Danish toymaker Lego is on track to begin production at its Vietnam factory in the southern province of Binh Duong in the second half of 2024, said Preben Elnef, general manager of Lego Manufacturing Vietnam and vice president of the Lego Group.
The executive made the statement at a Friday ceremony for the completed plantation of 50,000 trees at the $1-billion factory. The trees, covering 30 hectares, double the number of trees relocated for the factory's construction.
Regarding workforce, the company is in the process of hiring 100 new employees by the end of 2023, towards 500 by the end of 2024, to operate molding, processing, and packing machinery at the factory, Lego affirmed. On-site training will start in the first quarter of 2024. Overall, the factory will offer 4,000 jobs over 15 years.
The 44-hectare state-of-the-art factory, at Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in Binh Duong, is designed to be Lego’s most sustainable facility to date and will support the toymaker’s ambitions of reducing absolute global carbon emissions by 37% by 2032. It will be powered by rooftop solar panels and a to-be-built solar plant on a neighboring plot.
Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai lauded Lego’s investment in Binh Duong and highlighted the firm’s sustainable development target and corporate social responsibility.
Lego announced the investment in the factory in December 2021 and kicked off construction in November 2022. The investment is the largest by a Danish company in Vietnam and part of the company’s strategy to expand its supply chain network to support long-term growth and locate production facilities close to its major markets.
Globally, Lego gained an operating profit of DKK6.4 billion ($914 million) on a revenue of DKK27.4 billion ($3.92 billion) in the first half of this year, down 19% but up 1% year-on-year, respectively, according to a company report.