Where Your Toys Are Made

[M.D. Holloway]

To add to the manufacturing lies thread, another associate wrote this piece. Sheds a little bit of light on where our kids toys come from.

Toy Story
By Andrea Lyn Van Benschoten, Web Editor, Manufacturing.net
Manufacturing.Net - December 18, 2006

When Santa comes down the chimney this year delivering Christmas gifts, children won’t notice that their G.I. Joe’s were made in China … but American manufacturers will.

Like so many other labor-intensive endeavors, toy manufacturing has been heading to overseas markets, namely China, for years. In the 1960's, “Real American Hero,” G.I. Joe manufacturing was moved from Hasbro’s Pawtucket, Rhode Island, factory to Canada. Now they are made in China.

Mattel is the world’s largest toy manufacturer, owning some of the most well known brands, including American Girl, Hot Wheels and Matchbox. Barbie is a lasting American toy, with Mattel’s headquarters in El Segundo, CA. But while manufacturing of the cardboard packaging, paint pigments and molds take place in the United States, Barbie’s nylon hair is from Japan and the manufacturing of the doll is done in China.

Swan Lake Barbie is made in Indonesia.
Other timeless toys, like Play-Doh, Etch-A-Sketch, Tonka Trucks and Matchbox cars are all made in China. Even the classic Lincoln Logs are made in China.

According to data collected by the U.S. Commerce Department, the majority of toys destined for American markets are still designed in the U.S., but large-scale production has shifted to other markets, focusing on Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. Evidence of this trend is seen in the drop in American toy manufacturing employment, which has decreased by half over the last 10 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

U.S. exports of toys decreased by six percent in 2003, to $3.47 billion, according to the 2003 Survey of Manufacturing by the Census Bureau. This is directly related to the manufacture of toys heading overseas.

Small Players, Big Demand

The American toy industry is characterized by a few large manufacturers, like Hasbro and Mattel, and many smaller producers. In 2002, 80 percent of these smaller producers employed less than 20 people, according to the North American Industry Classification System. Smaller toy companies do not have the ability to meet domestic demand, so they are regularly purchased by larger manufactures as a way to develop product lines. And many of those product lines wind up in overseas manufacturing centers.

One of the many Tonka brand trucks made in China.

No surprise there, according to Cliff Waldman, an Economist with the Manufacturers Alliance/ MAPI, who says that the domestic toy manufacturing base doesn’t make it worthwhile.

“Toys are a great example of low-skilled manufacturing,” Waldman said. “America is no longer going to do that.”

A majority of board games have a manufacturing split between the U.S. and China. Connect Four, Life and Chutes and Ladders are three of the few games that are completely made in America, while others are a hodge-podge of manufacturing locations. Monopoly notes its manufacturing locations as “Made in U.S.A with bagged components made in China.” Scrabble says it is made in the U.S.; however the racks, tiles and letter bag are all made in China, which leaves only the game board and packaging to be assumed to be made domestically.

The classic board game Yahtzee is made in the U.S., but contains dice made in China. Operation claims to be made in the U.S., but the tweezers, light bulb and game module is made in China, which really only leaves the packing and a few small game items.

Candyland is primarily made domestically, with only the pawns made in China.


Waldman pointed out that as globalization spreads, so does western culture and the interest in American toys abroad.

“Even from a cultural point of view, it doesn’t surprise me,” Waldman said.


Toy Sales Are Serious Business

Worldwide sales of traditional toys, excluding video games, totaled $59.4 billion in 2003, up 6.1 percent from the previous year, according to the International Council of Toy Industries. Including video games, worldwide sales exceeded $85 billion.

Many toy manufacturers are very protective of their exporting of these manufacturing processes. The makers of the American Girl doll collection declined to be interviewed, responding, “We don’t share specific business information or provide marketing or manufacturing statistics…we rarely participate in business stories, and instead focus on generating interest in our American Girl products in the consumer media.” Other toy makers wouldn’t respond at all.

Because the majority of toy manufacturing occurs overseas, U.S. trade statistics do not reflect the global strength of the industry. Growth for U.S. toys increased in the United Kingdom, Korea, German, the Netherlands and Australia. These increases offset decreases in the Canadian, Japanese, Hong Kong, Paraguayan and Columbian markets.

Waldman agrees that the U.S. would like to focus strictly on high-tech equipment, like medical devices, and leave toy and lower-end manufacturing to countries like China and Indonesia.

“America wants to focus on capital goods and high R&D innovations,” Waldman said. “We’re not going to grow it if it doesn’t make sense.”

[Jim Richards]

ni hao

[scottmandue]

*** I like Chinese
*** from Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album
*** transcribed from tape 11/16/87 Daniel Rich

(spoken)
The world today is absolutely cracked.
With nuclear bombs to blow us all sky high.
There's fools and idiots sitting on the trigger.
It's depressing, and it's senseless, and that's why...

(singing)
I like chinese,
I like chinese,
They only come up to you knees,
Yet they're always friendly and they're ready to to please.

I like chinese,
I like chinese,
There's nine hundred million of them in the world today,
You'd better learn to like them, that's what I say.

I like chinese,
I like chinese,
They come from a long way overseas,
But they're cute, and they're cuddly, and they're ready to please.

I like chinese food,
The waiters never are rude,
Think the many things they've done to impress,
There's maoism, taoism, eging and chess.

I like chinese,
I like chinese,
I like their tiny little trees,
Their zen, their ping-pong, their ying and yang-eze.

I like chinese thought,
The wisdom that Confusious taught,
If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The chinese will survive us all without any doubt.

So, I like chinese,
I like chinese,
They only come up to you knees,
Yet they're wise, and they're witty, and they're ready to please

Wo ai Zhong-guo ren [Wo, I chumba run]
Wo ai Zhong-guo ren
Wo ai Zhong-guo ren
Ni Hao Ma? Ni Hao Ma? Ni Hao Ma? Zai zhen [Ne hamma? ... Chi Chen]

I like chinese,
I like chinese,
They're food is guaranteed to please,
A fourteen, a seven, a nine and li-chese

I like chinese,
I like chinese,
I like their tiny little trees,
Their zen, their ping-pong, their yin and yang-eze

I like chinese,
I like chinese,
(fade out....)

[Jim Richards]

My wife was made in Taiwan. No complaintrs about the quality, she's held up for XX years, so far.

I (made in USA), on the other hand...

[TheMentat]

I was made in Canada, but I'm a choking hazard for small women.

[Nathans_Dad]

Things like these are exactly why I have about 5% of my portfolio in an asian investment mutual fund.

If you can't beat em...

[M.D. Holloway]

The margins on design, service, distribution and sales are far greater than those of manufacturing. If given the choice, I would take the paper end of this biz anyday.

[Rick Lee]

My current gf and several exes were made in China. I love it there. What I would really love is for all people who work in the customer service field to go to China for training. No better cust. service anywhere in the world.

[legion]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
No better cust. service anywhere in the world.

That's because they understand the 'happy ending'.

[m21sniper]

Hmmm, mine is made in Buenos Aires. No complaints so far, though the warranty could be better.

[M.D. Holloway]

Mine was made in Iowa - fed on corn and bred to beef!

[alf]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
No better cust. service anywhere in the world.

China is hit and miss, high end places have excellent service. Local places leave much to be desired.

Japan on the other hand is excellent just about anywhere you go. From the corner store to the hotel. You also pay 10x what you do in China.

The UK is the worst.

My wife was made in the US but designed in China.