* The calculations use average data for Russia

We have already written several times about how to open a business related to the production of toys, including toys made from natural materials and, in particular, from wood. The relevance of this business idea is not only not decreasing. On the contrary, the difficult economic situation in the country, a sharp increase in exchange rates and restrictions on imported products - all this leads to the revival of almost forgotten traditions and to an increase in interest in domestic games and toys.

Wooden toys are popular not only in our country. They are one of the oldest and most enduring groups of games and toys in the world. However, at present their production in Russia is rather poorly developed. There are several relatively small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs operating in the market. In total, the total number of factories and individual workshops is a little more than thirty throughout the country (!). For comparison, the production of wooden toys in Europe is carried out by several hundred factories (including large enterprises with a large number of employees) and thousands of amateurs of artistic woodworking.

In our country, the wooden toy market is dominated by imported products, mainly made in China. Moreover, most Chinese toys are of low quality and do not have the greatest variety of shapes. According to analysts, today there are good prerequisites for new participants to enter the market. These include the rapidly growing volume of sales of children's goods and, first of all, children's toys in our country (the increase is about 28%), which, in turn, is associated with an increase in the birth rate, an increase in interest in the early development of children (which is impossible without high-quality and “correct” toys from a pedagogical point of view) and consumer preference for safe and high-quality products (even if they have to pay a price higher than the market average). As mentioned above, even the crisis had virtually no impact on this market segment. Quite the opposite. Parents are the last to agree to save money on their children, but the economic situation forces them to look for alternatives to imported toys that have become much more expensive among domestic products. Wooden toys are durable and long lasting. High-quality wooden products are completely safe for children, serve as educational toys and are considered an original gift for any occasion.

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However, the business of producing toys in general, and wooden ones in particular, cannot be called simple. The manufacturer is required not only to be able to develop an original concept for their products, set up production, find the optimal balance between price and quality of the product, but also to beat other competitors, create and implement an effective campaign to promote their toys. Moreover, it is the last problems that are most difficult to solve. The technology for making wooden toys itself is considered to be relatively simple and does not require large investments.

Organization of production of wooden toys

In order to organize your own small enterprise for the production of games and toys from wood, you will need, first of all, a separate premises for production. It is best to divide the premises into several production areas, isolated from one another. In one of these zones, artists will work who create sketches of future toys, in others the production process will be carried out: wood processing, painting, assembly and packaging of toys. The workshop also needs to be supplied with electricity and water supply.

Finding a room is not a problem. To begin with, you can get by with even a small area. Someone opens production in a garage or on a summer cottage. But with equipment the question is more complicated. It is a common belief that general-purpose woodworking machines are sufficient for making wooden toys. The minimum list includes a chisel and four machines - grinding, drilling, edge banding, CNC milling, equipment for painting, equipment for packaging (however, products can also be packed manually). Consumables for making toys are linden, birch, spruce, pine, beech (the strongest, but also the most expensive raw materials). Different types of wood are purchased in different regions of our country. For example, beech is imported from the Krasnodar region, and birch from the middle zone. For painting, only high-quality paints are used that are completely safe for children. However, not everything is so simple with them either. There are no more than three domestic manufacturers of completely safe paints in our country. In addition, they do not offer real paints, but rather tinting mixtures of oils and waxes of natural origin. Although these compositions are completely safe for children, their covering ability leaves much to be desired. Such paints, although environmentally friendly, are too transparent. It would seem that that’s all the costs.

The problem is that not everything can be made on a regular woodworking machine. Of course, if you are going to produce standard products (cubes, balls, counting sticks, etc.), then a four-sided surface planer, a cross-cutting tool with a finishing cutter, a lathe copier or a template knife for a regular lathe, or a screw-cutting lathe will be sufficient. But to produce complex designer (and, therefore, exclusive) toys, you will need special equipment, including machines for high-quality processing of small parts of complex geometric shapes. Unfortunately, there are no domestic machines of this type, in principle. Even in Soviet times, when the production of wooden toys was put on stream, the thirty machine-building plants of the Glavdrevstankoprom of the USSR Ministry of Stankoprom were not able to produce all the machine tools necessary for the industry. By the way, world-famous Soviet matches and ice cream sticks, which were produced at Tsentrmebeli enterprises, were manufactured using Swedish equipment.

