Manufacturing plays an important role in Danish industry and has a global reputation of being innovative, responsive to customers’ needs and resilient to external risks.

Even though no one could have foreseen the corona crisis, which has shut down big parts of society, Danish industry has proven its worth. It has not only been able to keep the wheels turning, but has also been committed to supporting the healthcare system by providing health service and converting production in no time.

According to the Danish Medicines Agency in just 24 hours on March 24^th 2020 more than 500 Danish companies, from global leaders to small startups, volunteered to produce personal protective equipment (PPE)

One of them was the world-known toys manufacturer Lego, that switched production to produce face visors.

According to robot expert Malene Grouleff it is not a coincidence that a manufacturer such as LEGO is able to help in times of crisis.

It will benefit the automated companies in Denmark that the Danish robotics industry has developed robots that match SMEs' need for flexible and agile production. This creates the basis for the manufacturing industries to cope well with the shock effects of the corona crisis. As an example, right now during the pandemic, we see more than 20 manufacturers in the plastic industry in Denmark have announced that, not least because of their automated production, they can step in and help ensure increased supply of PPE to the healthcare system.

Malene Grouleff

Robot expert and journalist

In just three weeks, about 100 employees across the whole LEGO group developed a prototype and had a casting mould ready to produce face visors at LEGO’s factory in Billund. The same process normally takes up to a half a year for a new LEGO mould.

The plastic visors are produced from six production lines and delivered free of charge. Nevertheless, LEGO stand ready and relatively quickly the production can be increased if the demand is there, also without having an impact on the normal LEGO production.