Monday, March 30, 2009
Flight to Quality
by Tom Bozzo
I wouldn't be mentioning this if there weren't some lessons for the current Troubles herein.
For Ed Montgomery (congrats on the quite possibly thankless new job and Go Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences!), there's a reminder that companies can run themselves out of business by efficiently producing products that cannot be sold for a compensatory price. LEGO's element production and set-packaging operations were famously efficient and automated in the crisis period. As the S+B article explains in detail, the rest of the operation was a disaster. If anything, reducing Danish labor costs was a sideshow for, if not a distraction from, the rest of the restructuring. Which is to say, there's only so much to take out of the hides of the UAW.
A saving grace for the LEGO Group was that its failures mainly were behind-the-scenes; the things that were losing them DKr by the billions largely weren't erosive of their products' reputations, so:
For observers of the Danish model of relatively open markets plus a strong social safety net, there's a warning that it's not necessarily an automatic producer of contentment under all economic conditions. From the Guardian:
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[1] This has very little to do with my recent birthday; official estimates are that there are about 250,000 serious adult fans out there.
[2] I.e., selling cool sets to build from the little plastic bricks.
[3] E.g., the LEGOLAND theme parks, which you know aren't a Company operation in part because an employee of the Schaumburg, Illinois indoor facility was using the colloquialism "Legos" to refer to "LEGO bricks" or "LEGO elements" in orienting a new employee; such talk is supposed to be forbudt for trademark protection reasons.
For a bit of an antidote to Bad News Fatigue, the Guardian has a pretty good article (via The Brothers Brick) on the turnaround of the LEGO Group, which a few years ago was on the brink of bankruptcy and/or absorption into one of the toy megacorporations but now is enjoying double-digit sales growth even in basket-case markets. [1] It's a bit long on ancient company history, but the short version is that under their ex-McKinsey CEO, the company opted largely to stick to its knitting [2], divest various non-core assets [3], and also outsource a good chunk of their production — mostly to Eastern Europe — to cut costs. The über-nerd version from a couple years back, in the supply-chain management magazine Strategy + Business, is here. An interesting additional detail omitted in the former and post-dating the latter is that the company is re-insourcing the outsourced production, though not necessarily returning it to Denmark.
I wouldn't be mentioning this if there weren't some lessons for the current Troubles herein.
For Ed Montgomery (congrats on the quite possibly thankless new job and Go Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences!), there's a reminder that companies can run themselves out of business by efficiently producing products that cannot be sold for a compensatory price. LEGO's element production and set-packaging operations were famously efficient and automated in the crisis period. As the S+B article explains in detail, the rest of the operation was a disaster. If anything, reducing Danish labor costs was a sideshow for, if not a distraction from, the rest of the restructuring. Which is to say, there's only so much to take out of the hides of the UAW.
A saving grace for the LEGO Group was that its failures mainly were behind-the-scenes; the things that were losing them DKr by the billions largely weren't erosive of their products' reputations, so:
Part of this recession-busting feat, Nipper concedes, is down to the fact that in times of trouble, consumers - in this case, parents - turn to "the well-known, the safe, the durable. Lego may not be the cheapest toy, but parents know it has stood the test of time, it will last years, provide hours of quality play, represent good value for their hard-earned money."Ceding reputations for "representing good value" in favor of "having the most cash on the hood" is an obvious failing of Detroit's legacy management, in hand with reactionary product planning.
For observers of the Danish model of relatively open markets plus a strong social safety net, there's a warning that it's not necessarily an automatic producer of contentment under all economic conditions. From the Guardian:
"This town isn't just about Lego any more, you know," observes a woman who asked to be called just Birgita, perching her youngest son on the back of her bicycle outside the supermarket. "It hasn't been for a long time. We're proud of Lego, certainly, but there are lots of other companies, lots of other jobs here now. The good thing was that all that happened when the rest of the economy was still in quite good shape. Heaven knows what it would have been like today, with half the world collapsing."This account is anecdote, sure, but the apparent success of the Danish model isn't its production of armies of the happily unemployed. On the contrary, by both EU and US standards, Denmark has exceptionally high employment and low unemployment rates. At some level, there's no substitute for full employment, and the Invisible Hand does not promise to provide that.
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[1] This has very little to do with my recent birthday; official estimates are that there are about 250,000 serious adult fans out there.
[2] I.e., selling cool sets to build from the little plastic bricks.
[3] E.g., the LEGOLAND theme parks, which you know aren't a Company operation in part because an employee of the Schaumburg, Illinois indoor facility was using the colloquialism "Legos" to refer to "LEGO bricks" or "LEGO elements" in orienting a new employee; such talk is supposed to be forbudt for trademark protection reasons.
Labels: creative destruction, labor, LEGO
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Why Several People Come to this Blog
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
For Those who come for the Legos.
by Ken Houghton
Via David Pinto at Baseball Musings.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Theoretically Still Here
by Tom Bozzo
Anyway, since some of you actually do come for the pictures (and aren't Flickr pals), a variety from the last few weeks is after the jump.
