You’ll probably be wondering why there is a business news doing on the front page of a site about toys. Well, that’s because this news does indeed affect our hobby to a certain extent.
Hasbro has incorporated a new solution to streamline and centralize its product development which includes Transformers. Benefits include improved quality, reduced material costs and faster product launches.
“Our consumers are at the heart of everything that we do, and we’ve been successful in delivering compelling and engaging experiences by listening to our consumers,” said John Frascotti, President, Hasbro Brands. “In order to both minimize product’s time to market and increase our team’s productivity and focus on innovation, we needed an efficient way to manage the planning, design, and delivery of all of our consumer products. We found the ideal solution with PTC’s Windchill FlexPLM platform.”Check out the full Press Release, after the jump.
NEEDHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PTC (Nasdaq: PTC) today announced that Hasbro Inc., a global company committed to Creating the World’s Best Play Experiences, has chosen PTC Windchill FlexPLM as its product development solution. With PTC Windchill FlexPLM, Hasbro will be able to better streamline and centralize its product development processes and data, as well as gain greater visibility into product data during all phases of design, development and sourcing.
Because Hasbro is a global company with numerous product lines, it needed a product development system that would allow it to more effectively centralize its processes throughout the product lifecycle. By leveraging the PTC Windchill FlexPLM proven architecture for hardline and soft goods management, Hasbro will have a single platform, with engineering data managed in PTC Windchill.
“Our consumers are at the heart of everything that we do, and we’ve been successful in delivering compelling and engaging experiences by listening to our consumers,” said John Frascotti, President, Hasbro Brands. “In order to both minimize product’s time to market and increase our team’s productivity and focus on innovation, we needed an efficient way to manage the planning, design, and delivery of all of our consumer products. We found the ideal solution with PTC’s Windchill FlexPLM platform.”
“We are pleased that Hasbro chose PTC, and particularly that they selected us now with our latest version of PTC Windchill FlexPLM. PTC Windchill FlexPLM unites PDMLink and FlexPLM technology, aligning our retail and engineering technologies to specifically meet the needs of Consumer Products companies,” said Kevin Wrenn, divisional general manager, PLM segment, PTC. “With PTC Windchill FlexPLM, Hasbro will be able to keep product development processes, engineering changes, and visualization all in sync, creating value for Hasbro – integrating processes and workflows, changes and approvals, and cross-functional visibility between engineering and retail stakeholders at the enterprise.”
PTC Windchill FlexPLM harmonizes engineering data and processes with retail-related data and processes, bringing together typically disparate disciplines across the enterprise to improve understanding and collaboration: streamlining processes to boost productivity, and reducing costs to improve margins – all while driving new opportunities for innovation.
PTC Windchill FlexPLM Features and Benefits
- Reduced cycle time — Ensures on-schedule product launches and first-mover market share advantages
- Improved quality — Boosts brand value, increases customer loyalty and enables premium pricing
- Increased efficiency and process optimization — Drives team productivity and enhances breadth of portfolio
- Improved regulatory compliance for market segments such as consumer products — Ensures adherence to mandates such as REACH and the Consumer Products Safety Act
- Reduced direct material cost — Improves margins and profit contribution
- Faster time-to-value — Enables faster implementation with industry best practices
About PTC
PTC (Nasdaq: PTC) is a global provider of technology platforms and enterprise applications for smart and connected products, operations, and systems. PTC’s enterprise applications serve manufacturers and other businesses that create, operate and service products. Led by its award winning ThingWorx® application enablement platform, PTC’s platform technologies help companies deliver new value emerging from the Internet of Things. An early pioneer in Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, PTC today employs more than 6,000 professionals serving more than 28,000 businesses worldwide.
About Hasbro
Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) is a global company committed to Creating the World’s Best Play Experiences, by leveraging its beloved brands, including LITTLEST PET SHOP, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, MONOPOLY, MY LITTLE PONY, NERF, PLAY-DOH, TRANSFORMERS, and premier partner brands. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, digital gaming and a comprehensive lifestyle licensing program, Hasbro fulfills the fundamental need for play and connection for children and families around the world. The Company’s Hasbro Studios creates entertainment brand-driven storytelling across mediums, including television, film and more. Through the company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility, including philanthropy, Hasbro is helping to build a safe and sustainable world and to positively impact the lives of millions of children and families every year. Learn more at www.hasbro.com and follow us on Twitter (@Hasbro & @HasbroNews).
