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Mattel is reeling from its massive recalls of poisonous toys made in
China. How can the company inspect tens of millions of toys
manufactured 6000 miles away? It cannot. How can they
company quickly and deftly respond to changes in market demand in the
U.S. with such an extended supply chain? It seems difficult and
wasteful.
Many successful European toy companies
have determined it best to manufacture at home. Lego of Denmakr
and Playmobil of German produce in Europe. They can control
quality. They can respond to changing demand. They can
avoid thousands of miles in transportation, border inspections and
delays.
“Toys are not the fashion business, but they are like the fashion
business,” Mr. Padda (of Lego) said. “The need to be able to react to
what is going on in the market made us choose” Europe.
As Ms. Schauer (of Playmobil) put it: “You cannot blindly believe
in German manufacturing. But when you are so close to the factory, you
can jump in your car and be there in 20 minutes.”
Well, apparently you can't blindly believe in China outsourcing either. And the belief is indeed blind.
An Detroit toolmaker, who will remain anonymous, told General Motors
that it had developed a production process to make an autopart at high
quality for the same price as if it were source in China. The GM
procurement person reportedly said, "Great. Now if you
make it in China, we'll buy it."
Detroit's automakers are
not currently respected for making great business decisions. But
let's all join together and mindlessly promote "free trade", or what
passes for it these days. If you don't, the threat of
excommunication from the cocktail parties remains.
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