Legos Won't Have Enough Bricks For Everyone This Year -- November 12, 2015

Updates

September 7, 2016: in The Washington Post, why Lego wanted people to stop buy its toys. They simply could not keep up.
 

Original Post

 

This was from a post about eighteen (18) months ago:

There were two LEGO stories in the WSJ yesterday and today. The first story: Lego will boost capacity at Mexican factory. Quick: what is the world's #2 toy maker by revenue? Lego. Behind Mattel. #2 toy maker and they only make one product: little plastic bricks. I think I've blogged about Lego's incredibly successful turnaround several times over the years. The second Lego story was posted on-line yesterday, not sure if it was in Friday's paper or today's paper: Lego's evolution will be digitized.

My younger daughter and I spent hours working on Lego projects when we were living overseas. We had one small room turned over completely to Lego projects in our small apartment. Now twenty or thirty years later, she is still enjoying Lego and I enjoy remembering the stories.

In today's WSJ there is a story suggesting that Lego cannot keep up with demand.

Lego A/S has spent years overhauling its supply chain to keep up with surging demand for its colorful plastic bricks, but a likely product shortfall in Europe for the coming holiday season shows it still has more work to do. The toy giant’s plant here is running at full capacity, churning out 72 million bricks a day, and one in the Hungarian city of Nyíregyháza is blasting away as well. 

Nevertheless, Lego said last month it expects it will be unable to deliver new orders coming from European toy stores in the run-up to the holidays. It said the U.S., which is served by a plant in Monterrey, Mexico, should be fully supplied. 

The European shortfall is emblematic of the challenges Lego faces as it vies with U.S. rival Mattel Inc. for the position of the world’s largest toy maker, selling to about 85 million children across 144 countries. The Danish company in September said first-half revenue jumped 23% to 14.12 billion kroner ($2.03 billion), buoyed by product lines like the Lego Ninjago and Lego Elves sets.

CNN says right out that Lego won't have enough bricks for everyone.

One of several large ships made of Lego bricks that our younger daughter has put together over the years. This particular one I gave her about two years ago and she recently completed it after moving into a house big enough for her Lego sets.

I've posted several times on Lego. It's a very, very interesting turn-around story. I always thought it was Star Wars that accounted for its stunning turn-around, but a Lego employee once told me it was a different move. I forget which one, and I may have the story completely wrong.

If not enough bricks, I guess some kids will have to settle for briquettes.