Toys Can Offer Some Valuable Lessons

By Amy Rowell

’Tis the season — the holiday shopping season, that is. But considering the challenges facing toymakers this year, a letter from Santa could wind up sounding something like this:

Dear Children of All Ages:

Listen up. I’m terribly sorry to report this, but it appears that Santa might have a tough time coming up with some of your favorite toys this year. The fact is that the toy-making business just isn’t as simple as it used to be — what with toymakers like me facing increasingly complex globalization issues — not to mention an ever-growing need to shorten design cycles and satisfy accelerated time-to-market schedules. Not only that, but some of the elves have become so engaged in cutting costs that we’ve ended up with far more than a sleigh full of “misfit toys” this year.

  So, here’s the thing — until we get this mess straightened out, maybe you should think about adding a favorite book or two to your wish list instead, or try asking your parents to spend more time playing with you rather than giving you that bright and shiny new toy to play with.

  Sending you my sincerest regrets and best wishes for a happy holiday season.

Yours truly, Santa

All kidding aside, the reality is that making toys is serious business — a message that is becoming all too clear in the wake of the alarming numbers of toy recalls hitting retailers this year.

  Toy giant Mattel, Inc., for example, ordered the recall of more than 21 million toys this summer amid concerns over the potential health risks posed by such popular products as Sarge toy cars and a host of Barbie accessories. Specifically, lead-based paint was found on three million of these toys (reportedly the result of using a low-cost Chinese supplier), while a “design flaw” linked to the use of dangerous tiny magnets (capable of being swallowed and causing death) was blamed in the recall of more than 18 million of the company’s playsets.

  Unfortunately, the story doesn’t stop there. Recently, millions of units of a popular toy bead product known as Acqua Dots were also recalled after children began getting sick from swallowing the product’s small parts. The culprit? Instead of being coated with the non-toxic chemical, 1,5-pentanediol, the beads were improperly coated with the less-costly chemical compound 1,4-butanediol, a substance that is metabolized into GHB, the “date-rape” drug gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, after being ingested.

  What to make of all this upsetting news? Sad as it is, let us hope that it prompts manufacturers to become even more diligent in dealing with foreign suppliers, and to impose stricter standards in their manufacturing operations, wherever such operations might be located.

  Perhaps even more importantly, it should serve as a reminder to manufacturers of just how important the role of the design professional is in the overall product development process — and how critical it is to equip these individuals with the kinds of analysis tools that can enable them to detect design flaws early in the design process, well before such flaws can hit store shelves and pose safety hazards.

  This becomes critical when the reality is that the use of such design tools could save a whole lot more than money. They could save lives.

Amy Rowell is an editor and analyst in the high-tech/manufacturing sector, specializing in topics related to PLM, innovation, globalization, and new product development. Send e-mail about this article to DE-Editorsmailto:[email protected].