Hundreds of new hands arrive for one season: HR for toy manufacturers

In August a soft toy unit might have a few dozen stitchers and a cutting table. By October the hall is full. Rows of women and young men sit at tables stuffing teddies, closing seams by hand and fitting safety eyes with a hand press. Next door, the plastic section runs every moulding machine, and trimmers sit on stools cutting flash off cars and building blocks. Most of these faces were not here in summer. Many will be gone by February. For the months in between, they decide what a child will hold.

A scratch on a bucket is a cosmetic complaint. The same fault on a toy can hurt someone. A sliver of flash on a plastic truck's bumper can cut a small finger. An eye pushed in without its washer can be pulled out and swallowed. A seam with skipped stitches lets stuffing out. Paint that flakes off a wooden train ends up in a mouth. Buyers test for these faults, but the factory's own checkers are the last people who can stop them before the shrink film goes on.

• Trimming: new trimmers leave a thin edge of flash on rims, axles and joins, most of all in the last hours of a twelve-hour day.
• Eye and nose fitting: safety eyes pressed without seating the washer fully, or noses fitted off-centre.
• Stitching and closing: stitch length drifts, hand closing seams are left loose and corners are not backstitched.
• Stuffing: uneven fill, foreign matter in the fibre, and small parts dropped into a toy before closing.
• Painting and pad printing: runs, thin coats and smudged prints from painters who have not yet learned the brush or the pad.
• Packing: wrong pieces in a set, missing instruction leaflets, blister packs sealed with a gap.

Toy units are good at finding people. They are less good at remembering them. When the season ends, workers are paid off, and nobody records who stitched cleanly or which trimmer the checkers trusted. Next year's intake starts with strangers again. Induction shrinks to a short talk because the buyer's first shipment is already booked. Each buyer brings a new design with its own steps, and workers learn by trial on the line. Checkers are pushed to keep pace with the line rather than to stop it. The few painters and pattern cutters who carry the craft are stretched across every order.

1. 1

   Start a returners' register this season

   Before anyone is paid off, the section leader notes each person's tasks, quality and a yes, no or maybe for next year. That register is the first hiring list next year. The guide to toy-season hiring explains building the next intake on it.

2. 2

   Bring joiners in batches a week apart

   Bring returners in first, then new hands in small groups a week apart, so trainers and checkers are not swamped in the same fortnight.

3. 3

   Give two days before any table

   The first morning shows the toy, the faults that can hurt a child and the tray for doubtful pieces. The next day goes on a training table with genuine parts and a patient senior. The two-day toy induction outline sets out the shape of those two days.

4. 4

   Issue a design sheet with every order

   One page per design: the sample photo, the steps, the common mistakes and the checker's tests. It sits on every table before a single piece is cut or moulded.

5. 5

   Put the checker's stop in writing

   List the rejects plainly: sharp edges, parts that pull loose, weak seams, flaking paint. Add a rule that the checker's tray hold stands until the section head reviews it, never overturned on the spot. The checker and line measures page suggests fair measures for checkers and the line.

6. 6

   Rotate the tiring hand work

   Move people between trimming, stitching and packing every few hours, with short breaks for eyes and wrists. Fatigue is when flash and loose stitches appear.

A steady painter saves paint and rework. A good pattern cutter saves cloth on every lay. These skills take years and cannot be bought in October. Give painters and cutters a skill grade, pay that rewards finish rather than count, and work through the lull, such as sampling for next year's designs. Painting and gluing corners need moving air, and the page on fumes and strain in toy units covers fumes, eye strain and wrist strain.

• How many of last season's hands could you name and call today?
• Which faults did your head checker see and feel powerless to hold?
• Which painters or pattern cutters could you not replace in a hurry?
• After the newest buyer design arrived, how long before the line ran it cleanly?
• Does air move in the painting and gluing corner?

The toy manufacturers page lays out the trade's people risks in full. For the seasonal swing across appliances, cookware and stationery, see the HR hub for consumer goods makers.