What's Ready Made Toys' Secret?

[FJ and G]

In May 2004, on the cover of CTT were the words: "Best Diesel for $50."

How come RMT can produce a diesel for $50 and no one else can (nearest competitors are twice that)??????

Are we getting ripped off by other manufacturers.

A Beep got a good review in CTT----

2 motors
good detailing
a reversing unit you can fix in one direction
metal handrails and even a metal chain
Many many roadnames

And, Walter, the dude that puts them out, responds to feedback.

When the Beep couldn't negotiate 027, he redesigned it.

Why can't we get this service, quality, and price everywhere????????

dave vergun

[cnw1995]

Let me make a few guesses - the tooling and powered chassis were already done. the detailing is fairly inexpensive. He's choosing perhaps to make money on volume - the 027 fix was fairly simple...and a deal-breaker (if it wasn't fixed) for many potential buyers....

[FJ and G]

Doug,

These conditions are the same as for some of the other mfgrs.

Also, he had to do some retooling to make it 027

I just feel like more affordable things like this could be made

[Dave Farquhar]

I suspect the difference is emphasis. Set out to design something inexpensive that looks convincing, and you can produce something cheap, albeit with compromises--which is what Ready Made Toys did. Set out to design something more realistic, and you end up with a different set of compromises, including price.

There's no doubt in my mind that it would be possible to produce low-priced O gauge stuff. A manufacturer just has to decide what it wants to be. Lionel is going to want to retain some premium status because that's what it's always been. MTH wants to be a big boy too. Williams wants to do postwar-style stuff. K-Line is probably best positioned to make cheap low-end engines, especially since they've got so much of the old Marx tooling, but they've been putting more focus on the high end of the market too.

I guess the low end is just the great unknown. You see it elsewhere too. American auto companies weren't interested in making economy cars until the Japanese proved it could be done profitably. Computer companies weren't willing to sell a computer for less than $999 until Compaq decided to take a chance (the story's more complicated than that but you get the idea).

Admittedly, the low end is tough. Down there, the margins are lower and you're competing with everyone's closeout specials and the used market. There are some people who will never buy something new for under $100 when they can get postwar for a comparable price.

Still, I suspect Lionel, K-Line and the like are watching Ready Made Toys. If they're successful down there, that might cause someone else to enter the market. It's a gamble that I'm happy to see somebody take.

[FJ and G]

Dave,

You bring up some good points. You mention cars; and here I apologize for getting off on a tangent but one could extrapolate and make an analogy to toy trains:

If you forget the high performance engine for just a second, the cosmetic difference between an average car and a sports car are 2 things: lines and price.

Why can't an average car be stamped to sexy rakish lines? It wouldn't require any more material or any additional expense. In fact, sports cars are often smaller than regular cars so material would be less.

And, price them average.

You could quickly make a lot of money from people who want a nice sexy looking car but don't want sticker shock; and furthermore, don't need a hi-perf gas guzzling speedster than can't go fast anyway in big city traffic like in D.C.

dav

[Anonymous]

Dav,

You're describing what Ford did with its introduction of the Mustang.

Mike

[garyseven]

Ready Made Toys wasn't trying to be everything to everybody. I have always been told that the success of "In n Out" burger is because they do so few things - they can do it right.
There was a girl in one of my upper level Sociology classes that was, well we called her "flat-liner - no brain activity." Talking to her was worse than talking to a fence post. She got straight A's. So we chalked it up to the "Triumph of the uncluttered mind," but really it was focus.

What's my point?!?

Ready Made Toys can focus all energies into just a few products and has a streamlined communications from Builder to Engineer to Manager, without going through several level to get a decision from the top. Smaller, better, more efficient and isn't trying to please everyone.