Regular readers will be shocked to know that John got a fair amount of LEGO for Christmas, and I got a fair amount more at after-Christmas sales. Were I to forget who's the main audience for the toy, John's eagerness to build has actually managed to test my limits. Still, the Diabolical Plan (make your hobby into your kid's obsession) is on track:
Julia, meanwhile, has added some girlier pursuits to the keep-up-with-big-brother repertoire. Here, she entertains while guarding the container-full of ponies that will gallop out if Obama does really well in today's voting:
...and, for Xtin, she gets in on the foot-blinging action:
...and at the Brandywine River Museum, she warily eyes a critter that's fortunately made out of plant material:
...from the same outing, for Dr. Hypercube, here's "Boy With Hawk" by Charles Parks.
So what have I been doing? In part, I've been working on the railroad (after a fashion). I know that Madison-Chicago train service wouldn't quite be at the standard of the BNSF's business cars, but it would be swell all the same.
...about as much of the car as I could get without being hit by the trucks buzzing around the yard:
...yours truly, with colleague, onboard:
...out the back window of the William B. Strong, passing a double-stack train in the dark:
That's all for now!
Of my New Year's resolutions, the Frequent and Timely Blogging one hasn't been going so well. Sad to say, my blogging time has been squeezed on both ends of the day by the Three Horsemen of the Blogocalypse: work, bedtime, and kids — not necessarily in that order. Also, iPhoto (v5) on the G5 decided to crash on launch just before the holidays, making even pictures of the kids difficult to post. A partial photo library transplant solved the problem enough to allow me to resist the call of a new computer for another few months.
Anyway, since some of you actually do come for the pictures (and aren't Flickr pals), a variety from the last few weeks is after the jump.
Regular readers will be shocked to know that John got a fair amount of LEGO for Christmas, and I got a fair amount more at after-Christmas sales. Were I to forget who's the main audience for the toy, John's eagerness to build has actually managed to test my limits. Still, the Diabolical Plan (make your hobby into your kid's obsession) is on track:
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Julia, meanwhile, has added some girlier pursuits to the keep-up-with-big-brother repertoire. Here, she entertains while guarding the container-full of ponies that will gallop out if Obama does really well in today's voting:
...and, for Xtin, she gets in on the foot-blinging action:
...and at the Brandywine River Museum, she warily eyes a critter that's fortunately made out of plant material:
...from the same outing, for Dr. Hypercube, here's "Boy With Hawk" by Charles Parks.
So what have I been doing? In part, I've been working on the railroad (after a fashion). I know that Madison-Chicago train service wouldn't quite be at the standard of the BNSF's business cars, but it would be swell all the same.
...about as much of the car as I could get without being hit by the trucks buzzing around the yard:
...yours truly, with colleague, onboard:
...out the back window of the William B. Strong, passing a double-stack train in the dark:
That's all for now!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Distraction
by Tom Bozzo
Star Wars.
Steampunk.
LEGO.
Need I say more?
This is a blog, who am I kidding? Here are my favorites so far.
Funniest Translation Between the Star Wars and Steampunk Universes: "Astro the Navigation Monkey," from Mark Stafford's Royal Naboo AirForce 1. Some of you may recall Stafford's widely-linked Cthulego creations.
Looks Like It Really Could Work: Flickrite Monsterbrick's AT AT ELE walker. See the Stokertrooper (or is it the Stormstoker)!
The New Old Gilded Age Award: Thwaak's Imperial London Shuttle. Again, someone has to keep the fires burning; things are better up front.
It's looking hard to resist rubber-necking at the expected stock market carnage, even though it's probably best to whistle past the graveyard. It's more fun to follow the FBTB.net Steam-Wars contest, no? What's not to like?
Star Wars.
Steampunk.
LEGO.
Need I say more?
This is a blog, who am I kidding? Here are my favorites so far.
Funniest Translation Between the Star Wars and Steampunk Universes: "Astro the Navigation Monkey," from Mark Stafford's Royal Naboo AirForce 1. Some of you may recall Stafford's widely-linked Cthulego creations.
Looks Like It Really Could Work: Flickrite Monsterbrick's AT AT ELE walker. See the Stokertrooper (or is it the Stormstoker)!
The New Old Gilded Age Award: Thwaak's Imperial London Shuttle. Again, someone has to keep the fires burning; things are better up front.
Labels: divertissements, LEGO, Star Wars
Friday, November 09, 2007
Where I Am
by Tom Bozzo
So is fiddling around with Facebook, where I've been studying what I've tentatively called the Facebook-Fogey Taper — e.g., there are currently 63 profiles for my college graduating class (1990), whereas the class of '05 has "over 500." However, even that thin coverage did allow me to discover the latent irony that my conservative nemesis from (undergrad) Economics of Central Planning class is now an associate professor at a small liberal arts college, whereas I'm a consultant with equity in my employer. I have also learned that some potential Facebook horrors, such as "Greg Mankiw just poked Brad DeLong," seem to be urban legends for now. Greg Mankiw isn't even Brad DeLong's friend as of this writing! However, two of my so-far three friends' own friends list do invite me to "poke Ann [Althouse]" first and foremost. Eww?!
