The Original Tonka Truck Manufacturer - 1413 Words

Remember when most boys you knew played with some shape or form of the Tonka Truck. I am talking about the original Tonka Truck Manufacturer. With the end of WWII and the beginning of Christmas 1962 the business of converting or supporting the war effort to something more peace time related was underway. New companies were popping up across the country and three visionary, entrepreneurs seized on an opportunity and Mound Metalcraft Incorporated was formed on September 18, 1946 by Lynn Baker, Alvin Tesch and Avery Crounse. The new company purchased a three story school building built in 1908 near beautiful Lake Minnetonka in Mound, Minnesota. The business model for their new company was to manufacture closet accessories like tie racks and†¦show more content†¦If Tonka wanted to compete with the likes of Buddy L, Marx, Nylint, Structo, Wyandotte and others, they had to diversify their model offering. To that end, Dump trucks, Wreckers, Semis, and Box Vans all made their initia l appearance prior to 1955. By mid-1955, Mound Metalcraft moved into a new manufacturing facility that handled their ever increasing product line and an insatiable appetite by consumers for Tonka trucks. Fast forward #100 Steam Shovel to 1982. (This is a brief history) (http://www.neatoldtoys.com/history.htm) A major blow to Tonka s Minnesota workforce, was that steel truck manufacturing began to move from Minnesota to El Paso, Texas in 1982 with the transfer of equipment and production completed in 1983. Then in 1991, Tonka Toys was purchased by Hasbro Incorporated, the second largest toy company in the U.S.A. In 1998, and still under the Hasbro brand, the steel truck manufacturing was completely moved out of the United States to mainland China. Therefore in today s global manufacturing markets, Made in the U.S.A. takes a backseat if it affects the bottom line. Forward to May 10, 2014, and the Tonka brand is still part of the Hasbro family and is still manufactured in China. The once mighty Tonka brand has been diluted with small plastic trucks. The original factory in Mound, Minnesota looks much the same as it did when it closed in 1982 accept it is home to multiple tenants. The factory in El Paso includes administrative offices, plastic blow