-date=13 May 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515075314/http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lego.htm |archive-date=15 May 2007}}</ref> Lego, in 2018, set a self-imposed 2030 deadline to find a more eco-friendly alternative to the ABS plastic.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Reed |first1=Stanley |title=Lego Wants to Completely Remake Its Toy Bricks (Without Anyone Noticing) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/energy-environment/lego-plastic-denmark-environment-toys.html |access-date=31 August 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=31 August 2018 |archive-date=31 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831144524/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/energy-environment/lego-plastic-denmark-environment-toys.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at several locations around the world. Moulding is done in [[Billund, Denmark|Billund]], Denmark; [[Nyíregyháza]], Hungary; [[Monterrey]], Mexico; and most recently in [[Jiaxing]], China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in the former three countries and in [[Kladno]] in the [[Czech Republic]]. The Lego Group estimates that in five decades it has produced 400&nbsp;billion Lego blocks.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1707379,00.html |title=Lego Celebrates 50 Years of Building |date=28 January 2008 |access-date=5 March 2022 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |last=Cendrowicz |first=Leo |quote=Since then, the company has made a staggering 400 billion Lego elements, or 62 bricks for every person on the planet. |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305235356/https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1707379,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Annual production of the bricks averages approximately 36&nbsp;billion, or about 1140 elements per second. According to an article in ''[[Bloomberg Businessweek|BusinessWeek]]'' in 2006, Lego could also be considered the world's number-one tyre manufacturer; the factory produces about 306 million small rubber tyres a year.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2006/db20061127_153826.htm |title=The Making of ... a LEGO |work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek |date=29 November 2006 |access-date=28 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809072756/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2006/db20061127_153826.htm |archive-date=9 August 2010}}</ref> The claim was reiterated in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Record |url=http://aboutus.lego.com/en-gb/news-room/2012/june/guiness-world-record-to-the-lego-group/ |website=Lego |access-date=6 September 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104224244/http://aboutus.lego.com/en-gb/news-room/2012/june/guiness-world-record-to-the-lego-group |archive-date=4 November 2014}}</ref> In April 2023, Lego broke ground on its first manufacturing facility in the United States. The new carbon-neutral factory will be located near Richmond, Virginia. It will amount to over $1 billion in investment once completed in 2025. The 340 acre site will have rooftop and ground solar panels and an on-site 35-40 MW solar plant, generating the equivalent of the energy of powering 10,000 American homes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-16 |title=Virginia groundbreaking release - About Us |url=https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2023/april/virginia-groundbreaking-release?locale=en-us |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=LEGO.com |language=en-us}}</ref> In April 2025, Lego opened its sixth factory worldwide, located in Vietnam, with Lego saying the location is its most environmentally sustainable factory to date.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-10 |title=LEGO Group opens new state-of-the-art factory in Vietnam - About Us |url=https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2025/april/the-lego-group-opens-new-state-of-the-art-factory-in-Vietnam |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=LEGO.com |language=en-us}}</ref>

In December 2012, the [[BBC]]'s ''[[More or Less (radio programme)|More or Less]]'' radio program asked the [[Open University]]'s engineering department to determine "how many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, it would take for the weight to destroy the bottom brick?"<ref name="bbclego">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20578627 |date=3 December 2012 |title=How tall can a Lego tower get? |first=Ruth |last=Alexander |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=4 December 2012 |quote=The average maximum force the bricks can stand is 4,240[[Newton (unit)|N]]. That's equivalent to a mass of 432&nbsp;kg (950lbs). If you divide that by the mass of a single brick, which is 1.152g, then you get the grand total of bricks a single piece of Lego could support: 375,000. So, 375,000 bricks towering 3.5 kilometers (2.17 miles) high is what it would take to break a Lego brick. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121204074934/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20578627 |archive-date=4 December 2012}}</ref> Using a [[Hydraulic machinery|hydraulic]] testing machine, members of the department determined the average maximum force a 2×2 Lego brick can stand is 4,240 [[Newton (unit)|newtons]]. Since an average 2×2 Lego brick has a mass of {{convert|1.152|g}}, according to their calculations it would take a stack of 375,000 bricks to cause the bottom brick to collapse, which represents a stack {{convert|3591|m}} in height.<ref name="bbclego" />

Private tests have shown several thousand assembly-disassembly cycles before the bricks begin to [[wear out]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/lego-bricks-still-last-30000-impressions-during-new-and-improved-test/ |title=Lego bricks still last 30,000+ impressions during new and improved test |last1=Mattise |first1=Nathan |date=24 March 2014 |website=[[Ars Technica]] |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328220139/http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/lego-bricks-still-last-30000-impressions-during-new-and-improved-test/ |archive-date=28 March 2014}}</ref> although Lego tests show fewer cycles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ing.dk/artikel/robot-test-beviser-det-lego-kan-samles-og-adskilles-over-30000-gange-167360 |title=Robot-test beviser det: Lego kan samles og adskilles over 30.000 gange |last1=Godske |first1=Bjørn |date=29 March 2014 |website=[[Ingeniøren]] |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329220934/http://ing.dk/artikel/robot-test-beviser-det-lego-kan-samles-og-adskilles-over-30000-gange-167360 |archive-date=29 March 2014}}</ref>

In 2018, Lego announced that it will be using [[Bioplastic#Bio-derived polyethylene|bio-derived polyethylene]] to make its botanical elements (parts such as leaves, bushes and trees).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2018/march/pfp |title=First sustainable Lego bricks will be launched in 2018 |access-date=28 November 2018 |archive-date=28 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128164549/https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2018/march/pfp |url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported the company's footprint that year was "about a million tons of carbon dioxide each year" and that it was investing about 1 billion kroner and hiring 100 people to work on changes. The paper reported that Lego's researchers "have already experimented with around 200 alternatives."<ref name=NYT>Reed, Stanley, "Leg Hunts New Bricks for a Sustainable Future," ''New York Times,'' 1 September 2018, B1</ref> In 2020, Lego announced that it would cease packaging its products in [[Disposable product|single-use plastic]] bags and would instead be using recyclable paper bags.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nader |first=Brittany |title=What LEGO's Sustainable Packaging Teach Us About Innovation |url=https://www.standuppouches.net/blog/lego-product-packaging-overseas |access-date=16 September 2020 |website=www.standuppouches.net |language=en-us |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024115522/https://www.standuppouches.net/blog/lego-product-packaging-overseas |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Hanna |last=Ziady |title=LEGO to phase out single-use plastic packaging |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/business/lego-plastic-packaging/index.html |access-date=16 September 2020 |website=CNN |date=15 September 2020 |archive-date=16 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916125501/https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/business/lego-plastic-packaging/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2021, the company said it would aim to produce its bricks without using [[crude oil]], by using recycled [[polyethylene terephthalate]] bottles, but in 2023 it reversed this decision, having found that this did not reduce its [[carbon dioxide]] emissions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Noor Nanji |title=Lego axes plan to make bricks from recycled bottles |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66910573 |publisher=BBC |date=25 September 2023}}</ref>