Lego bridges mass customization and open innovation with LEGO-Factory website: Children become toymakers and can design and produce sets of their dreams

Finally another large scale mass customization application: "LEGO Group unveils LEGO Factory, a consumer experience that combines today’s hottest kids trends -- technology, mass customization and community -- to enhance and build relevance for its classic toy offering. Beginning August 29, children of all ages can visit www.LEGOFactory.com to design, share and purchase custom models".

This is the start of a press release (see below for full text) that finalizes a long pilot phase with mass customization at Lego which started several years ago. On our 2003 MCPC conference (www.mcpc2003.com), Marc Hansen from Lego presented some early ideas of mass customization and toolkits for user co-design. The company has experimented with mass customization since 2001. Customers could order customized Lego mosaics build on a uploaded picture, or could customize some of the trains. On the MCPC 2003, we could also get a glimpse of the great new design software, where kids could create Lego models in 3D, a kind of very easy to use CAD program.

But some users wanted much more: The Lego user community LUGNET – totally independent by the company – is one of the best examples of a community where users co-create and co-design based around a manufacturer’s products. Here, users do not only swap parts or share pictures of their individual models, but also build together an open source based design software to create great expert constructions. Also, a whole number of small user shops sell unique models and designs. When Lego introduced its Mindstorms Robotic toys, after several years of development, some users “hacked” the robotic kit and improved the performance of the construction kit and its processing capabilities by several dimensions in just a few weeks (this is one of the best documented and fascinating of user innovation). All these user activities, however, were not facilitated or really utilized by Lego.

But now the company strikes back: I quote below the official press release of Lego where the company announces the opening of LEGO factory, a very advanced toolkit for user (kid) innovation and co-design. With this new business unit, Lego combines its original mass customization pilots, which were able to pick an individual assortment of Lego bricks according to one customer’s order, with its strong software and interaction skills. The Lego Factory seems to combine several trends and developments which were before invented in the user domain, and which are now incorporated into a business model of the company -- also a form of open innovation.

In addition, the site finally features real open innovation at Lego: It highlights the fact that the company is now selling Lego sets which are designed by other Lego users. Children can not only create their own unique designs, and order the corresponding bricks in a customized set with the help of their father’s credit card, but can also submit these designs to the company. Lego may then produce an extraordinary design as a mass product for other children as well. This ideas has been also tested before (in the German Lego catalog, some user designed Lego sets were included since 2003), but never utilized in large scale.

It is too early to share anything about the success of this new Lego mass customization venture. It is a great new application that makes a lot of business sense for the struggling toy manufacturer: It combines a number of trends, but still stays perfectly in the unique selling proposition of Lego: Enabling creativity of children and making them to co-designers of their dreams. This has been the promise of the company since its beginning, and mass customization is just the next step in the evolution of this idea.

Here the official press release with more information. But just try it by your own: http://www.LEGOFactory.com

"August 29, 2005: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of its System of Play, LEGO Group today unveils LEGO Factory, a consumer experience that combines today's hottest kids trends -- technology, mass customization and community -- to enhance and build relevance for its classic toy offering. Beginning today, children of all ages can visit www.LEGOFactory.com to design, share and purchase custom models.

LEGO Factory is powered by LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) -- a proprietary virtual building program available as a free download for PC and MAC users. Drawing upon a virtual warehouse of bricks and elements, children can design 3-D models just like professional LEGO Model Designers. Factory models are micro scale -- smaller than traditional LEGO minifigure proportion (roughly 1:50 life-size) found at retail -- but still provide precise detail and functionality.

LEGO Factory sets arrive in custom packaging that shows a child's model and name, and include all of the LEGO elements needed to build the virtual design in physical form. Every customized LEGO Factory creation will have a unique price dictated by the size of the model and elements used. Custom models will take from 48 hours to a week to arrive, depending on which shipment method consumers choose.

LEGO Factory is also designed to create a community of builders who share their virtual creations with consumers around the world. Children can view other builders' custom creations, add and remove bricks, rotate the 3D view and zoom in on the details, download the building instructions to build from their existing LEGO collection, or even purchase someone else's model for themselves.

"Giving children access to a virtual warehouse of LEGO elements to design their own models is a fantastic extension of everything the LEGO System of Play represents and has provided for the last half century, and marks a rare opportunity for true mass customization and community in today's toy market." says Mark Hansen, director, LEGO Interactive Experiences. "With LEGO Factory we can expand beyond our 100 in-house product designers to marvel at the creativity of more than 300,000 designers worldwide."

During its Beta phase, LEGO Group sponsored a contest to better understand the types of models that consumers would design using LDD. The contest lasted for 11 weeks and 8,000 models were custom designed. Ten models were voted by consumers and LEGO Master Model Builders to become real LEGO sets available exclusively through the company's Shop-at-Home division. Contest winners, whose ages ranged from 9 to 38, will receive royalties based on sales of their winning designs. For more information on these winning designs visit http://www.lego.com/eng/factory/design/bios.asp .

"It's only fitting as we celebrate 50 years of a classic play pattern in an increasingly electronic toy world that we elevate the experience of building what you imagine by blending the best of both the virtual and physical worlds of play," says Soren Torp Laursen, president, LEGO Systems. "We look deep into our compatible system of play to reinvent ourselves year on year, and we only incorporate technology where meaningful and complimentary to the core LEGO building experience."

More information: An article in Fast Company with a nice illustration of the process.

Comments

[Maxine J Horn]

It is really interesting to hear and see how Lego are using co-creation, open source and Open Innovation structures to develop its products in-line with its core brand experience and values.

I would be interested to learn more about how Lego remunerates those whose ideas are adopted and brought to market. I note the comment regards royalties - but it would be interesting to know that ratio of shared risk and reward is applied.

BDI represents 90% of the UK commercial design market and are running Open Innovation Challenges for brand owners of all type and size including Procter & Gamble.

Due to the professional level of designers participating the Intellectual Property share is equitable to avoid imbalanced exploitation.

Can you provide details of the shared risk and reward deals you are open to?

Regards, Maxine J Horn, CEO, British Design Innovation

[Rob Tietz]

Dear Frank

I just got aware of your blog and read this very interesting article on Lego and other companies. I adore the LegoFactory site. It is created so well. I especially like the Club (as this is topic of my dissertation). The coolest feature are the emoticons on the message-boards derived from Lego-Parts - so well done! In my opinion: if someone wants to learn about community-buiding Lego most certainly is a benchmark.

All the best
rob