The technological process of producing wood products assumes that the smaller you make it, the more difficult it is to make it. Especially when it comes to large quantities of manufactured products. In the West, even robots are used to make complex wooden toys. Of course, we are still far from such technologies. Most small workshops make do with simple and cheap general-purpose machines. And they can be used to make complex products, but this requires qualified and experienced craftsmen. Unfortunately, there are very few such specialists in our country. In addition, handmade toys are labor-intensive and therefore cost much more than factory-made ones. It is difficult for them to compete with products produced in the countries of Southeast Asia, where global toy production is gradually moving. Chinese factories are constantly modernizing equipment and improving the quality of their products. These facilities may employ thousands of workers, engineers and designers. Domestic craftsmen never dreamed of such a scale. Russian manufacturers of wooden toys, on the one hand, are trying to revive traditions that previously existed during Tsarist Russia and later the USSR, but do not yet have the capabilities to implement their ambitious projects. The problem, as usual, is money. Everyone is trying to solve it in their own way. Some companies are moving production to China, while others are simplifying the shape of the toys they produce or choosing one direction to work (for example, the production of construction sets from elements of geometric shapes), which allows them to use cheaper woodworking equipment. Both options are suitable for organizing mass production.

Handicraft workshops rely on the exclusive - handmade, complex shapes, careful design of each toy and a limited assortment. This is how completely unusual products are born. True, the prices for these products cannot be called ordinary either. For example, a detailed wooden doll measuring 45 cm will cost about 8-10 thousand rubles. How many parents can buy such toys for their children? Entrepreneurs themselves say that with proper positioning, there will always be demand for an exclusive, no matter what price is asked for it. However, such production can hardly be called profitable: with small batches, even a large markup does not save the situation.

There are also middle options, when a small workshop produces small and not very complex, but, nevertheless, designer toys. Their cost turns out to be comparable to the cost of high-quality factory-made plastic toys. Parents are usually willing to overpay a little for the environmental friendliness and originality of the toy.

Large companies rely on ease of manufacture, the absence of small parts that a child could break off from the toy, and bright design that attracts the attention of children. Small firms cite unusual design, muted colors (pastel colors), “souvenir” orientation of their products, and limited editions as their competitive advantages.

Regardless of the volumes in which you produce your products, you will need special computer programs that will make it much simpler and easier to create original toy models and put them into production.

Documents for the production of children's toys

All toys intended for children must be certified. This procedure is mandatory and serves as confirmation of product quality. In addition, for the production and further sale of children's toys in Russia, you will need to issue a hygiene certificate - the so-called sanitary-epidemiological certificate (SEZ). Although, according to the law, you first need to issue a SEZ, and only then go through the procedure of mandatory product certification, nevertheless, authorized organizations working on the “one-stop-shop” principle usually issue both documents simultaneously.

What exactly belongs to the category “toys for children”? The main distinguishing feature of children's toys is their play purpose. They should be intended for children's play activities. Please note: products with developmental or educational purposes (puzzles, strategy games, musical instruments, etc.), dolls - puppets, souvenirs, equipment for sports games are not children's toys. All children's toys can be classified according to: the age of the child (for newborns, for babies 3-4 months, for children 1-2 years old, etc.); material of manufacture (plastic, rubber, fur, wood, combined); educational purposes (sound, musical, visual, motor, constructive, figurative); devices: electric (a certificate is issued for children's toys in accordance with GOST R 51557-99 and other regulatory documents), soft, simple (cubes), mechanical, prefabricated (construction sets), on wheels (cars), inflatable (balls, balls) ); appearance: dolls depicting people, animals, other creatures, imitation weapons, toy cars, toy objects (pots and sets of plates, toy cell phones and glasses), musical instruments, etc.

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A certificate for children's toys is issued if the product meets the mandatory requirements specified in the following standards: GOST 27178-86 Toys. Test methods; GOST ISO 8124-2-2001 Toys. General safety requirements and test methods. Flammability; GOST ISO 8124-3-2001 Toys. General safety requirements and test methods. Isolation of elements harmful to the child’s health; GOST R ISO 8124-3-99 Toys. General safety requirements and test methods. Isolation of elements harmful to the child’s health; GOST R ISO 8124-2-2008 Toys. General safety requirements. Part 2. Flammability.

When passing the certification procedure for children's toys, the material from which the products are made, the functionality of the toys, and their safety for the child are checked. Monitoring whether toys are appropriate for a certain age of children is also of great importance. Therefore, even at the stage of developing the concept of a future toy, it is worth involving teachers and psychologists in this process. Ideally, it is best to submit your products for psychological and pedagogical examination at an independent center.

