A Day in Billund - Amazon Web Services

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A Day in Billund
At the LEGO press conference Feb 25, 2015 Michael Bradford, DFWLUG
A Day in Billund, Page 1
Arriving
The Journey Begins
"The first five Ambassadors to respond" were invited to come to the
LEGO annual press conference in Billund, Denmark, home of The LEGO
Group's corporate offices as well as the home of Ole Kirk Christiansen,
founder and inventor of LEGO bricks. Having been interested in visiting
LEGO's home for some time, finding a relatively cheap flight ($644 round
trip), securing the time off of work, and getting my wife's blessing to go, I
replied to Keith Severson's email on the off chance that I was one of the
first five. Surprisingly only myself and another Ambassador from Texas
(Ed Chang of Texas Brick Railroad) replied to attend, so we were in!
The day of my flight we had snow, sleet, and ice on the roads
shutting down city offices, schools, trash pickup, etc. American Airlines
cancelled over 900 flights and I was concerned that I may not make it out;
but fortunately the only Lufthansa flight leaving DFW that day was mine!
My phone was loaded with LEGO movies and a handful of LEGO-related
book to keep me entertained for the 10 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany.
Michael Bradford, DFWLUG
First off however, having remembered that Lufthansa has an
exclusive LEGO plane set (number 40146) I began a hunt to acquire this. I
searched the in-flight shopping catalog finding some model planes but
no LEGO set. So the next time I was offered a beverage I asked the flight
attendant if they may be purchased aboard the plane somehow (past sets
could be). She answered in her lovely German accent "oh yes the special
edition! Let me see...." No, it wasn't available on-board and no one else
seemed to know how to get it.
Not dismayed, I knew Frankfort's airport was Lufthansa's hub; so I
checked around at a few of the shops. I found a Friends magazine with an
exclusive Friends set, a shop that had a good selection of LEGO with a
nice looking backlit sign featuring a LEGO airport, and an American
Airlines Best Worst Lock set, but alas no Lufthansa set to be seen. I
decided to inquire at Lufthansa customer service. They directed me to try
an alleged Lufthansa shop requiring exiting the airport. No problem, I
had a 3 1/2 hour layover. Not finding that shop outside I asked someone
else and was redirected back inside to a Worldpoints shop. They said that
they had it, but not at that shop and to go to a different Worldpoints shop
in Hallway B. Finally I was getting somewhere; or so I thought as the other
shop did indeed have the set but it wasn't for sale and required a plastic
Lufthansa Kids Club Mileage Plus Points card redemption (or something
along those lines). So for anyone out there hunting this set, now you
know how to obtain it.
Billund was a quick 1 hour flight away. It's a small town with an
international airport originally built by LEGO. I was surprised by the
number of people aboard my plane and asked a fellow passenger if she
knew why so many people were flying into a small town this morning. She
said that Billund is a great airport as it's centrally located in Denmark and
easy to get in and out of, which made sense. Landing at Billund, my next
quest was to try to obtain the exclusive Billund airport set 4000016. I had
read there was a LEGO store in the airport but it turns out it is only
accessible in the departures area after clearing security. No problem, I
would acquire it on the way home. The airport has a couple LEGO
displays suspended from the ceiling which are quite impressive. One was
a massive dodecahedron (I believe) with landscaping and swirling castlelike structures coming off of most sides. The other, its baby sister.
I had a few hours before picking up Ed from his flight so I did a little
exploring. I first headed to LEGOLAND which was unfortunately closed
for the winter; but I was still able to see some of the impressive displays
at the entrance.
I drove around Billund finding all sorts of LEGO buildings and huge
(maybe 10 foot) 2x4 bricks sprawled out in numerous locations. I was
surprised by the seeming lack of security - windows were see-through,
parking lots unsecured, etc., but Billund just feels safe; it's hard to
describe. LEGO corporate looks initially a bit unimpressive as a
somewhat simple looking 1-story building, until you realize that a huge
amount of the town is LEGO offices and more are under construction.
I wanted to also find the LEGO House set 4000010 which I had
heard was available in the local stores around Billund, so I headed off to
the construction site of the house downtown. I found the site but noticed
the LEGO House Showroom across the street. Inside was an impressive
model of the LEGO House and info about LEGO and the house on all the
walls.
