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Toy maker LEGO to build €125m complex in Hungary
By Richard Higgs
Posted January 24, 2012
This summer, global toy maker LEGO announced, it will start constructing a new
€125m (appx. $163USD million) factory complex near Nyíregyháza, Hungary to
manufacture its ‘Duplo’ and ‘LEGO’ brand products.
The 80,000m² green field complex, being built on a fresh site west of the Danish
toy group’s existing Nyíregyháza plant, is due for completion in 2014, according
to its Hungarian subsidiary LEGO Manufacturing.
Meanwhile, this year, the toy giant is due to expand its Czech Republic
manufacturing facilities by 35,000m² doubling production capacity at its Kladno
plant.
In Hungary, LEGO new Nyíregyháza complex is expected to create 250 new jobs when
it is fully operating and have a total workforce of around 1,550.
Details of this plan were revealed in mid January (2012) when LEGO, based in
Billund, Denmark, formally agreed on a 100 ha. site for its new complex. LEGO
Manufacturing’s chief executive Jens Peter Clausen signed a contract with the
Nyíregyháza city mayor Ferenc Kovács.
LEGO was prompted to invest in a new site, not only in the face of vigorous
growth in the toy markets of Eastern Europe, but also because the lease on its
present manufacturing site in the city is set to expire in 2015.
The group’s choice of a larger site is part of its future business plan in
Hungary, allowing for further expansion over the coming 15 years. “The factory
investment is based on long term plans, demonstrating that the LEGO Group
believes the Nyíregyháza area is the right place for ‘Duplo’ production for many
years to come,” the CEO explained in September last year.
Construction will begin on site with a 13,000m² pallet warehouse due to be
completed this year. Work on a product packing unit is due to start in 2013,
followed by the construction of the new plastics moulding plant equipped with
450 injection presses, according to LEGO.
When all production is finally switched from its existing site and the new
energy efficient plant is finally inaugurated in September 2015, LEGO expects to
expand its capacity by 30%.
The toy giant currently produces around 8.9 billion LEGO bricks, 650 million of
them for ‘Duplo’ models, at the existing 38,000m² plant. The group formerly
outsourced its local production to the global electronics manufacturing services
group Flextronics. Then, in 2009 LEGO took back direct control of production,
operating the site leased from Flextronics. Today, Nyíregyháza plant employs up
to 1,300.
Meanwhile, the toy group is about to expand production elsewhere in the region.
Last year, in two separate announcements, LEGO unveiled major investments at its
plant in Kladno, Czech Republic, extending its size from 28,640m² to 63,640m².
In April 2011, LEGO began to build two new production halls and add a new
administrative area, expanding the Kladno facility by 17,000m². This project,
including the addition of eight more production lines, is due for completion
this May.
Then in July 2011, the group decided market growth demanded a more ambitious
scheme at Kladno. It announced it would add another 15,000m² to its production
space and 3,000m² extra warehouse capacity all of which would be completed in
2012.
The overall expansion will double Kladno site’s production capacity over the
next three to four years and add up to another 800 – 1,000 to its current 1,200
strong workforce.
EuropeanPlasticsNews.com
-end of report-
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