Effectiveness of the Tactics for Small and Medium-sized Toy Factories in China in Dealing with European and US Toy Safety Requirements

There have been more and more customers and regulatory requirements in the toy industry. Small and medium-sized toy factories in China have been facing challenges to deal with European and US toy safety requirements. How to establish an effective management system to avoid product recalls or penalties becomes an important question, especially to small and medium-sized toy factories with limited resources. After literature review and a pilot study in 4 toy factories, a conceptual framework has been proposed. In January 2020, these 4 factories followed the framework and implemented the toy safety improvement schemes. In January 2021, they were interviewed again about their implementation status. The results showed that their capabilities in responding to European and US toy safety requirements had been lifted. Positive contributions from Toy safety assessment, Industry 4.0, and ISO 37301 (It supersedes ISO 19600:2014) were confirmed among the tactics. This study provides a valuable framework for manufacturers in selecting and implementing toy product safety tactics in responding to European and US requirements.