Lego expands Czech production facility

The growth of the Lego Group in recent years and its strategy to locate production close to its core markets have led to a further expansion of the Kladno factory in the Czech Republic, one of four Lego manufacturing sites around the world. The new production building covering 50,000 square meters was inaugurated on April 16, 2015.

The capacity of the Kladno production facility will increase by 30% as a result of the expansion, and it is estimated that it will create approximately 600 new jobs, depending on future demand. According to the company, more than 340 newly created positions have already been filled since announcement of the expansion in June 2013. Less than two years later, the new building has been completed and now houses three new production halls and a manual warehouse.

"The Kladno factory is a key brick in our strategy of building a stable manufacturing base around the world, ultimately making sure that Lego products are available to children and their parents when and where they want them," says Bali Padda, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of the Lego Group.

In 2000, the production facility in Kladno launched modestly, with 80 employees. Fifteen years later, some 2000 people work at the facility. Senior Vice President and General Manager Cornelis Versluis said he could hardly imagine a better way to mark the 15th anniversary of the facility in Kladno. "We believe that Lego play is good play, and we want to deliver it to ever more children. Therefore, we need to have the right capacity for that, and with the expansion we have ensured we can deliver even more great play experiences to children in the future," he commented.

Activities at the Lego site in Kladno include the packing of Lego sets, decoration and assembly of Lego elements, and research and development of packing and decoration technologies. The size of the entire production area equals approximately 22 soccer fields, and the buildings cover roughly 140,000 square meters.