Hong Kong-based WahShing Toys understands this. The firm recently turned to Oracle's Agile product lifecycle management (PLM) software to keep track of the chemical components in their toy materials.

"Toys are designed for kids and safety is top priority," said Takao Kubo, executive director of the R&D, engineering and QA departments at WahShing Toys. "If our toy designers select materials with components hazardous to health, our business will suffer."

WahShing Toys has 30 years of experience in the toy OEM business. During the past decade, it expanded to include original design manufacturing (ODM). ODM raises the company's competitiveness by helping its customers to design, implement, and source materials from a basic toy idea. But the transformation has brought additional risk.

The company is now responsible and accountable for selecting toy materials. But the process of toy material selection is like a minefield. According to Kubo, every single material of a toy--from electronic circuit-boards to screw sizes--must be carefully selected.