Make A Living In The Toy Biz?

[marx]

I like toys plain and simple. Lately I've been wondering, how would someone make a living in the toy biz? How would you get in?

I guess there are multiple positions. But what are they and how do you get to them? (I'm aware of assembly line worker so we can leave that out)

[Fort Max]

Selling toys would be the simplest thing to do but there are allready dozens of people who love toys doing just that so getting noticed is going to be hard work.

If you're talking about actually creating toys then I imagine some kind of design qualification would be essential as well as a portfolio of designs and stuff you've done.

The question is a bit vague really, what did you have in mind?

[Eternal_D]

I want to own a toy company...that manufaturers toys from start to finish.

[Sumdumgai]

I just want to be rich so that I don't get all the headaches of being the owner of a company with all sorts of legal things, workers comp, etc etc...

[wolfx]

I want to make macross toys and rival Yamato. XD

[Kin]

What a difficult question. There are too many branches in this business.

[Uxi]

Don't forget to hire good QC people.

[Guppy]

I'm assuming Marx is talking about starting up an online toy shop business?

I've considered this myself a couple of times but too much competition, too much risk and not enough return for my blood.

[marx]

I'm thinking more on the lines of design. But there are multiple processes to design and production.

There is a science to the construction of the plastic in toys, right?

Are all toys only painted on the surface or is the color all the way through the plastic?

If the coloration is only on surface is it sprayed on?

How are multiple shades and colors applied and layered?

Is an original toy mold made of clay?

-If so What type of clay is used? Oil Based, Water based or something weird like sculpy?

Is a metal mold used for production?

-If so how is the metal mold created?

--Is it similar to a lost wax method?

-Do metal molds break down overtime?

-Are there multiple metal molds for single pieces or just one metal mold in existance for a piece of a toy?

[Neova]

There are many aspects to the "design" phase of any product.

You got the concept artists, mechanical engineers, modelers / sculptor, product managers, design director and at least a marketing / sales guy involved.

Each guy would take on a part of the process:

concept guy draws out the concept

sculptor does the actual sculpting

MEs figure out if it’s feasible as a toy

product managers or project managers works with everyone to stay on schedule and budget

sales and marketing provide customer / market input on trends, sales forecast, etc...

design director calls the shot on the final design

No one person will do all you have listed unless it’s a garage operation. In that case, just do what you do best and work up from there.

It sounds like you're more interested in the engineering and production of the product than the actual design since most artist / designers / sculptors in any product based company usually would not have to deal with those headaches. The ME would focus on those things, make recommended changes to the designers so the company can support the production of the product.

Take a few engineering courses, or read a book or check online to get an idea of the production cycle of a toy or other product. It’s pretty much the same manufacturing process for any type of product using the same materials (plastic). Only the end product is different.

Edited March 6, 2006 by Neova

[Kin]

I can't imagine doing all that stuff at the same time.. at least if you have some experience or else it's a bad gamble of your investement.

How many time, people, money and phases in order to finish one toy.

Unless you want to make joons