So, if you're reading this and on Facebook, feel free to be my friend. If you are an actual friend and haven't been friended by me yet, I probably just haven't found you since I've been fending off questions from Suzanne as to what on earth I'm thinking.
Nevertheless, I've managed to hold forth on one of my favorite topics over at Total Drek.
Earlier in the week, I failed to blog from two new states — maybe I can try to get all 50 into the set of states I've thought about blogging from but haven't — and might add a third next week. This is limiting my blogging time.
So is fiddling around with Facebook, where I've been studying what I've tentatively called the Facebook-Fogey Taper — e.g., there are currently 63 profiles for my college graduating class (1990), whereas the class of '05 has "over 500." However, even that thin coverage did allow me to discover the latent irony that my conservative nemesis from (undergrad) Economics of Central Planning class is now an associate professor at a small liberal arts college, whereas I'm a consultant with equity in my employer. I have also learned that some potential Facebook horrors, such as "Greg Mankiw just poked Brad DeLong," seem to be urban legends for now. Greg Mankiw isn't even Brad DeLong's friend as of this writing! However, two of my so-far three friends' own friends list do invite me to "poke Ann [Althouse]" first and foremost. Eww?!
So, if you're reading this and on Facebook, feel free to be my friend. If you are an actual friend and haven't been friended by me yet, I probably just haven't found you since I've been fending off questions from Suzanne as to what on earth I'm thinking.
Nevertheless, I've managed to hold forth on one of my favorite topics over at Total Drek.
Labels: LEGO, Meta, Total Drek
Saturday, October 20, 2007
In Which I Get the Rest of My Life Back...
by Tom Bozzo
(Stephen and Drek had asked how the Falcon was going. My five- and three-year-old help made it a breeze.)
The cat is happy to get his sleeping quarters back, too.
(Stephen and Drek had asked how the Falcon was going. My five- and three-year-old help made it a breeze.)
Labels: LEGO
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Wednesday Preschooler Extra (Bring Me the Hair of Han Solo Edition)
by Tom Bozzo
John is ready to dive in.
- Our hair! Our luxurious '70s hair!
- Could be worse...
- "Chewbacca?" Dat's a funny name.
(Not shown: Julia 1, Darth Vader's TIE fighter, 0.)
Still busy...
John is ready to dive in.
- Our hair! Our luxurious '70s hair!
- Could be worse...
- "Chewbacca?" Dat's a funny name.
(Not shown: Julia 1, Darth Vader's TIE fighter, 0.)
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Busy.
by Tom Bozzo
Added: That "16+" age range — are they having a laugh? 26+ or 36+ would be more like it.
Added: That "16+" age range — are they having a laugh? 26+ or 36+ would be more like it.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
I Am a Happy Boy Today...
by Tom Bozzo
...because 5,195 pieces of LEGO Millennium Falcon are on the way.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Friday LEGO Blogging: A Solution to the Shortage of Deployable Troops for Iraq
by Tom Bozzo
(Model and photo by Steve Vargo, h/t The Brothers Brick.)
Actually, I'd be surprised if Dick Cheney weren't conjuring the undead at his undisclosed location. It would make a few things easier to explain.
More pictures here. I think Euro-AFOL Mark Stafford's widely (which is to say, beyond LEGO-world) viewed Cthulego Rising and companion works remain the definitive LEGO dioramas, but this one has some lovely details like this conjuring effect.
(Model and photo by Steve Vargo, h/t The Brothers Brick.)
Actually, I'd be surprised if Dick Cheney weren't conjuring the undead at his undisclosed location. It would make a few things easier to explain.
More pictures here. I think Euro-AFOL Mark Stafford's widely (which is to say, beyond LEGO-world) viewed Cthulego Rising and companion works remain the definitive LEGO dioramas, but this one has some lovely details like this conjuring effect.
Labels: LEGO
Friday, March 30, 2007
What Happens in Legoland Las Vegas...
by Tom Bozzo
The chief designer for the project, Kristi Klein, has a blog with lots of construction pictures. (Also proving that Nuevo Blogger labels can be useful!)
Alas, ongoing construction at the house has my (oh yeah, and John's) LEGO building space out of commission for another few weeks.
...the obvious lede for a story on the Yahoo News "most popular" list this morning: the opening of a new miniature Las Vegas exhibit at Legoland California. At least it's currently ranking higher than the current "top story" regarding Paris Hilton's possible parole violation, showing that just maybe we haven't completely lost our marbles yet. (On the other hand...)
The chief designer for the project, Kristi Klein, has a blog with lots of construction pictures. (Also proving that Nuevo Blogger labels can be useful!)
Alas, ongoing construction at the house has my (oh yeah, and John's) LEGO building space out of commission for another few weeks.
Labels: divertissements, LEGO
Monday, February 12, 2007
For Tom
by Ken Houghton
The Secret of Newton's Laws Explained with Lego
Saturday, February 10, 2007
LEGO Star Wars Nerds, Please Sit Down