I also heard construction noise from the building site so I went to
check it out. There is a convenient viewing platform that I climbed up to
see a concrete truck pouring its load.
After some failed attempts at finding the LEGO House set, I finally
struck gold at a relatively large grocery store within walking distance from
the construction site. 149 DKK (about $22.65) seemed like a steal and
there were no apparent limits on how many could be purchased, so I
bought some for myself and Ed as I texted him to see if he needed any as
I suspected the store would be closed by the time his plane landed.
Still having some time to kill, I ventured into the LEGOLAND Hotel
where I was going to be staying. I was greeted by their enormous brickbuilt dragon that I would really like in my living room but I'm sure my wife
would not be too thrilled with. There be dragons! The hotel is rife with
LEGO models from beautiful smaller ones of butterflies and dragonflies
to scaled up minifigs and exquisitely decorated lamps (the latter of which
my wife may actually appreciate in our living room).
The hotel is actually very nice with multiple play brick bins very wellstocked, a decent sized LEGO Shop with prices at DKK RRP (i.e.
considerably more expensive compared to USD pricing), themed
hallways and rooms, good restaurants, and a nice piano bar with a LEGO
pianist of course.
I picked up Edward from the airport and showed him the sites I had
seen. We grabbed a bite to eat and coincidentally enough the restaurant
we decided on had the LEGO House set available for sale as well. Tired
from the long journey, I turned in early in the pirate-themed room excited
for the day ahead. Michael Bradford, DFWLUG
The Day
The Press Conference
I awoke well rested, and after a quick bite at the included breakfast
buffet with Ed, we met Keith Severson (LEGO Community Manager) in
person for the first time in the lobby where he walked us the short
distance down the road into LEGO corporate's main lobby. The lobby is
quite impressive with huge shallow cylinders resembling LEGO studs
filled with 2x4 bricks in a single color, a larger-than life-size LEGO model
of Emmett, and of course the iconic minifig mosaic of the LEGO logo.
We were checked in for the event and given brick-built name
badges with a series 13 CMF of our choice. We got to meet and chat with
several people including the person responsible for the LEGO Inside
Tour, and Jamie Berard, my personal favorite LEGO designer (of sets
including the Green Grocer and Detective's Office).
The Press Conference was very well done. We had front-row seats
and were all given a polybag (set 200416) with 6 LEGO pieces inside.
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of the LEGO Group instructed us all to take
45 seconds to build a duck with the pieces provided. Ed and I decided to
build ours in the bag which Jørgen humorously mistook for him having
trouble opening the bag and proceeded to open it for him. We were
shown some examples of ducks built and we're told that the 6 pieces
included could be combined in over 9 million ways, as well as some of
the cognitive and creative mechanisms we employed to do this simple
task. The point which was beautifully demonstrated was that LEGO play is
about child development and playful learning.
Before discussing the tremendous financial gain results, Jørgen also
sang and danced the "Everything is Awesome" song from The LEGO
Movie which was quite entertaining. We were each given a press kit at
the conclusion which was actually a 1,000 piece brick suitcase (set 10682)
that had (in addition to the sealed polybags inside) a folder with various
press releases, select employee profiles and fun facts (did you know
Jamie Berard was a monorail driver?), and the 2014 Responsibility Report
and Annual Report.
The Idea House
We then took a chartered bus to the LEGO Idea House, which is a
private (not open to the general public) museum with everything from
LEGO woodworking tools to the 10 top selling sets of last year on
display. This place was amazing and I wish there had been more time to
see everything. We were guided along the tour of it by Line Højgaard,
LEGO's Culture Mediator who did an excellent job answering questions
by the press on LEGO's most fascinating history.
There are far too many fascinating things to mention here.
Fortunately, LEGO's history has been well documented on sites online;
but one of the more surprising facts that I will mention was the top 10
selling LEGO sets from last year: 1) the City Police Station, 2) Mindstorms
EV3, 3) the Heartlake Hotel, 4) the Dolphin Cruiser, 5) Arctic Base Camp,
6) Sunshine Ranch, 7) Technic Volvo L350F, 8) Stephanie's Beach House. 3
of the top 10 were Friends sets highlighting the success of that line.
