Change is Afoot
In the words of one toy exec, China is 'shunning' the toy industry. We have heard this elsewhere before. Toy companies having a hard time finding engineers, factories to work on toys, and workers to man the factories in China. Late orders this year also means some factories have only 1/10 of the workers they need; 500 workers where they need 4000-5000 workers for the high season, which is now.
Bandai is already building factories in the Philipines and Mattel is moving their manufacturing big time to Mexico. Cheap labor abounds in Cambodia and Vietnam, but there no infrastructure support. Chinese engineers and developers are leaving toys. There's no margin and no money, so they are chasing higher tech work.
Product will be tight on the shelves this year.
Tags: manufacturing, toy, toys, factory, build, china, export, import, US, companies, business, retail, sales, marketing, labor, work, force, people, shun, industry, product, cambodia, vietnam, philippines, mexico, margin, money