The Factory theme was introduced in 2005 and was powered by LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), a free LEGO virtual building program for the computer. Using the LDD people could design their own 3-D LEGO virtual model, and submit it for purchase using the LEGO Shop-at-home. The Factory platform was also designed to allow users to view and purchase other users custom creations. Once ordered, these Factory sets came in special packaging that showed the model as well as all included LEGO elements needed to build the design.
During Factory's beta phase, The LEGO Group sponsored a contest where people could submit their designs, in which 8,000 designs were submitted and people and LEGO Master Model Builders voted on the top models. Ten models were selected to become real LEGO sets available exclusively through LEGO Shop-at-Home.
In 2009, LEGO Factory was replaced by Design byME.