The most difficult situation is with toys for children under three years of age. They must be completely safe (toys for children should not get into the throat or twist around the neck), strong enough to eliminate the possibility of injections or cuts, and designed in such a way that a child cannot tear, disassemble or bite them. In addition, they should not have rough surfaces or sharp edges. This is especially important when it comes to wooden toys. After all, any defect in surface treatment can be fraught with a splinter or a scratch. Rattles and other wooden toys intended for babies are not coated with paint or varnish, but are boiled in a mixture of wax and linseed oil - this is the safest and highest quality wood processing. Only if all these requirements are met will you be able to obtain a certificate for your toys from the certification body.

Keep in mind that as a manufacturer of children's toys, you must ensure that not only your products, but also your entire production process meets regulatory requirements. The certificate is issued both for a specific batch of products and for serial production of several types of toys: toy weapons, construction sets and prefabricated houses, toy cars, trains (electric and non-electric, as well as accessories), airplanes and ships, toy watches, abacus and etc.,

toy musical instruments (pianos, trumpets, drums, gramophones, harmonicas, accordions, xylophones, etc.), dolls, houses, furniture, dishes and clothes for dolls, rattles for babies, etc.

For the products you produce, you will need to draw up Technical Specifications (TS) and have certificates for all materials you use in the production of children's toys. If you plan to import your toys, it is also worth obtaining a quality management system certificate.

We are recruiting staff

To work in a small workshop for the production of children's toys, two or three people will be enough. However, they must be masters in their field, and, unfortunately, it is very difficult to find such people. The tradition of making wooden toys has almost been lost. Good specialists in this field can be found, perhaps, in central Russia and in the north, and not in cities, but in villages and villages. If you can find woodworkers, consider yourself very lucky. Over time, the staff of workers can be expanded (the number of workers in large workshops is 15-20 people, and this is in the presence of automated equipment), and apprentices can be hired who will learn from the masters all the intricacies of the job. A good craftsman can also train everyone in paid courses for making designer wooden toys, which will become an additional source of profit. Some workshops even organize excursions for those who want to get acquainted with artistic woodworking and watch the craftsmen at work. Such excursions are especially popular among foreigners.

Wooden toys are a popular product, but only if your target audience knows about you. The difficulty is that you will have to promote your products not only and not so much to your city or region, but to the whole country. The advertising budget in this case will be much larger. The best promotion option is via the Internet. Actively use social networks, including VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram and other services. First, take high-quality and beautiful photographs of your products. There is no need to hire a professional photographer for this. All you need is a high-quality camera and good imagination. Try to take photos that are descriptive and varied. Post them regularly on social networks with various comments. They attract attention... and new subscribers (and therefore potential clients). To create original photos, you don’t need to rent a studio - prepare some props (you can make them yourself) and provide good lighting. It’s worth thinking about creating your own website. Moreover, this does not require large investments. All you need is a catalog website with product photos and your contacts.

If you have enough funds, you can open your own online store. A simple option will cost 30-50 thousand rubles. It will also be possible to agree on partnerships with other online stores and brick-and-mortar stores that sell products for children and, in particular, educational games. But small manufacturers of wooden toys cannot count on large retail chains. The latter take only cheap products for sale at a selling price of up to 200-300 rubles. With semi-manual labor, you cannot put such a wholesale price on a toy. But with large production volumes, you can sell your products through wholesale companies and retail chains.

Please note the numerous joint procurement projects. The main audience for such projects are mothers with children, so high-quality wooden toys will be in great demand here. A separate group of potential buyers of such products are preschool educational institutions. Working with them is quite difficult. They have limited budgets and are financed on a residual basis. Of course, they are unlikely to be interested in expensive exclusive toys, but educational games and various construction sets will be relevant. Often, children who liked the “kindergarten” toy then ask their parents to buy them the same one for home.

Experts advise both large enterprises and small semi-handicraft workshops not to miss the annual thematic exhibitions dedicated to goods for children and, in particular, toys. Such exhibitions are held both throughout Russia and abroad. The largest and most famous international toy exhibition Spielwarenmesse takes place every year in Nuremberg (Germany). Experienced entrepreneurs advise beginners to start with regional and then Russian exhibitions. And only after gaining experience and a more or less wide range of products, present your products at international exhibitions. In Europe, the traditions of making wooden toys are much better developed than here. Therefore, it will be quite difficult to impress European masters. Exhibitions are the best way to express yourself, make useful contacts, find new partners and ideas for inspiration.

