Pampanga’s Toy Story

Remember how you couldn’t sleep without your teddy bear, how you’d comb Barbie’s hair and change her dress, how you fought with the school bully over your priced Tamiya cars? Did you ever really give up your toys?

Some people never really give up their toys, taking them way into adulthood. But when you see a toy chimpanzee sitting in a corporate board room, you have to wonder if this is taking the "toys for the big boys" deal a bit too far.

But in this case, there’s good reason for the life-size chimpanzee in the board room of the Hansa Toy factory at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga. Hansa is the world’s number two plush toy manufacturer in the world, and its animals are so realistic people easily believe that it is a live chimpanzee sitting there.

But is it a chimpanzee or a gorilla? Look closely and you’ll notice that the shape of the eyebrows, the hair strands, the body color, the size of the fingernails and even the folds of the skin are closest to the real animal it was patterned after. Everything from color to texture to size approximates the live animal, down to the gait or facial expression.

This toy maker doesn’t make ordinary stuff toys; it exports realistic animal replicas to 21 countries all over the world.

Catering to a highly specialized market, Hansa counts among its clients entertainment personalities and Hollywood stars like Michael Jackson and Kirstie Alley, among others, and major television shows.

"Hansa has country distributors all over the world including major prestige stores such as Harrods in the U.K. and stores on Fifth Avenue in New York," says Hansa Toy founder and president Hans Axthelm.

Hansa toys are also used by Disney and other film companies for its productions. In fact, Hansa toys will be featured in a film starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman to be released next year.

The company also designs toys exclusively for advertising agencies, major theme parks and children’s recreation facilities. It will also supply toys for the first plush toy zoo, a project of the European Union.

The toy industry worldwide, Axthelm reveals, is a $960-billion industry, of which 18 percent is cornered by the plush toy sector.

"So, we’re looking at a $200-billion plush toy industry and it is a large industry," he shares, adding that it is even larger or at least as big as the music industry.

The market is huge, Axthelm says, because animal toys cater to people from six months to 70 years. Indeed, a visit to the showroom of the Hansa factory in Clark will turn anybody into a child all over again.

In one corner of the showroom are the winter animals–polar bears, gophers, ground squirrels, mammoths, and penguins, set against an all-white background to approximate an Arctic winter. On the other side are the jungle animals–tigers, lions, gorillas, zebras, leopards and vultures, set in a forest-like environment. Horses, elephants, bats, dogs and wolves are there too, in different sizes and poses.

When President Arroyo toured the state-of-the-art Hansa Toy factory in Pampanga last September, Axthelm says the grandchildren and the President’s men had such a good time looking at and playing with the animals that the original 45 minutes allotted for the presidential visit was extended to one and a half hours.

In fact, company executives, in their black suits and formal office wear, and other visitors who come to Hansa to do business never fail to marvel at the life-like animals on display. Such is the lure of toys to adults, says Axthelm.

"How can you not turn into a child again if you’re surrounded by all these?" suggests Axthelm, who has degrees in child psychology and engineering design. It is much better than looking at picture books because here you can touch and cuddle the animals, and see up close the way they are in their natural environment.

This, says Axthelm, is the product of the company’s extensive research and meticulous production process. Designing a toy animal, he says, requires extensive research. In most cases, Hansa designers study the animals in their natural environment or in big open range zoos. Then technology comes into the picture. In making the design, they first create a replica of the live animal on the computer. They study its movements, facial expression, colors, size. This in turn determines the pattern and the materials to be used in actual production.

"The research we do to come up with the specification is extensive. That’s where we differ from other toy manufacturers," Axthelm says.

This year, the company will be introducing animal robotics in its product line. Very soon, more than 500 moving animal replicas will be gracing its gorgeous showrooms, and exported to different countries. But perhaps the biggest contribution of Hansa Toy to the world is its forthcoming project of producing replicas of endangered species.

As it is now, it has in its catalogue almost all kinds of animals but Axthelm knows that in a few years, many of the species living in protected zones and under the care of experts will be gone. "We have to do this now before the animals truly become extinct," he says.

Hansa Toy is one of the first locators to set up shop in Clark when it was opened to investors in the early ’90s after the Pinatubo eruption. Toys made by Hansa carry the label "Made in the Philippines," which is a major boost to the image of the country as a manufacturing facility and investment destination. In fact, the President’s visit is not only a compliment but also a testament to Hansa Toy’s achievements.

These lovable toys are proudly made by Filipino craftsmen. Working in Hansa Toy’s state-of-the-art facility are 300 Filipino artists-craftsmen manning the company’s production line.

Axthelm affirmed that the Philippines is rich in artistic talent and suited to produce animal replicas.

"Filipinos are primarily artistic. This is very important in creating toys that are almost life-like in their appearance," he says, adding that being bilingual is another plus factor for the Filipino workforce, which is one of the major reasons why the company chose the Philippines as its manufacturing base, over many other investment destinations vying for Hansa’s business.

"The ability to communicate in English and to understand very detailed instructions is very important to our business," he says.

Now, 12 years after the toy company set up shop in the Philippines, it produces around 4,000 life-like and life-size animal toys per day that are exported to Russia, the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia and countries in the Middle East.

Axthelm discloses that even now, other manufacturing sites are still vying to host Hansa’s factory at cost competitive prices, but his faith in the Filipino and the Philippines is unwavering.

"It takes seven to eight years of training to really produce good craftsmen and operators. One needs about five to seven years to learn how to make an animal head," Axthelm shares. "We have workers here who were with us from the start and they have no match." Sewing for Axthelm is not just a job, it is a craft, an art, a commitment and this philosophy rubs off on the workers who have become expert craftsmen and designers.

Worker turnover at Hansa Toys is low because the company takes good care of its workers and gives them the opportunity to grow with the company.

Hansa recently completed the construction of a 12,000-square-meter state-of-the-art plush toy factory with an additional investment of $140-million. The expansion is expected to boost its manpower up to 1,000 craftsmen in the next few years.

Next time cuddle a little bear in a store or see an adorable gangly giraffe in a movie or on television, there’s a good chance it’s a Hansa toy–proudly made in the Philippines.