E-commerce revives China's toy capital | The Manila Times

GUANGZHOU: After posting a video of a bucket-wheel excavator building block toy, YouTuber Thomas Panke received over 100,000 views within two hours and a thank-you letter from thousands of miles away.

The sender, Yuxing Technology Industry Co. Ltd., is the manufacturer of the toy, located in Chenghai District of Shantou City, south China’s Guangdong Province.

Chenghai is a major toy manufacturing base.

Dubbed China’s “toy capital,” it is home to over 10,000 toy companies, with roughly 130,000 workers engaged in these businesses, creating an annual output value of toy-related products of over 50 billion yuan ($7.9 billion).

To cater to the rising demand for toys during the annual peak season, Chenghai’s production lines have been rumbling round the clock for the past four months.

“The error tolerance of the building blocks we produce is less than one-tenth of a hair,” said Xie Weichun, the company’s general manager.

According to Xie, their production, sorting and packaging are highly automated, and products must pass rigorous standard checks in the form of scans similar to B-mode ultrasound imaging, which has significantly improved both their efficiency and quality.

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“Now, a worker can take charge of four production lines and several hands can manage the workload of hundreds of workers in the old days,” said Lin Zezhe, general manager of Sembo Block, another company specializing in producing high-quality building blocks.

“Our warehouses are also getting smarter, where robotic hands are deployed to sort products.

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