To organize a small workshop, taking into account rent, preparation of premises, registration, purchase of equipment and raw materials, registration of licenses, you will need from 500-600 thousand rubles, which is a relatively small amount. Many regions have programs to support budding entrepreneurs. For example, you can receive a subsidy to reimburse a certain percentage of the costs of purchasing equipment, a subsidy to reimburse part of the costs of exhibition activities, or even the rental of production premises. These programs are especially relevant for entrepreneurs investing 1 million rubles or more in their business.

The circulation of finished toys produced by one workshop is usually small - up to 500 pieces of each item. The cost of even the most complex toy usually does not exceed 1.5-2 thousand rubles. Moreover, its selling price starts from 3 thousand rubles and above. On cheap toys the markup is higher. With a cost of up to 100 rubles, a toy can be sold for 400-500 rubles. The payback period for a business depends on many factors. A small workshop reaches the level of self-sufficiency within the first 1.5-2 years of operation. The profitability of such a business is estimated at 18-20%. The business of producing and selling wooden toys is not seasonal, but demand increases on the eve of the New Year holidays and decreases noticeably towards summer.

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The capacity of the domestic market for plastic toys increases by 20% annually. Domestic manufacturers account for about 20% of toys, European countries - 40%, and the same amount for manufacturers from China. At the same time, Chinese manufacturers have recently begun to lose their positions, and just recently they owned more than 70% of the plastic toys market.

Plastic toys on the Russian market

The main reason why China is losing ground in this segment is that Russian consumers are increasingly paying attention to high-quality and interesting toys. The well-being of the nation is growing, and this allows the consumer not to save on cheap goods. If previously Russians were interested in the price of a product, now they primarily look at the quality and functionality of the toy.

According to the head of the marketing department of the Polesie company, Andrei Marchuk, there are no manufacturers of large plastic toys in Russia today. And this despite the huge demand from kindergartens, play centers, entertainment complexes, online stores and retail chains in general. Plastic toys, unlike other types of entertainment products, are more practical, durable and relatively inexpensive. Therefore, the demand for such goods remains very high.

The main manufacturers of large plastic toys are located in Europe, but they are not direct competitors of Russian manufacturers. It is not profitable for foreign companies to export large plastics due to high transport costs for delivering goods to our country. This makes it possible for even a small enterprise to find its niche in the domestic market.

In total, more than 60 small and medium-sized enterprises are engaged in the production of plastic toys in our country. There are also major players in this market, these are the company Nordplast (Russia), Stellar (Russia) and Polesie (Belarus). Their market share is more than 70% of all goods sold. The remaining 30% of the market is divided among small Russian enterprises.

The range of plastic toys produced consists of construction sets, educational games, sand sets, cars, buckets, shovels, children's dishes and so on.

The main equipment for the production of plastic toys includes: injection molding machines, molds and auxiliary equipment (art drawing equipment, stripping line, etc.).

The main suppliers of equipment are China, Taiwan, Austria and Germany. If you make a choice between buying our or a foreign line, then the answer is obvious - only foreign equipment. In our country, unlike foreign manufacturers, we have not yet learned how to produce high-quality equipment in this segment. All major manufacturers of plastic toys in our country order molds for casting from abroad.

How much money do you need to purchase equipment?

To purchase a complete set of equipment you will need to spend at least 3 million rubles. The area of ​​the premises for organizing the production process depends on the size and configuration of the line. As a rule, the minimum room size starts from 50m2. In accordance with Russian legislation, production must be located at a distance of at least 100m from residential premises.

The quality of the toy and its final cost will directly depend on what raw materials were used in the production process. The higher the price of the source material, the higher the cost of the finished product.

What raw materials are used to produce plastic toys?

The main raw material for the production of plastic toys is environmentally friendly polypropylene. One of the largest factories, Nordplast, uses polypropylene in the production of 80% of its products, the remaining 20% ​​comes from polyethylene and polystyrene. Polypropylene is considered an inexpensive material that is produced both in our country and abroad.

Imported raw materials are more expensive than domestic ones, but they benefit from quality. Therefore, although imported polypropylene is used at Russian enterprises, it is only in limited quantities for the production of certain types of goods.

Since the products produced are intended for children, they are subject to increased requirements from regulatory authorities. All products must have a sanitary-epidemiological certificate. And in general, it is advisable to certify the production of plastic toys at an enterprise according to GOST R ISO 9001.

