LEGO to Build First US Manufacturing Plant in Virginia, Creating 1,760 Jobs
CHESTERFIELD, VA—The LEGO Group will invest more than $1 billion to construct its first U.S. manufacturing plant here. The 1.7 million-square-foot factory is expected to create more than 1,760 new jobs.
The factory will be designed to operate as a carbon-neutral facility. All of its day-to-day energy needs will be matched by renewable energy generated by an onsite solar park. The site will also be designed to minimize energy consumption and use of nonrenewable resources.
“We are looking forward to making LEGO bricks in the U.S., one of our largest markets,” says Niels B. Christiansen, CEO of the LEGO Group. “The location in Virginia allows us to build a solar park, which supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy links to countrywide transportation networks.”
Construction will commence in fall 2022 with production projected to start in the second half of 2025. A temporary packaging site will open in an existing building nearby in early 2024 and create up to 500 jobs.
The Virginia factory will be the LEGO Group’s seventh factory globally and the second in the Americas. The company’s manufacturing site in Monterrey, Mexico, primarily supplies the U.S. market and will be expanded and upgraded to meet growing demand for LEGO products.
“Our factories are located close to our biggest markets, which shortens the distance our products have to travel,” says Carsten Rasmussen, chief operations officer of the LEGO Group. “This allows us to rapidly respond to changing consumer demand and helps manage our carbon footprint. Our new factory in the U.S. and expanded capacity at our existing site in Mexico means we will be able to best support long-term growth in the Americas.”
Like all LEGO facilities, the new factory in Virginia will use state-of-the-art technology to mold, process and pack LEGO products and ensure they meet the company’s rigorous safety and quality requirements.
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“Our bricks are made to last for generations, so we need skilled employees trained to work with precision molding technology. We look forward to working with the Virginia Talent Accelerator program to help build a great team who are motivated by our mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow,” says Rasmussen.
LEGO factories in Europe and China are also being expanded, and in December 2021, the Group announced plans to build a factory in Vietnam to support further growth in Asia.
The LEGO Group currently employs approximately 2,600 people in the U.S., where it has been operating since the 1960s. Its U.S. head office is in Enfield, CT, and operates 100 LEGO branded stores across the country.Looking for a reprint of this article?
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