CASE STUDY – The author shares an account of LEGO Manufacturing kft.’s lean and digital transformation, showing how lean foundations, careful digital adoption, and human ownership combine to deliver sustainable improvement.

Words: Henrik Berg Jepsen

Photos used with permission. ©2025 The LEGO Group.

Our lean journey formally began back in 2007 with what we called the LEGO Production System. At that time, it started as a pilot in Denmark. It was very manufacturing-focused and emphasized core lean fundamentals: physical KPI boards, basic floor management, and structured problem solving.

We spent a lot of time simply helping people understand what a KPI actually is. What does it mean when it’s red? What do you do next? How do you run a PDCA properly and actually follow it through? We introduced an eight-step problem-solving approach that is still one of our core pillars today.

In 2011, something important happened. We officially became LEGO Continuous Improvement, when the production system team was merged with the more administrative CI team. For the first time, we had a clear, company-wide ambition: reaching a mature level of lean across all functions—not just manufacturing, but finance, IT, design, and more.

A big enabler here was our Continuous Improvement Assessment. We translated lean principles and tools into a simple maturity assessment that departments could use. Combined with a global lean toolbox—standard methods, standard training, available in multiple languages—we created a shared language for improvement across the company.

The assessment has been one of our strengths: people move on and some lean “heroes” occasionally leave—that’s inevitable—but if you continuously measure maturity and keep leadership engaged, the system holds. You might dip slightly, but you don’t collapse.

ENTER DIGITAL, CAREFULLY

Around 2022, we took the next step. Our team formally merged with the Business Intelligence team. The goal wasn’t to “digitalize everything,” but to add value from data, without losing our lean foundation.

This is where we learned some important lessons. Digital has massive appeal—instant updates, flexible solutions, access anywhere, better transparency. All of that is real, but we also realized very quickly that the risk of generating “digital waste” is very high. Too often, people assume that because something is digital, it must be better. That’s how you end up digitalizing broken, wasteful processes. One of our most important principles is not to digitalize for the sake of digitalizing.

We always start by mapping the process, removing waste using classic lean tools, and only then asking the question: does a digital solution still add value? In many cases, the answer is no. It’s not uncommon for a simple process change to beat a complex IT solution.

Another key learning is ownership. If a digital solution removes ownership from the people closest to the process, value is lost. Digital must enable the right behavior, not replace it.

A FEW EXAMPLES OF HOW WE ADOPT DIGITAL

The first example I’d like to share is how we use a hybrid, manual/digital approach for our performance management, the beating heart of our factories. We work with multiple levels—from operators to general managers—and not every level benefits from the same type of solution. For process monitoring, area huddles, and daily factory huddles, for instance, we’ve found that digital boards work best. Automated data capture and real-time transparency matter here.

But the value doesn’t come from the screen—it comes from what we do with the data it displays. Red figures trigger PDCA actions. Missed performance triggers gemba walks. In fact, we even use “digital nudges”: after our daily factory huddle, we aim for at least two gemba walks. If no obvious topic emerges, a system randomly proposes areas and themes. Digital supporting Lean.

At the same time, some areas remain deliberately manual. Hour-by-hour boards on the shop floor are handwritten, with operators marking green or red themselves and writing comments explaining what happened. Shift handovers are physical, face-to-face conversations. Even our senior leadership visual factory uses manual boards, because engagement matters more than automation at that level.

Another example of our approach to digital tools is process confirmation, one of my favorite lean practices. We perform hundreds every week to ensure standards are followed and performance stays optimal. Originally, it was entirely paper-based: standards were printed, checks were done manually, and results were entered later. This was slow, error-prone, and highly dependent on discipline.

So we asked a simple question: how do we remove the waste without breaking the intent? The result was a simple in-house app. All standards live in one repository, linked directly to the application. People use a tablet or phone to see which process confirmations they need to perform that day. This way updates to standards are immediate, withought any printing or outdated documents.

Importantly, ownership stayed on the shop floor. The app nudges people toward gaps—processes that haven’t been confirmed recently—but it doesn’t replace judgment. This is digital doing what it should: making the right thing easier.

The last example is our 5S, which was strong on production lines but not so much in supporting areas. Those grey zones mattered, especially for safety. Again, we stayed true to our key focus—waste removal. We built a simple in-house 5S application connected to the factory layout, with audits that can be done on a tablet or phone. Deviations are photographed and instantly converted into PDCA actions.

It’s nothing fancy, but it ensures visibility, ownership, and follow-up at scale.

WHAT REALLY MADE IT STICK

People often ask what our secret sauce is. There is no doubt that leadership commitment made the difference: back in 2007, our owner family stepped up and made it clear this was a long-term journey. They used a simple metaphor: climbing a mountain. Some people would make it easily, some would need help, and some would need to be helped down. That made a huge difference.

The other tipping point came in 2011, when Continuous Improvement became a company-wide ambition, backed from the very top—from the owner family to the CEO. Lean wasn’t optional. It wasn’t local. It was how we worked.

Today, all our manufacturing sites integrate BI with Continuous Improvement, each at different maturity levels. The tools may vary, but the principles don’t. For me, that’s the real lesson: Lean and digital work best when they grow together—slowly, deliberately, and always with people at the center. Brick by brick.