Faelon
It's just standard process evolution and modernization. Ways to add more efficiency to development -> Manufacture using newer technology and integration. All successful businesses do it. It really doesn't mean anything bad for us. All it will mean is that from the point of initial design, to start of manufacture, will take less time and likely need to pass through fewer hands and manual review stages. What the software essentially does is instead of a product being designed, then going to department A for evaluation, then B then C returning for redesign at each step. All departments are looking at and doing their evaluations within the same suite of tools. so changes can be made and evaluated without the constant stop and go and passing back and forth. It minimized downtime waiting for another departments feedback.
General Magnus
And RiD Car Brothers, and Universe repaints, and Cybertron scouts and Movieverse scouts…
netkid
How bad are ball joints really? I played the shit out of my beast wars toys and they're all able to still stand up and hold poses. So it really makes me wonder what the hell you folks are doing to them.
General Magnus
No they don´t.
Nightrain
Ball joints need to go away.
bellpeppers
Yup.
Clip on wheels for example.
bellpeppers
I'm sure checking out files is a part of their infrastructure already; instead of under Solidworks it's now under PTC.
But I agree that we won't see any of this on our end.
Gepard
A lot of Transformers now use friction-fit parts where once they would have had metal pins. That's a pretty sizable difference. It definitely contributes to the newer toys feeling chintzier than the older ones, regardless of other factors.
MnemonicSyntax
That's all? Where weight issues made things like Optimus Prime's feet hang down in alt mode because the weight of the metal caused them to drag?
And I think we tried that once, yeah? Titanium? That turned out real well.
I mean, I'm all for a retry, but besides the material, what else?
Yeah, but again plastic ain't getting cheaper. I can't think of anything off the top of my head though recently that feels like you're getting nothing for something more than you paid for previously. Generations Blitzwing and Springer were both fun as hell, came with weapons that fired as well as melee weapons, and Rhinox was… just fantastic.
I'm all for examples here, but besides paying more (which is expected from several years ago) for the same thing, I don't see a difference.
netkid
At the prices retailers are currently charging, you can buy, shipped, older toys in sealed boxes that feature more parts, gimmicks, paint, articulation, detail, less hollow areas, and/or electronics. It's not so much quality as it's the quantity of what you're getting vs what they're selling now.
You're paying $10+ now for a combiner a wars basic that a year ago, cost $8-10 and came with an additional tf that was a triple changer (vehicle/robot/weapon). Year by year you're getting less and less in terms of what they toys do and offer.
Right now, I think the combined wars are the only thing worth it because they at least combine & be swapped around in addition to the usual transforming and posing. I'm just surprised that they lack missile launchers. And it seems that the hollow areas on these toys now are existing more for parts that hide in them for vehicle mode and not so much for cost cutting measures.
Autobot Burnout
Die cast construction
MnemonicSyntax
So help me understand something. What's the difference between the quality of Hasbro toys now, versus a blocky, brick for articulation, three-step changer Transformer from back then?
bradforj
You can't go wrong with Beast Wars
I've gone back even further, working on a sealed movie Targetmasters collection. I just need Blurr and Cyclonus.
netkid
I've actually gone backwards in collecting, buying older TFs (beast wars-movie) because they are better than current TFs. Just bought some DOTM Human Alliance toys the other day.
bradforj
I quit caring about Hasbro's offerings long ago. For years, I would stroll through the action figure aisle every time I went to Walmart. Over the past five years, I have found that I only occasionally bother to take a look at any toys at all. Hasbro is dead. Long live 3P.
General Magnus
Because every fan can afford +100$ toys amirghte?
Cheebs
Literally all this means is some poor CAD designer is going to have to check out files from a database storage library and putz around with some spreadsheet he doesn't want to deal with before he can get down to his actual work.
It won't mean a thing for us.
KnightHawkke
I wonder… what would the feasibility be of Hasbro buying back old TF's at a small price to recycle into newer figures.. I wonder if the plastic would hold up it's strength after a cycle or two.. It could also be a good way to get some extra positive PR rolling. It might be a long shot but a study never hurt.
kaijuguy19
So does this mean this is Hasbro's last big attempt to make toys that kids will like which if it doesn't work then we won't be seeing toys anytime soon or is it just Hasbro figuring out other ways to keep the quality up?