Lego was founded in the Danish town of Bilong. His founder Ole Kirk christiansen was born in 189 1. He is an excellent carpenter and has his own wood processing factory. He is honest, persistent, optimistic, humorous and positive, which enabled him to tide over the difficulties smoothly during the European economic crisis in the 1930s.
1932 is difficult and unforgettable for Mr. Christensen. The Great Depression hit Billon, Denmark, and all the craftsmen failed to receive orders, so his wood factory fired the last worker. In the same year, he lost his wife and lived alone with four children. The youngest child is 6 years old and the oldest child 15 years old. He began to understand that life is not only a beautiful gift, but also a hard job. However, he still maintains his passion for life and career, and dares to try new opportunities and new technologies. He accepted the suggestion of the industrial association and began to produce household products, making a decisive change-positioning the products of his wooden factory as toys. His decision was opposed by his family and friends, and most people didn't realize the importance of children's toys. But Mr Christensen believes that toys are always children's most important partners, and children can't live without toys at any time. Facts have proved that his decision is correct. In just a few years, this wooden processing factory has the foundation to become an international toy company.
Development of Lego wooden toys
Mr. Christensen began to apply his exquisite wooden craftsmanship and artistic sense to wooden toys. He hung a wooden sign in the factory with his motto engraved on it: "Only the best is good enough." This motto is still the first rule of Lego company.
1934, he began to choose names for his company and products. He started a competition between his family and employees. Whoever was named and finally adopted would get a bottle of red wine brewed by his family. Finally, he named his company Lego. It comes from the Danish word "Leg-Godt", which means "play well", and later he learned that the name means "build and pile up" in Latin. The name 1954 is registered as a trademark.
1April 9, 940, Denmark was occupied by the Germans, and the war brought Lego an opportunity for development. First of all, the government banned the import of toys, and secondly, the government banned the use of metal and rubber in toys, which undoubtedly gave a great impetus to wooden toys. From 1940 to 1942, the output of Lego Company doubled.
1942, a fire almost turned the Lego factory into ruins. Mr Christensen is almost ready to give up his career. A strong sense of responsibility for children and employees made him stand up strongly. With the help of his family and employees, the Lego factory was miraculously rebuilt on the ruins.
After the reconstruction, the Lego factory added some modern large-scale production equipment. However, the size of the Lego factory is still limited and there are not many employees. Just like a craftsman organization, everyone is honest and responsible, and everyone helps each other, which is very cohesive and team spirit. Every morning before starting work, all employees and Mr. Christensen will get together for a short prayer meeting, which has been a custom since the 1960s. Until the first rationalization proposal meeting held in 195 1, the deep friendship between employees and between employees and bosses was still very obvious. One of Lego's mottos is "We are together".
Mr. Christensen has always believed that quality and honesty are the foundation of his career, and he demands extremely high quality for any work, even for his own children. Once, his son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen saved a process when painting a wooden duck toy, and happily told his father that he had saved the company money. His father said angrily, "Why did you do this?" He explained, "I just drew the duck twice, not the usual three times." Mr. Christensen immediately said, "Take those ducks back at once, paint them one last time, repackage them and send them to customers." All this work must be done by yourself, even if it is all night! "
Lego entered the plastic age.
After the war, plastics became a new material and technology. Perhaps because of his personality, Mr. Christensen keenly seized this opportunity and invested in an expensive injection molding machine. From 65438 to 0947, Lego entered the plastic age with cellulose acetate as plastic raw material. The first Lego toy made of plastic was a fish-shaped baby rocking ring. The early Lego granules were listed in 1949, and were called "self-connected granules". These particles have 4-8 hollow buttons at the top, which can only be used for simple stacking. But it was difficult to get molds and raw materials in those days. A lot of experiments are needed to gain experience in mold production. Christensen's family believes that plastic technology will weaken the company's financial strength. They advised their father to concentrate on making wooden toys. Mr. Christensen said, "Don't you have confidence? Can't you see? If we can produce plastic toys, we will sell Lego plastic particles all over the world. "
Since the late 1940s, Lego has become a family business. His four sons joined the company one after another. Carl George was trained as a joiner and was in charge of plastic production. Gundam is a dairy merchant, responsible for the production of wooden toys; Jon is responsible for transportation; Since 1950s, gottfried has been the assistant executive president. At this time, they have developed into a small factory with 140 people. Gottfried has been thinking about how to develop the toy industry after the lifting of the toy import ban. Can you consider quitting? 1953, the company began to cooperate with a Norwegian plastic factory, which rented molds from Bilong and produced and sold Lego toys in Norway.