The mistake of many of our enterprises is that they do not bother producing interactive and unique toys. Our enterprises are trying to produce as many cheap and easy-to-manufacture products as possible - cars, buckets, sand sets. Design departments in many organizations simply do not exist, although their importance for the development of the company is difficult to overestimate. In this regard, we are far behind Europe, which firmly holds the market for high-quality and interactive plastic toys. At the same time, in recent years our companies have begun to gradually develop this segment and from time to time release interesting new products to the domestic market.

Today, slowly but surely, our plastic products market is being captured by manufacturers from Russia and the CIS. China is losing its position every year and over the past three years has lost 30% of its share in the Russian market. The interest of domestic consumers in cheap Chinese products is decreasing. The growth of the nation's income allows people to choose better and more interesting goods at affordable prices.

Based on materials from the Igroprom Information Agency and the PlastInfo.ru portal

The quality and cost of the toy directly depend on what raw materials were used in the production process. The more expensive the starting materials, the higher the cost of the final product. However, Russian manufacturers have found ways not to save on raw materials and at the same time not to inflate the price of the product.

Strictly control the quality

Today, Russian toy manufacturers are struggling for decent quality at an affordable price in rather unfavorable raw material conditions. If we take, for example, such a source material for the production of toys as artificial fur, then throughout the entire territory of the post-Soviet space you can find only three factories for its production. One is in Russia, the second is in Ukraine and the third is in Belarus.

The second material widely consumed by gaming industry enterprises - polypropylene - is produced by only 4 plants in a country with a population of one and a half billion. Three of them have existed for quite a long time, since Soviet times, when production was at a qualitatively different level and was constantly fueled by the state. While the fourth - Nizhnekamsk - is a purely opportunistic phenomenon, justified by an acute shortage of raw materials on the market. Manufacturers working on polypropylene highly value the quality of more expensive Korean and Finnish polymers, while the level of affordable Russian polymers still leaves much to be desired. But even if we do not take into account the quality of domestic raw materials, four plants for a huge country, according to expert economists, is very little.

One of the largest Russian factories, Nordplast, uses six types of raw materials in the production of plastic toys, but about 80% of the entire raw material base is polypropylene. The company relied on inexpensive Russian materials, but with the condition of consistent quality from batch to batch. Oksana Kondaurova, commercial director of the Nordplast plant, says: “We process about 200 tons of polypropylene every month. Most of it is domestically produced. We take the quality of raw materials seriously; the enterprise has incoming control of all incoming materials and components. We purchase polypropylene in Kapotnya and Ufa. We usually pay for raw materials with a deferred payment period of a week to a month.” “We purchase imported raw materials, but no more than 10% of the total volume of consumables,” says Oksana Kondaurova. – This is due to the constant change in prices for imported and domestic raw materials. For example, we had experience purchasing imported polypropylene made in Korea and Finland: their material is of good quality. Accordingly, working with such material allows you to reduce losses and speed up the production process. We started purchasing, but after a while the raw materials became more expensive. The volume of purchases has decreased - we cannot sharply increase the cost of production and increase the price for the end consumer in conditions of fierce competition. However, to improve quality and when developing new, more complex toy parts, we are increasingly using materials from imported manufacturers. Among other things, the choice of raw materials of domestic brands is small. So, last year, to produce a new type of product, we began to use imported brands of polypropylene, polystyrene and ABS.”

Minimize losses

However, not all enterprises can purchase Russian raw materials. According to Sergei Oreshin, director of the Alanger company, domestic raw materials are well suited for enterprises with a large number of castings that produce standard products. “They usually have a special workshop for crushing low-quality products - because according to the technology, 20% of secondary raw materials can be used in the production of final products,” he explains. – We have a different approach: defective products do not exceed 4% and are not reused. This allows you to save on its storage, processing and optimize production costs.”

The Alanger company has developed its own method of reducing production costs when purchasing expensive imported raw materials. Sergey Oreshin shares the secrets of “optimization”: “We use polystyrene to produce toys; our company purchases exclusively imported raw materials. We tried working with Chinese, it is quite cheap, but its quality is unstable. It contains a lot of additives, so-called inclusions, due to which the product stops adhering. And this directly affects the final product. The situation is the same with Indian raw materials. That's why today we settled on the German brand BASF: stable quality, precise deliveries. German polystyrene is about 20% more expensive than domestic polystyrene. However, when working with Russian materials, production defects amount to the same 20–22%. Even the low price of polystyrene cannot compensate for such losses. In addition, German raw materials are delivered in convenient packaging, completely sealed and moisture-proof. And from domestic polystyrene, as experts say, “water just oozes out.” We also purchase imported Austrian dyes approved for use in the food industry. This is a very important point: after all, the consumers of our products are children, so we do everything to ensure that the toys are absolutely safe for their health.”