From the Idea House we went to the construction site of the LEGO
House where Lars Kærgaard gave us a brief presentation on what is
coming. Again most of this information is online, so I'll just note here that
most excitingly for the AFOL community, the LEGO House will feature
AFOL displays. The details of this are still being planned; but Keith said
that they are planning on large AFOL involvement from LUGs around the
world.
A couple reporters kept questioning why LEGO was making such
an assumably huge investment in the House and how they expected it to
make money and attract visitors. I asked if admission prices had been set
yet which they have not. They did explain the construction delays due to
the interesting architectural challenge of having to build the top before
the bottom to suspend the roof of the main floor like a bridge.
The Factory Tour
After Keith generously treated us to a quick lunch, we were off to
the factory tour! We donned safety shoes and reflective safety vests
(LEGO is very big on safety, before the press conference began we were
also instructed to where the emergency exits were) then entered the live
working factory. We were very fortunate to come on this day because
ordinarily photos are not allowed; but since press was here, we were
allowed the same privileges to take photos and video as we desired.
The factory is truly an amazing site to behold. After a while of
gazing at the thousands of elements being produced before our eyes
you realize that there really aren't very many people working. The
production system is nearly entirely automated. Robots roam around
grabbing boxes of newly produced elements whisking them to conveyer
belts transporting them to be stored in the high bay warehouse. It's
almost hypnotizing watching the robots and machines doing their work.
Keith called it the ultimate LEGO builder's warehouse. With tongue in
cheek I asked if it would automatically pick needed elements on
command, at which time I would invest in such a system.
We also watched a machine that grabbed stacked lids and placed
them into a washing machine, then picked clean ones and stacked them
onto a clean pile. LEGO takes cleanliness seriously. We weren't allowed
to touch any elements because of oils on our fingers transferring to the
elements and they would have to throw those out. I also found it
interesting that the raw ABS is sourced from different manufacturers
around the world. This probably explains why some LEGO elements have
slightly different color hues and iridesce differently under UV light.
LEGO continues innovating but doesn't forget the past. There are
displays of some of their past molds and machines in the factory. At the
end of the tour, we were given 2x4 bricks with "Prod. KOM" on one side
and "I was here" on the other.
Meeting the CEE Team
Next up we headed to the huge lobby of the Innovation House
building where the Community Engagement & Events Team is housed.
Prior to entering, it was fun to see some of the whimsical artwork in the
employee parking garage as well as another large sign with the company
slogan on the way into the building.
This building, Keith said, is one of the only buildings with AFOL
creations displayed in it. Indeed there was a huge Star Wars display, and
MOCs from various conventions that CEE team members had carefully
transported to Billund.
My favorite part of this building lobby though, as a huge minifig
fan, was an exhibition displaying the Graphic Design Team's Creative
Week final products. From the display: "In the Fall of 2014 the LEGO
Graphic Design Team (GDT) took a week away from their regular
responsibilities of creating and managing the design of the various LEGO
figures and other in-box product graphics. The Creative Week was an
exercise in style and communication through visual design. In focus: the
amount of information appropriate to express character and objects,
particularly in the rendering of facial expressions. Manchester based
illustrator Stan Chow was brought in to inspire the GDT. He too is using
vector graphics and simplification to capture likenesses and to express
character. Beginning with celebrities, and then moving on to selfportraits, the difficulty of each exercise climaxed with the task of
portraying GDT colleagues using as few shapes and detail as possible.
The week concluded with each designer applying this experience to their
work, trying out a different way to approach the design of a LEGO
minifigure. This exhibition displays the final products of that week."
There was also a shifting perspective mosaic of Kjeld Kirk
Kristiansen, one of the family owners of The LEGO Group on an autorotating display. Keith said that the idea for this type of mosaic originated
within the AFOL community.
We were treated to coffee, tea and some cakes they had purchased
from a local bakery that was all the rave. They also graciously presented
us with a gift of the LEGO Ideas Birds set 21301, and their minifigure
business cards! We chatted for a bit about about their various job
descriptions, how we got back into the LEGO hobby as adults, some of
our thoughts on the current direction of the LEGO Ambassador Network,
and the growth of the LEGO hobby among adult fans.
