Subject:
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Re: Appreciating what TLG and Lego Direct have done for AFOL's
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.lego
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Date:
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Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:36:18 GMT
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Viewed:
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4495 times
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Christian,
First off, I've observed several times that no matter what TLG does, you're not
going to be happy. I like to say "you can be part of the problem, or part of
the solution". So far, I only see you are part of the problem. All I hear is
gripe, gripe, gripe, and blame, blame, blame out of you.
Have you ever come up with ideas on how to improve things, and perhaps e-mailed
Jake privately?
There's a saying that says "making lemonade out of lemons". That means learning
to take the situation you've got, and make the best of it. You can't get orange
juice from lemons. However, you can get lemonade. You don't like lemonade?
Well, who ever said life was fair? Deal with it. (this goes for those that
gripe endlessly about the color change--welcome to a "tough love" education on
the forces of capitalism and business).
I work in international business. I've found that there are very different
ideas and methods that differ from continent to continent. For a private
company to keep this going, and for so long, is a testament to Lego in general.
Is Lego trying to improve? yes.
Do they care about their customers? I certainly like to think so.
Is there still a high quality in the production of plastic bricks? yes.
(although you may debate the quality of color mixes--believe me, it's not as
easy as it sounds to get a repeatable and stable color mix, especially with
color suppliers--I've worked in plastics manufacturing where color was
involved). Quick SPC (Statistical Process Control) lesson. Every product, when
manufactured, has an acceptable range of quality. Sometimes it's good,
sometimes it's on the low end. The process has to be tweaked continually.
Given the fact that (as I understand) most of the molding machines are
automated, it's difficult to sit on one machine and continually watch the color
(not to mention staring at one color for too long a period will make your eyes
go crazy--trust me, when looking at two white parts and trying to determine
which one is "whiter" can really mess you up).
Does Lego make mistakes? Show me a company that doesn't--everybody makes
mistakes.
Does Jake run Lego? Hell no. So stop blaming Jake for every time he makes a
statement from Lego. Jake is trying to be a true liason and keep the AFOL's
informed. Are there things Jake can't tell us? Tell me how long anybody who
works for a company who divulges company secrets will be there. I'm sure that
there are parts of whatever company you work for that you can't talk about.
That's part of being a professional.
If all you ever do is badmouth Jake, he's probably not going to take your
concerns to heart. Just like the cliche "you catch more flies with honey than
with water". It's amazing how much you achieve when you are nice and rational
about things.
> Yea. I can buy ten shades of pinkish geen-orange lilac now. GREAT! The
> even introduced new colours sind the bley desaster. But they are too
> inflexible to return to the old grey.
Maybe they can't get the old grey from suppliers any more. There is a very
large ISO and environmental standards push to make things more environmentally
safe. Maybe part of the process of making the old grey (and not from a TLG
standpoint-but maybe a color supplier production standpoint) was stopped because
of it? Yes, it's possible speculation on my part, and we may never know the
"real" story behind it. We don't know the market forces causing those changes,
and it's best not to make statements on things one doesn't fully understand. In
the end, it just makes one self look a little uninformed and stupid.
> > TLG is not perfect, neither is Jake. But they are trying (and in
> > Jake's case, trying very hard). That is more than TLG did for AFOLs
> > in the previous 40 years.
> Yea, I admit that I really belive by now that Jake is trying. The
> problem is: what is he actually achieving? This is the one and only
> factor to judge a result on.
If you read any of Jake's talk from Brickfest 2004, you would see that he's made
great strides internally from people not even paying attention to him, to people
asking him about things. One must crawl before they learn to walk, and then to
run. (From dealing in international business, I've found that European
companies are usually the slowest to respond to change.)
I understand that you are very critical of TLG, but at the same time, you
probably need to understand the market forces that TLG is under. Do I have
ideas for sets? I sure do. Have I hit walls with the ideas? Sure have. Does
that mean I go into a public forum and rant away? Nope. Does it mean I pick
myself up, and try a different route and keep pushing? Yep.
One must pick and choose battles, and know where to place the ammo for maximum
effect. If you launch a shell into the water, it only kills the fish, not the
army that's coming at you from the other direction....
I understand your feelings, but the way you've been voicing them, they tend to
upset more people in a negative feeling than being sympathetic to your needs,
and that is just giving an overall negative effect.
Scott Lyttle
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