Alanger purchases German polystyrene and other materials from a Moscow supplier specializing in the sale of imported raw materials in Russia. This eliminates all problems with delivery and customs. In addition, the company can purchase the required quantity of products at any time. The supplier was selected carefully, based on an analysis of several similar companies.

Prepare in advance for crises

According to gaming industry experts, resource crises of varying severity happen all the time. The main thing in this case is to insure yourself in advance. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a situation where production simply stops. Oksana Kondaurova says: “We encounter commodity crises about twice a year. In the spring, Russian factories stop for maintenance, and in the winter, problems arise with transporting raw materials during the New Year holidays. Therefore, every year by May and December we create the necessary reserves. Of course, storing large volumes is not very convenient, but this is our main raw material, and interruptions in its supply can lead to a stop in production.”

Chinese commodity dominance

If you try to sketch a raw materials map of the world, using even relative data, Russia will not be among the leaders in terms of the level of internal raw materials turnover. Which in itself is quite paradoxical. We have vast territories, oil and other natural resources, constant complaints about unemployment and an urgent need for gaming industry enterprises for high-quality inexpensive raw materials. However, and most experts in the toy industry admit this, the title of raw materials leader is still firmly held by the countries of Southeast Asia. Thus, according to RBC magazine, China is currently increasing its resource consumption at a frantic pace. In many positions he is already No. 1 in the world. Being the largest importer of ore, aluminum, zinc, and the second largest importer of oil, the Celestial Empire is becoming a full participant in international market relations. By producing huge quantities of various raw materials within the country, China is able to dictate prices for them on the world market. And the thesis “Chinese means cheap” is no longer tenable.

Fashion for toys is subject to no less frequent changes than fashion for clothing. Trends, materials, details, colors, styles change. No country other than China is capable of producing such a quantity of raw materials needed by the gaming industry (including the Russian one) in a short time. This is due to the fact that China, like no other country in the world, has learned to minimize energy costs. Combined with cheap labor and its status as the world's second-largest oil importer, this ability allows the country to maintain its position as the No. 1 supplier of raw materials to the toy industry. A huge number of world-famous toy makers have already taken the path of 100% transfer of production to China. Most Russian manufacturers place orders at factories in the Middle Kingdom. The dynamics of the outflow of orders to China today significantly exceeds the dynamics of the development of the Russian raw materials industry. Assessing this state of affairs, experts find it difficult to make predictions. Some predict that Asian countries (China, India, Taiwan) will continue to absorb raw materials and transfer production there by Russian companies. Others leave Russia a chance to use its full potential and become a competitive country producing raw materials. However, both of them make allowances for both the current Russian legislation (to open any production in the homeland, you will have to face a huge number of financial and bureaucratic difficulties) and the Russian mentality. “We haven’t even really learned how to make gasoline,” the head of a large gaming industry production company, who wished to remain anonymous, shares his opinion with our magazine. – Despite the huge amount of oil produced, we still sell it in its pure form, instead of refining it on the territory of the country, using refined products for other production and making the same polymers in our homeland, rather than purchasing oil made from our own plastic from the Chinese at inflated prices.”

The main types of raw materials for the production of plastic toys.

In the modern world, there is probably no person who would not dream of running his own business that brings in a stable income. The most important thing is to choose a suitable niche for yourself, study competitors, cast aside all fears and start working.

If you look at the materials from which toys for children are made, these are usually polymers and plastic. Of course, they are highly durable and light weight. However, such materials are obtained artificially and can be harmful to the child’s health. That is why mothers today quite often prefer toys made from natural ingredients, such as wood. Currently, the production of children's wooden toys as a business is developing quite actively.

At first glance, it may seem that producing wooden toys is boring. However, if you approach the issue with imagination, it is quite possible to come up with unusual and interesting models. Even the most capricious little customers will like these toys.

We estimate the investments required to start a business

How much money will it take to start producing wooden toys? The production of such products requires a starting capital of approximately 450,000 rubles. Doing business in this area is quite difficult.

