 | | | | | |
In lugnet.lego, David Eaton wrote:
SNIP
| |
From what I’ve heard, Lego sounds sort of top-heavy.
Probably part of why > MegaBloks can compete so well
-- a top-heavy company has lots of executive chains
and processes to go through to get a final product.
And Lego’s attention to detail and struggle to be
“the best” only make it slower. MegaBloks by
comparison probably has a MUCH faster turnaround time
for new products, and less attention to quality, which
is (I’d guess) where the REAL savings are.
DaveE
|
surprise-overpaid upper mananagement cutting labor to save costs.
we can still have the best product without keeping the perception that
more management is better.
Jeff
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.lego, Jeff Szklennik wrote:
| |
surprise-overpaid upper mananagement cutting labor to save costs.
we can still have the best product without keeping the perception that
more management is better.
|
It’s really easy to look at it that way, but the evidence suggests otherwise. I
cited a few press releases elsewhere in
this thread, most of which dealt with layoffs. Within a month of announcing 161
production layoffs last year in Billund, they also announced 43 administrative
layoffs (plus 11 more through attrition). The two releases listed the
production force in Billund as being about 1500 people, and the total workforce
there being about 2000, which means there’s about a 3:1
production/administration ratio. 161 to 54 is still weighted a little against
the production force, but not by much. The other layoff notices don’t say
anything more than that “most” of the layoffs will be in production, but there’s
nothing to suggest that 25% of those layoffs aren’t in administration.
They also culled about a third of the top management positions earlier this
year, dropping down from 14 execs to only 9, and some of those have been
replaced. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen has also been quoted as saying that he’ll be
pumping a large chunk of his own personal wealth back into the company, which
sounds like it’ll be enough to make it break even.
Mr. Kristiansen, the grandson of the man who founded the company, has also just
stepped down as CEO.
Yeah, it sucks when a company constantly looks to the production staff as an
expendable source of profit reclamation while doing everything they can to
protect and line the pockets of the upper management, but these aren’t the
actions of such a company.
| | | | | | |
