Recapturing a Piece of the Toy Business

A U.S. custom injection molder serving the textile, appliance, furniture, and construction industries is expanding into a business once thought lost forever to low-cost, overseas processors—toys. GS Industries of Bassett Ltd., Basset Va., will be producing parts for Kids II Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., which manufacturers and markets products globally under its Bright Starts brand and holds a license to design and make products under the Disney Baby and Baby Einstein brands. Most recently, it acquired the intellectual property rights to Rhino Toys and Taggies.

GSI (gsib.com) will mold parts for the Baby Einstein “Around the World Discovery Center” and “Bright Starts Jumper” private brands, among others. The molder will also produce components for high chairs, potty seats, booster seats, and other items for the U.S. and international markets. The first parts were shipped worldwide in late August.

GSI runs 28 presses from 150 to 1500 tons. It expects to hire 35 new employees to meet demand. “At a time when domestic manufacturing continues to struggle, we’re bucking the trend with quality work, on-time delivery, and tooling transfer experience at competitive costs,” said Hank McHale, CEO of GSI. “With shipping costs rising due to fuel prices, manufacturers are realizing that parts and products can be made more efficiently here at home rather than importing them.” GSI reportedly has recorded fewer than 50 defects per million parts and an on-time delivery rate of 98.6%. More than 60% of its active tools are the result of tooling transfers.