How Barnaul's Only Toy Factory Turns Home Ideas into Toys
The company has been in existence for over 10 years.
On Tsekhovaya Street in Barnaul is the city«s only factory producing wooden toys. Altai cubes and construction sets are well-known to many kindergartens — both in the region and far beyond.
Read about how the toy business survives and the challenges of keeping it afloat in the NGS22.RU report.
The first thing produced at the factory was cubes.
«It was like a snowball effect. Kindergartens came to us with orders. And then, when the company started growing, we began coming up with new things ourselves. We started reading kindergarten programs and seeing what they needed. Naturally, every year something new is required from us, and we adapt to all of it,» noted a factory employee.
Since 2018, the company has been producing busy boards, which, like cubes, became sales hits.
A busy board is an educational toy for children consisting of a board or other play panel with multiple attached elements.
«First, there were simple busy boards with meaningless moving parts, then the world grew to something more complex, so we developed specialized and thematic versions. For example, one can be used to study paintings, and another — what crafts men engaged in in Ancient Rus,» explained Angelina Gologrudova.
Busy boards at the company are constantly updated with new additions.
Patriotic sets, such as «Peoples of Russia» depicting representatives of various nationalities, are also in high demand. Additionally, the factory produces construction sets with extensive proprietary methodologies for educators to use.
From idea to a tangible prototype toy, it takes about three weeks to a month and a half.
First, the team creates a mock-up, makes changes if necessary, shows it to a school or kindergarten, and then starts working out the details.
Machines perform part of the work instead of people.
«This is already the work of a technologist, not a designer. Cubes or construction sets take less time because you can just specify the colors, and that»s it — no need to involve a designer and draw eyes, mouth, ears, nose, and the like,« noted the deputy director.
Sometimes, as the deputy director noted, ideas are born even at home, but overall the factory works according to federal programs that specify what children need.
Birth of a Toy
At the factory»s production, one can trace the entire process of creating products: future toys are «hidden» in blocks of birch, pine, and cedar. The smell in the premises is very pleasant due to the fresh wood. Then employees or machines carve various shapes from it. Next comes sanding or gluing of the objects.
Externally, the products very much resemble plastic ones.
One of the final stages is painting. Since the toys are intended for children, they are painted in bright and saturated colors. The products themselves very much resemble plastic in appearance, and one might not immediately guess that they are made of wood. By the way, the paints have no odor, so employees don«t need to wear respirators during the process.
Over time, technology has displaced artists from the factory.
Work in the workshops never stops, and moreover, there is a constant hum, but it«s only heard inside the premises. Outside, even near the doors, it»s quiet. By the way, if before the company had artists who hand-painted the toys, now a huge UV printer occupying half the room is engaged in this.
«This is UV coating, like in manicures. The printer first applies the paint and then seals it. Everything is done very quickly; a person would take a long time to draw all the halftones, but for the machine it»s 10 minutes,« explained Angelina Gologrudova.
Due to production modernization, the factory»s staff has been reduced from 50 to 30 people. The organization no longer needed that many people.
Figurines of representatives of various nationalities of Russia.
«You can»t go lower than these numbers because someone still needs to service the machines. We reached this in 2019, even before coronavirus times,« added a company employee.
By the way, due to COVID, the company»s number of orders decreased, so finances diminished, but the factory survived this difficult stage.
Consequences of Sanctions
The company is constantly expanding its assortment, and for this it needs new equipment. However, due to sanctions, the factory cannot purchase some machines with government grants.
In addition to toys, the factory also supplies some equipment for schools.
«They are brought in either through parallel imports, or we can buy them with our own money, because the suppliers don»t have official dealerships,« said the deputy director.
Otherwise, the factory has entirely Russian partners and suppliers. The company works directly with kindergartens or firms that supply preschool institutions.
«Any person can contact us to buy a busy board, a map, or something else. But often for an individual it»s expensive, so we mainly work with legal entities,« emphasized Angelina Gologrudova.
In addition to kindergartens, the factory also works with schools — making pointers for them, as well as sports equipment. Plans include creating stands for classrooms.
By the way, on the basis of school No. 127, the company created the first open-air scientific site in the Altai Krai, where children learn science through play and also learn about various factories, such as the Barnaul Wagon Repair Plant or the Barnaul Boiler Equipment Plant, and professions.
The factory«s toys are in hundreds of Russian kindergartens. They are made to withstand constant durability checks. However, there is a downside: the toys rarely break, so the company is constantly searching for new clients.
»We work with all of Russia. We have a trend that in the European part of the country, we are better known than in the Altai Krai. Now we are actively working on our region, so we really love it when educators or teachers visit us,« she concluded.
According to data from »Kontur.Fokus,« the company»s revenue for 2024 was 44 million rubles (approximately $500,000 at current rates), of which net profit was 8.6 million rubles (approximately $100,000). Last year, the firm also paid taxes and fees amounting to 3.5 million rubles (approximately $40,000).
