Mould King VS. Lego: Innovation Gap is Narrowing
Mould King VS. Lego: Innovation Gap is Narrowing
I want to explore another aspect of comparing these two brands: their innovation ability.
Much discussion has been on how Lego compares to other brands regarding proin terms ofyond this, I want to explore another area of comparison between these two brands in this article: their creativity capacities. This not only gives customers more options but also gives them knowledge about the latest design and technology trends in building blocks.
Company Backgrounds
The Danish corporation Lego Group was established in 1932. One of the biggest toy makers in the world, with its headquarters in Billund, Denmark, the firm is well-known for its distinctive plastic construction blocks.
In 2012, the well-known Chinese building block company Mould King was founded. Its leading firm, Yuxing Technology Co., Ltd., is based in Chenghai, China's famous "City of Toys and Gifts."
Product Comparison
Is Mould King Compatible with Lego?
Mould King's bricks are compatible with Lego, having almost the exact sizes, colours, and joining techniques. Apart from the Lego emblem, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between the two companies' bricks with the naked eye.
Targeted Audience
Through its Duplo sub-brand, Lego has effectively entered the children's market and has also been catering to adults and teenagers. On the other hand, Mould King concentrates on the adult and teenage market. Additionally, both companies want to attract customers worldwide, focusing on the North American, European, and Asian sectors.
Themes
Despite having a small product range, Mould King has carefully chosen each item. Each series may feature more than a thousand designs because of the emphasis on the main series. The series that this brand offers are as follows:
Movie Series, Modular Building Series, Technic Series, Star Wars Series, and Creative Series.
Lego, a well-known building block company worldwide, enthrals many viewers with its remarkable selection of television shows. In addition to gaining innumerable admirers for leisure and amusement, Lego has established standards in education and creativity with its iconic City and Technic sets and well-known partnerships with well-known intellectual properties.
Price
Although some fans contend that Lego blocks are of the highest calibre in the world, it is also indisputable that their cost is high. The items from Mould King are about 40–50% less expensive than it. The decision between the two brands is solely based on individual taste. If financial constraints are an issue and Lego devotion is not a high priority, looking into Chinese Lego substitutes like Mould King might be a more sensible action.
Innovation Capabilities in Comparison
Considering Lego's century-long legacy, which seems to eclipse any up-and-coming company, this isn't a topic worth investigating. However, as a newcomer to the industry, I argue that Mould King also has notable features that stand out.
Products Research and Development
Let's start by comparing the number of new products each brand has released this year through December. Except for Minifigures and Duplo sets, Mould King has published 101 new sets, while Lego has released 200. Lego is undoubtedly in the lead, but Mould King has also performed admirably for a newbie.
Product development entails conceiving the topic, brainstorming continuously, building the virtual model, testing and refining iteratively, and launching the product onto the market. This process is by no means quick or easy.
Nevertheless, aside from creating whole product lines, Lego is responsible for innovating individual blocks or bricks, not solely Mould King. That is an undeniable fact. Lego had developed into a pervasive building piece system since 1949 when it manufactured its first plastic brick. Designers use many tiles, bricks, Technic pieces, and other components to create a wide variety of scenarios in this system.
Mould King has produced some unique custom components, but many of its items are based on Lego's methodology. For instance, unlike Lego pieces, the money tree set created in partnership with us employs individually moulded leaves. Many Lego substitute users would prefer that Mould King, a well-known Chinese building block company, add more of its inventions to this system—possibly even a brand-new one.
Manufacturing and Production Technology
The decisions made by the two brands diverge significantly in these areas. 1947, Lego started constructing its supply chain, producing individual parts and entire construction kits. On the other hand, Mould King chose a stable and long-term partnership with Gobrick, a top-notch brickmaker in China. In the interim, Mould King concentrated on creating building block sets.
Mould King's Long-standing Partner–Gobricks
Among Gobrick's innovative production techniques are:
1. Precision, high-output plastic injection moulding equipment
2. Facilities for automated sorting and packaging
3. Laser engraving for serial numbers and ornamental prints
4. Using specialized mixing to create masses of ABS in exact colour combinations
5. Uniformity by air-driven part ejection from moulds
6. Strict criteria for quality control
Since its founding in 2017, Gobrick has made impressive strides in less than ten years. Currently, 100 million building block components may be produced monthly by its injection moulding process. It can produce more than 1 billion bricks a year with about 300 moulding machines running around the clock. Its automated storage system can also handle up to 120,000 bins of parts. Because of its vast capacity, it is a major supplier to other brands throughout China.
Lego: From Manual to Full Automation
In 1952, Lego only had one injection moulding machine, which produced 12–16 bricks every cycle. Employees manually clipped extra plastic from the bricks and inserted raw plastic pellets into the machine. Lego upgraded the moulds, got rid of the gating system, and used one-step injection moulding to increase efficiency. Its production capacity increased to 87,000 completed bricks per minute from 27,000 bricks per minute in 2006. The king of building bricks has fully automated its production process, although it still uses injection moulding.
Apart from their efficiency, Lego moulds' accuracy is impressive. The most substantial steel creates brick moulds, guaranteeing the best quality and the fewest tolerances. Lego bricks have a tolerance of +/- 0.004 inches. This implies that brick-to-brick variations in thickness are never more significant than the thickness of human hair! It's easy to infer that Lego has made enormous investments to achieve this degree of accuracy, which is astounding.
Application of Smart Components
Obtaining motors or lighting parts from building block toys is not novel. Adding sensors and programming software to these sets is even more intriguing. Lego and Mould King have their standard goods in this category. This contains Mould King's programmable robot model 15036 with Lego's colour and distance sensors.
Sustainability
Due to its excellent resilience and hardness, ABS plastic is widely acknowledged in this business as the best option for creating bricks. It is much more helpful because it can be recycled. For this reason, Mould King and Lego both use it. Additionally, Lego marks all of its packing bags in the US and Canada with "how2recycle" labels, giving customers precise instructions on recycling the packaging.
Licenses
Collaborations with numerous well-known companies and entertaining works have always been essential to fostering creativity. Fans can have a unique construction experience by incorporating aspects from famous novels, films, games, and more into building block toys. Lego has many licenses for Disney characters, Marvel superheroes, Harry Potter, Batman, and Mario. This is among the factors that contribute to the popularity of Lego products.
Despite having fewer licenses, Mould King has been actively working with MOC builders from China and worldwide in recent years. Mould King has broadened the scope of its collection by incorporating many exceptional inventions. For example, the Starbucks-inspired contemporary coffee shop set 16036 was created in partnership with South Korean designer Ohsojang. Additionally, the well-known MOC designer Brunojj made several Mould King automobile models.
In Conclusion
After a century of accumulation, Lego has firmly established itself as a leader in innovation. However, Mould King has also demonstrated significant momentum in catching up while standing on the shoulders of giants.
Mould King has drawn many customers to products with related themes using its pricing advantage. Lego offers many themes, but the alternative brand has also distinguished itself with its unique pieces. In addition to launching bright component goods that follow current trends with the help of strong supply partners, it has also worked with gifted MOC designers to demonstrate their reactions to how they plan to catch up to Lego.