YOGAYUGA

There are millions of Chinese toys being recalled by the US recently. UK and Australia are also involved. Personally, I have my own opinion on this issue. I am also in the industry. I can see the problems occurred in both buyers and sellers.

Chinese production needs to be under strict control policy. This is the overall understanding of buyers worldwide towards Chinese market. The labour cost is low, so the production cost is low. This is why Chinese production is popular. Eg. Chinese production costs USD0.30/plush toy vs US production cost USD10.00/plush toy It’s a big difference. Strict policy is very much related to the production cost. If strict requirement needed to be achieved then certain policies should be adopted before products shipped aboard. A piece of plush toy is qualified to pass the standard international safety testing, which should cost USD1.00 - USD1.50/pc. If buyers gave a high price for purchasing, the factory will use high quality raw material to produce. But if the price was low, then they can only use inferior materials for production. This is the matter of fact. You get what you pay. Sometimes, it is really not a good idea to bargain too hard with Chinese manufacturers, as buyers will risk getting shoddy products.

Per my personal experience, every production of 100,000pcs of toys required two details testing conducted by international safety service before everything shipped to the U.S. If the quantity is up to 500,000pcs, then it will require three details testing to be conducted as well as factory audit. There will be up to 10% - 20% of products being tested and inspected randomly in one shipment. More testing conduct, more costs need to pay. It’s all about money issues. All qualified testing are well covered such as high lead content, physical and mechanical testing, packing evaluation and heavy metals analysis. If any of these couldn’t be passed, none of pieces can leave China. Design problem can also be tested under these criteria. We don’t allow suppliers to send us samples for testing. We appointed our testing service to collect samples on site. No one can cheat. This is adopted and restricted by our clients in the U.S. The testing service is appointed by them. They limited any chance of getting risk. They pay much more on their products, but we all are safe. No one will make any compensation in the end. They really get what they should have.

I am not trying to say who is making mistake, but I honestly don’t understand how come those big brand toy companies would have these problems occurred after they had their products on shelves. All the problems they are facing now, they can solve them right at the beginning. They are buyers, so they can control what they get. They just need to conduct very tighten control plan for every single detail process. It certainly requires them to pay much more on their production costs. Some toy recalls are actually back to 2003, then certainly they hadn’t done much control planning. The victims are consumer in the end.

Chinese production really needs to be controlled and strictly instructed according to my experiences. You need to tell the suppliers “YOU HAVE TO DO THIS” “IF YOU DIDN”T DO THIS, WE CAN’T HAVE OUR BUSINESS MAINTAINED” I always tell my suppliers they have to pass this and that, otherwise, they will pay all failure charges. I must tell them fact rather than let them to take everything too easy. It’s always very tough situation in Mainland production.

Regardless of what the issues are, I don’t believe Chinese production is all bad. It needs support and instruction of international partners. It needs smooth communication and co-operation of various parties solving these issues. Once mistakes made, there must be improvement. It could be an unlucky period for Chinese production, but it’s also a good way to step forward, and learn. This is how I think.