Mattel Case Analysis : Toy Safety

We have a large shipment of our elementary toy collection scheduled ship at the end of this week but have encountered a problem with the production. One of the products in this collection has failed the quality control testing exceeding the legal limits of lead set by the federal government. This shipment will be delivered to South American schools. As of August 14, 2011 the total legal lead content must not exceed 100 parts per million for a product (CPSC 2013). Our levels tested above these limits and require us to take action. To reproduce this product it will cost the company

An elementary toy that is due to be shipped at the end of the week has failed quality control testing. A metal whistle has been shown to exceed the federal regulation guidelines for lead. The testing process showed the lead level for this particular toy tested at 103 parts per million. The federal guidelines dictate that toys cannot contain lead with more than 100 parts per million (OSHA, 2013). The projected cost to conform to federal guidelines and replace the whistle are

In Kurt Vonnegut’s eyes, America is being taught that some books and ideas are tantamount to diseases. As a consequence, the humorous, satirical novel Cat’s Cradle has been unjustly challenged in a few areas of the United States. The novel looks at the structures that curb our society, especially in religion and science, and contains an educational value that is paramount in correlation to its suggestive themes. Therefore, despite Cat’s Cradle’s minor suggestive content, including religious satire and mature themes, the book possesses important concepts that should not be overshadowed by these negligible reasons. It is puzzling how the novel received bans for such irrational conclusions.

All toys and equipment must relevant to the child’s age and stage of development and comply with BSEN benchmarks for safety.

In this day and age consumers always want more and they want it at the lowest price possible, but are they willing to risk the danger that could derive from it? Hundreds of thousands of toys are imported daily from overseas countries, such as China, into the United States, some toys are inspected for irregularities, but most are not. This may not seem like such a problem but the truth of the matter is that it is one of the larger problems in the nation right now. Children’s toys imported from China are found to be contaminated with high levels of lead and infecting American children with lead poisoning. Some people may say that this is an unnecessary argument, that China isn’t doing anything harmful, maybe it was just a few faulty toys,

This is really important because if there are toys on lying on the floor carelessly it is more likely that a child could trip over it or put it in their mouth and injury themselves with it.

The biggest environment force affected Mattel recently has been legal and regulatory with the high levels of lead paint found in their die-cast toys in 2007. This issue created a voluntary recall from Mattel for over 2 million toys and created doubt in customers to the quality of their Mattel toys. Mattel responded by immediately implementing a check system to accept paint only from certified suppliers, tightened controls throughout the production process and testing every production run to ensure compliance. Mattel said that it is working in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies worldwide. Mattel is also working with retailers worldwide to identify and remove affected products from retail shelves.

While Mattel had been a leader in safety standard and regulation, even collaborating with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) as well as establishing Global Manufacturing Principals (GMPs) the regulatory standards in place were not thorough enough. In 2007, quality issues surfaced within Mattel as various products were found to contain levels way beyond U.S. federal toy safety regulations. During the year, other issues surfaced with Mattel products surrounding the safety

Design –Toys are designed by a small and selected group of people who develop the concepts for the products.

In analyzing ratios, we recognized an improvement in both return on equity and return on asset ratios if we adopt the level monthly production.

Mattel is a global toy company that has been around since 1949. They are the company that introduced Barbie and Hot Wheels to the world as well as many others toys. Mattel has license agreements with Walt Disney and Nickelodeon. In

The problem surrounding Mattel Inc. is their mismanagement of international subcontractors and vendors and the production of certain toys (the manufacturing process), as well as their inability to adapt their marketing strategy or product to the constantly changing “demographic and socioeconomic trends.” This is supported by Mattel’s legal battle with Carter Bryant and MGA, their forced recall of certain toys that were manufactured overseas, and the increasing rate at which traditional toys are becoming less appealing to today’s young audience. Essentially, Mattel’s mismanagement and oversight lead to violations in terms of ethical and social responsibilities and safety standards.

To achieve this about 65 percent of its toy manufacturing was moved to Asia where its products could be produced cheaper. In doing so Mattel now has to work within the culture of its manufacturing facilities to ensure healthy and safe operations to its employees. This means that wage, possible child labor, and other ethical issues could arise, thus as stated before the Global Manufacturing Principles were created and implemented.

The Corporate name, founding date, founding leaders. Toys R Us Inc., founding date was 1948 and the founding leader was Charles P Lazarus. The company, which was originated in Washington D.C. was named Children’s Bargain Town.

The IKEA website sets out a principled approach in terms of product safety, in particular in relation to the use of chemicals and other potentially hazardous substances. Particular attention is placed on children’s products which IKEA holds to a “particularly high quality and safety requirements”. Products are tested at various accredited laboratories across the world while children’s products are submitted to testing at an IKEA third-party accredited test laboratory in Almhult, Sweden.