Day 4 at AMUG 2026: The LEGO Keynote

1. WHY Metal AM people SHOULD HAVE ATTENDED

   ‘All you need to know in order to innovate in your Industry lays in other Industries’.

   I happen to go back often to Gary Hamel‘s mantra, as I learnt about it in Prof. Erik Larsen class at USI Executive MBA, EMBA.
   That’s why this Keynote could not be missed.

2. WHAT LEGO NEEDS, IN ORDER TO BRING AM TO MASS PRODUCTION
   Ronen, the Steve Fournier of LEGO, displayed the set of requirements that dictate whether injection molding or AM could be selected.

   It’s all about how viable the final product will be, but some considerations were Non-Obvious(TM).
   Priorities are: Quality, Cost, Volume, Scale.
   Beyond that, Ronen discussed the challenges of setting up manufacturing capacity in a decentralized perspective. The expectation of product repeatability under the demand of tight tolerances drives development at all levels: materials, printers, work force education.
   Once again, in-situ monitoring and data analysis are the essential tool.

   Interesting note: Metal AM is utilized to manufacture injection molding molds.

3. SEIZE THE MOMENT

   Steve Fournier, the Ronen Hadar of General Atomics, told us two days ago that after Kevin Czinger‘s key note at AMUG 2022, he sat down with him at the hotel Starbucks, and had a brainstorm.
   Thanks for the lead, Steve: I dared to crash the coffee break of the LEGO team and they were generous enough to exchange opinions on organizational behaviors and business development.

Back again to my MBA years: I recommend everyone reading about the leader who brought LEGO from near-bankruptcy to top-awarded brand, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp.

Professor Gianluca Colombo (Oh Captain! my Captain!) made us discuss this stunning case, which started from the LEGO people: employees and fan base.
One pill of wisdom: Innovation is favored by informal gatherings. Knudstorp identified the cue for lunch in the cantina as a place where people shared ideas like they did nowhere else. Think of a coffee area in a busy hotel as another possible spot for that and “make sure you talk to strangers”.

THANK YOU AMUG
I found great value in these two cases of advanced manufacturing adoption.

These are essentially success stories and contribute to lifting the veil of disillusion that has been dragged over AM for a bit too long, in my opinion.
Hands down, another win to take, Shannon VanDeren (AMUG 🦕) and team of dynos.

Luigi Alzati
VP Sales and Marketing
VALIMET, Inc.

#AdvancedManufacturing #AdditiveManufacturing #Strategy #Innovation #humanocracy