Sept. 11, 2000

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Profile: Hasbro Inc.
'Tis End Of Seasonal Woes, Toymaker Hopes

By Diane Rezendes Khirallah

ife isn't all fun and games at Hasbro Inc., the nation's No. 2 toymaker. The Pawtucket, R.I., company has a plan to make enough products to meet upcoming holiday demands. Hasbro officials expect that a new SAP supply-chain system and a knowledge-management initiative will help smooth the way.

"Last year we couldn't make enough products," recalls Steve Marcolini, VP of business integration. "Some consumers think we short them but we don't."

Like many toy companies last year, Hasbro faced a manufacturing backlog. Some of its hot products are G.I. Joe, Play-Doh, and the Pokémon game Wizards of the Coast.

Hasbro soon will flip the switch on its SAP system. The new setup will process retail orders and get them out the door--often on the same day. Collaborative forecasting will be available via an extranet, giving Hasbro's suppliers the ability to view customer retail sales and plan their manufacturing accordingly.

Hasbro's digital strategy also involves redeploying its intranet globally over the next year to increase collaboration across the company. Employees will soon be able to publish and share their work with colleagues in various offices and divisions around the world.

This attempt to institute knowledge-management practices will also make its way to the IT department, says senior VP of IS Harvey Fain. Each department has its own IT group, and there are disparate systems around the globe. Fain hopes to bring standardization to all departments whenever possible. A round-the-clock command center will handle all help-desk, networking, and system-monitoring tasks.

As for Hasbro's business-to-consumer efforts, projects will be rolled out where appropriate, but not all products will be sold directly to consumers over the Internet. Collectibles, for instance, are sold directly online because they fall outside the mass-market channels. The typical Hasbro sale to Kmart Corp., for instance, is 12,000 units. Collectibles sell in the dozens to small hobby shops. Selling those products online makes sense because Hasbro won't be competing with any major retail customer.

Return to main story, "Extending The Supply Chain."

Illustration by Jeffrey Fisher

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