Product range

What toys can be made from wood?

Here are just some of the most common types:

• cars and other transport: buses, cars, trucks and so on;
• railroad: sets with rails and wooden locomotives are very popular;
• educational wooden toys: puzzles and pyramids for the development of fine motor skills, puzzles and construction sets for older children.

How to start a business?

What to do if you are interested in wooden toys? Production can be successfully established in your own home. To do this, it is enough to equip a small workshop and register as an individual entrepreneur. After this, you can begin the process of making toys that you can then sell. At the initial stage of developing a client base, it is enough to offer your products to acquaintances and friends.

Be sure to include a detailed description of sales mechanisms in your business plan for the production of wooden toys. In the future, this will allow you to choose the most effective ones based on a thorough analysis of the main channels.

Hand made

Often the manufacturing process takes a lot of time. But at the same time, the finished product can easily be called hand made. Those who want to get something original and unique will be happy to buy such a toy. In addition, serial equipment for the production of wooden toys does not allow them to be manufactured according to individual parameters. And handmade allows you to make custom-made products of any shape. A skilled craftsman will be able to cut out both Smeshariki and Transformers.

Setting up production

Let's assume that you have set yourself the goal of starting the production of a wooden toy. What companies are there on the modern market that carry out similar activities? What do you need to start a business?

Here are just a few points that are worth paying special attention to:

1. Production premises. Ideally, it should be divided into several workshops or rooms in which various operations are carried out: assembly, painting, processing, and so on.
2. Equipment and machines for making wooden toys. The minimum set includes: drilling, milling, facing and you will also need chisels, hacksaws and planes.
3. Materials and equipment for painting. During production, in no case should you skimp on the quality of paints and varnishes, since the products produced are intended for children.
4. Think in advance about how you will pack your finished products. Both a cardboard box and plastic are suitable for this purpose. Cardboard packaging meets all environmental requirements.

We select personnel

What else do you need to make wooden toys? Production is not only about materials and equipment, but also about qualified workers. The manufacturing process itself must be divided into several technological operations. It is advisable not to organize work in such a way that one person is both an artist and a sawing master.

To produce high-quality and varied products, it is recommended to purchase computer modeling programs. With their help, you can develop original and unusual toy models. The manufacturing technology itself is not particularly complicated. The manufacturing process consists of cutting parts into specific shapes, painting them and assembling them. Despite the fact that this process is quite simple, it is still better to involve specialists for the work. At first, one foreman will be enough for each workshop. Subsequently, when expanding the business, it will be possible to attract additional people.

Competitors

In Russia, the business of producing wooden toys is a fairly popular area. Currently, there are several companies that produce such toys.

Here are just a few of them:

• "The World of Wooden Toys".
• "Tomik".
• "Krasnokamsk toy"
• "Vintik and Shpuntik".
• "Pinocchio".

What else do those who decide to produce wooden toys need to know? Production should begin only after a detailed study of the product range from competing companies. Your organization can specialize in one thing. In addition, you can start producing toys for children of a certain age category.

How to set up sales

Various methods can be used to sell finished products. First, you should try selling products wholesale in toy stores. However, this method is not always effective, especially when you consider that the windows of modern stores are filled with colorful plush and plastic toys. There is another way: you can open your own small store based on production. The third and easiest option in the realities of modern life is selling through an online store. It’s enough just to develop a website and think about its content. This may contain information about toys, as well as photographs of finished products. If you plan to use this method, be sure to include an additional approximately 50 thousand rubles in the starting capital.

Conclusion

What does it take to start producing wooden toys and become such a major market player as the Krasnokamsk Toy company? Any business requires investment. And in this area you will find a lot of additional expenses.

Here are just a few of them:

• purchase or rental of premises;
• wages to employees;
• purchase of special software products;
• purchase of equipment;
• purchase of consumables.

All these points need to be thought about if you want to produce wooden toys. It will not be possible to establish production without high-quality equipment. Otherwise, you risk receiving a low-quality product. A well-drafted business plan will help you avoid unnecessary costs and optimize your business budget.

A business related to the production of goods for children, with the correct development strategy, is doomed to success. Every parent will agree that they don’t skimp on children now, which is why any children’s products are successful in the domestic market. If you correctly assess the market capacity, determine the key factors for the company’s development and develop an original concept, you can build a profitable and quickly payback toy manufacturing business.

