The News with Chinese Characteristics: Yesterday's News Seems Very
Comical Today -- Toymaking in China, Mattel's Way/IHT

July 26, 2007

Toymaking in China, Mattel's Way

By DAVID BARBOZA and LOUISE STORY

SHENZHEN, China, July 19 ― Inside Mattel's sprawling test lab here,
scores of technicians are doing their worst: setting Chicken Dance Elmo
dolls on fire, wrecking Hot Wheels cars and yanking at the limbs of Dora
the Explorer. The lab workers are paid to break toys, pick apart their
innards, and analyze the raw materials that go into them.

The goal is to protect young children from the serious harm that poor
construction or dangerous components can bring. But it is also to
protect Mattel, the world's biggest toy maker, from what is increasingly
viewed as the risk of doing business in China.

The recent wave of recalls and warnings from China has ignited worldwide
concern about the safety of Chinese products, potentially mucking up a
global system built, in large part, on outsourced manufacturing. As a
result, companies are trying urgently to figure out how to do business
here, without risking their reputation, consumer trust, or customers' lives.

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