The LEGO Employee Shop
For our final LEGO-related activity, we were invited to their
employee shop for a bit of shopping at the employee discount prices.
We were told that their discount on LEGO sets made the prices pretty
much equal to the US Dollar RRP and they were right. However we were
fortunate once again that there was a good amount of items on clearance
which made for some really good deals on those items (I scored the
20216 MBA set for $11.40, 60026 Town Square for $34.20, and 10937
Arkham Asylum for $53.20 as examples). They did have a large selection
of items not sold elsewhere including sets (i.e., monthly mini-builds, giftwith-purchase polybags, and LEGO education sets), and LEGO branded
items from apparel to office supplies and even luggage. Notably missing
however were the pick-a-brick wall, build-a-minifigure bar, and brand
ribbon. They also have some large brick-built models of Woody from Toy
Story, Unikitty, and others. They didn't have a LEGO Passport stamp.
Danish Culture
With our loot loaded in the car, Keith drove us into a neighboring
town to treat us to a delicious Danish meal. We had a great time
discussing LEGO corporate and Danish culture. Most intriguing to me
were differences in management expectations and education. Here are a
few things I gleaned from our discussion:
• Managers are limited to the amount of employees they can have
as it is important each employee has a good relationship and dialog
with his or her manager.
• Managers are responsible if their employee take too much sick
time - are they being overworked or unhappy with their jobs?
• They have a 37 hour work week and leave early Fridays.
• Managers evaluate employees' success by not just how much
they work but also their ability to well balance their lives. So work/life
balance is an essential aspect of working within the LEGO Group.
• Through the combination of government and unions people can
secure as much as 2 years of unemployment if needed. If employees
aren't happy with their jobs they will quit and take the unemployment
to take their time finding another job.
• Maternity leave is also government supported up to 1 year at
50% of pay.
• The education system is very much hands-on in earlier education.
Thus the LEGO bricks fit extremely well with the Denmark education
system.
Billund Airport LEGO Store
With our suitcases packed (after much LEGO unboxing and creative
packing), we slept a few short hours to return the rental car and catch our
respective 6am flights. As mentioned previously, the airport's LEGO store
is only accessible in the departure lounge, and is the only place you can
purchase the Billund Airport set 4000016 which incidentally was
designed by one of that store's employees. The set costs a whopping 899
DKK (about US$136.65) which is pretty steep for a set of that size; but you
get a 500 DKK discount on the first 3 making them a much more
reasonable US$60.65 each. This store has a pretty wide selection for an
airport shop and interestingly offers some sales that you don't typically
find elsewhere including spend x amount of DKK and get a y% discount
on your purchase; but sadly the airport set was excluded from any
discounts. The departure lounge also had a large LEGO play bin area as
well a large models of a queen with a matching quarter scale model in
the store.
Final Thoughts
While I was already pretty familiar with and respectful of the LEGO
Company; my trip, albeit quick to corporate headquarters truly made me
appreciate the company and its employees all the more. From the
moment we met Keith in the hotel lobby, we were treated as special
guests. We were listened to, openly discussed our thoughts, and people
genuinely wanted our input. In fact, Keith emailed Jørgen Vig Knudstorp
the CEO the night before we left that he thought it "was great to see the
ambassadors today as it reenforces the fact that the AFOL community
cares a lot about the business and brand and not just about the
products." and copied Edward and me on it. To my surprise Jørgen
replied within a few minutes to us (it was after 10:00pm) saying: "Many,
many thanks for joining us today - you're honoring us greatly by traveling
in today. I wish we could have chatted more.... I am really sorry we didn't
get better introduced and got to talk. I hope there will be an opportunity
to do so soon. While these events may appear to run smoothly we are as
you might imagine very preoccupied with giving our very best to the
media attending. I wish you safe travels and all the best!"
I am most grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend by
the LEGO Group, to Keith Severson for his most hospitable hosting of our
visit, to Ed for his company and sharing expenses with me, and last but
not least, to my wife for allowing and encouraging me to go.

A Day in Billund - Amazon Web Services

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