Lego’s first Asian factory opened in eastern Zhejiang province, China, on November 2016. It is expected to supply up to 80 per cent of the products the Danish company sells in the booming Asian market.
The news plant in the city of Jiaxing will employ 1,200 people. It represents an investment of more than €100m. On its way to becoming the most sustainable plant Lego has ever built, the factory is in the process of getting 20,000 solar panels installed on its roof over the coming few months.
They will eventually reduce the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than 4,000 metric tons annually, and provide seven per cent of the factory’s total electricity. But Lego won’t be the only manufacturer churning out colourful building blocks. A variety of knockoff products are already swamping the Chinese market, prompting some economists to question the new factory’s prospects.