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Subject: 
Re: LEGO Inside Tour (New theory on color change: stock dyes)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.color
Date: 
Tue, 24 Aug 2004 16:45:05 GMT
Viewed: 
851 times
  
In lugnet.color, Walter Walters wrote:
   In lugnet.lego, Jake McKee wrote:
   • Visit to the LEGO factory – LIT Special

Maybe someone visiting the LEGO factory can shed some light on this theory that popped up on FBTB about a month ago. (Actually, I’m surprised this theory never made its way to LUGNET. I guess this just goes to show that there are many *FOLs besides those that post here.)

In this post http://www.fbtbforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=2727, one of the well-known FBTB members wrote

“I really, truly, honestly have a friend that works at LEGO company. She has been with them a long, long time! (She is much older than me) I was asking about what it was like when parts were made in the US and she got to see the production factory. She was telling me about huge silos full of different colors of ABS plastic, and how neat it was to see parts made. I told her how I would love to go, but she said that it won’t ever be the same again. I asked why. She said because they no longer have stock of color pellets, they now stock only clear ABS and inject it with color before it is molded. She has not told me anything about the color change when I ask her, but she unknowingly gave me a huge hint.”

“So it seems like LEGO changed their manufacturing system, and couldn’t find a stock dye that came in the old gray, yellow and brown colors. They took what they could, and checked with the focus groups to see if there would be a problem. If there would have been a problem, they probably would have had to custom order for the right color dyes, but why spend extra money when the focus group says it is OK?”

(I feel a little strange re-posting someone else’s post, but it was posted in a public forum, so I guess it’s not too inappropriate.)

The above is of course only a theory, but it’s the first explanation (that I’ve seen at least) that actually makes sense. Despite explanations to the contrary, the color changes were most likely a cost-cutting measure by TLG. Up until now, I couldn’t well envision how the new colors would save TLG money, but the above explanation seems quite plausible.

Does anyone here have any thoughts or insight on this?

Having seen the production line recently in person, and having checked this theory with several colleagues from manufacturing, this is not at all true. ABS still comes in pellet form by color.

Jake
---
Jake McKee
Community Liaison
LEGO Community Development



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: LEGO Inside Tour (New theory on color change: stock dyes)
 
(...) I have to second Jake on this--I've worked in plastics production before (I've personally mixed color combinations before), and that's not how you injection mold plastic--you can't "inject" color into pellets when making molded parts that are (...) (20 years ago, 24-Aug-04, to lugnet.color, FTX)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: LEGO Inside Tour (New theory on color change: stock dyes)
 
(...) Maybe someone visiting the LEGO factory can shed some light on this theory that popped up on FBTB about a month ago. (Actually, I'm surprised this theory never made its way to LUGNET. I guess this just goes to show that there are many besides (...) (20 years ago, 21-Aug-04, to lugnet.color, FTX)  

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