Toynk Toys Gets AI-Enabled PLM Upgrade
Toynk Toys, which makes branded and licensed toys, including the Cardsmiths and Syndicate Collectibles brands, is bolstering its product lifecycle management (PLM).
The company is working with Centric Software, using an AI-enabled platform to accelerate and optimize processes from concept to commercialization.
Because the 20-year-old company had expanded quickly to more than 46 global markets, it faced new complexities in its operations as it looked to scale. As a result, it sought out a solution that could streamline product development, vendor collaboration and licensor approvals.
Among its biggest challenges was decentralized product data across emails and spreadsheets, which limited Toynk's visibility into approval stages, product status and even post-launch performance.
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"The fact that there was just a complete lack of process was the main thing," Gena Disney, director of digital operations at Toynk Toys, said in a statement. "We are a fully distributed team and between the sister brands, our product information is decentralized. We have no single source of truth."
While the company considered an internal PLM tool, it quickly realized this would place an unnecessary burden on its teams and ultimately slow time to market. Instead, through an external portal, the company can better communicate with vendors for approvals and use an open service pool to create a single source of truth.
Toynk expects benefits such as reduced manual efforts, better transparency and accountability, and enhanced reporting with fewer errors so it can improve decision-making across assortment and investment planning.
