First flat-pack furniture story true

Heard the tale that Gillis Lundgren pulled the legs off a table in 1956 to fit it in a car and that kicked off IKEA’s knock-down era. On our line we balance to a 90-second takt for KD assemblies, so I’m curious if that origin story checks out and what the first mass-produced flat-pack piece was. Also curious how early factories handled quality control on those cam-and-dowel joints compared to what we do now?

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Story checks out — Lundgren’s 1956 “legs off” moment is real — but the first mass-produced flat-pack was the Lövet (later Lövbacken) side table. On a 90‑second takt, we kept QC tight by using a preset about 3 Nm cam torque driver with an audible click and a quick 100 N pull jig on the dowel joint — like a seatbelt click you can move to the next station.

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