Market analysis

Monitoring of the domestic toy market is quite contradictory. On the one hand, the variety of goods is large and there is clearly no shortage. On the other hand, the share of Russian entrepreneurs in this area is very small - about 15%.

Such companies differ in their specifics - from small individual entrepreneurs who assemble toys by hand and sell them via the Internet to large enterprises with a large production base and retail outlets.

The remaining share comes from high-quality but expensive European products and Chinese toys, with the latter having a predominant share. According to the survey, many parents want to buy toys from domestic manufacturers, but do not see what they want on the shelves. The problem of Russian factories is the meager assortment, limited colors and designs, and reluctance to follow new products on the children's market.

Another trend in the Russian market is that consumer demand is gradually shifting from cheap goods to the sphere of high-quality expensive toys due to the increase in living standards and incomes of citizens. No crisis phenomena affect such demand. This should be taken into account when planning your business.

Stages of building a business

The success of any project depends on proper planning. To produce toys, you need a clear business plan, which will include the following:

1. market monitoring, consumer demand research;
2. development of a concept and development strategy;
3. review of competitors;
4. building a product range, choosing production technology;
5. selection of premises;
6. equipment purchase;
7. registration of permits;
8. marketing plan;
9. financial calculations;
10. risks.

Choosing a business direction

To launch full-scale production with a wide range of products, significant investments are required. As a rule, at the start they choose one of the directions:

1. wooden toys;
2. plastic products.

After choosing a direction, you need to develop a product range. Children want to see current and bright new products, their parents want safe and educational toys.

One of the most important organizational moments is the development of a sketch design. To do this you need:

• determine the age-old category of your customers;
• analyze the range of competitors;
• consult with teachers and child psychologists.

Large companies then organize a testing phase in which a small group of 5-10 people as users give their opinion.

Also, large companies are working on creating a corporate identity, some even create books or cartoons. The smaller the company, the narrower its range.

Technology selection

Production technology depends on the investments you are willing to make in the development of your business. You can make toys:

• with your own hands;
• organize large-scale production.

If you have an idea of ​​how to make various toys that might be of interest to the public, you can organize a business in a small workshop by registering an individual entrepreneur.

This option takes a lot of time to produce one unit, but the resulting product can easily be called hand made, which is popular today. Such products are purchased by parents who want to give their child something unique or as a gift. It is also possible to make toys to order, because a real master can make both Luntik and Fixik.

If you are interested in large-scale production, you must:

1. Room. It is desirable that it consist of a number of workshops for the process of manufacturing parts, their assembly, storage, etc.
2. Machines for production (drilling, facing, grinding) for the manufacture of wooden toys, molds for casting (for plastic products), sewing machines for soft toys, as well as additional equipment and tools - chisels, planes, etc.
3. Packaging material.

Business registration

Even when working at home, it is recommended not to delay the registration of permits. For a small workshop, you can open an individual entrepreneur with a simplified form of taxation. OKVED code – 36.50 “Production of games and toys”. If you are planning a large-scale production, it is recommended to register a limited liability company.

To sell manufactured products to both individuals and retail outlets and chains, certificates confirming quality and safety are required. To do this, you need to contact the SES authorities for an examination.

If you want to produce toys based on the imagery of famous cartoons or TV series, you need to obtain a special license from the copyright holders.

Competitor analysis

Main competitors:

1. Chinese factories – acceptable or low quality, reasonable prices;
2. Western companies are well-known brands that sell a wide range of high-quality products, the product range of which is constantly updated;
3. domestic manufacturers who are mainly engaged in the production of plastic toys (sand sets, vehicles without mechanisms, etc.).

Sales of products

The main sales channels for toys include:

1. sales through retail outlets (shops, supermarkets, stalls, etc.);
2. sales through online resources;
3. creating your own store (suitable for large-scale projects).

Financial plan

The level of capital investment depends on the scale of the business. For example, to organize a small workshop at home, 60-100 thousand is enough. If you plan to open a large-scale production, the financial costs will be different. Let's consider an example of organizing a workshop for the production of wooden children's toys:

1. premises rental – 20,000 rubles;
2. documentation preparation – 10,000 rubles;
3. purchase of materials, packaging – 80,000 rubles;
4. purchase of equipment – ​​140,000 rubles;
5. wages to employees - 40,000 rubles;
6. expenses for utility and transport payments – 10,000 rubles.

As you can see, to open a toy production workshop, investments of 300 thousand rubles are required.