Max Factory

Good to know how our figures are made. I'm glad to see that the factory looks up to spec and not like the old factories in China that look like they would break at any moment.

so the factory is in HK ?

Wow, that seems like a great place to work. It reminds me a lot of the Ferrari factory in Europe, though I'm sure Ferrari has better benefits than Max Factory. I'm not sure if they feed their employees at Ferrari though.

Is that Satoko from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni being assembled?

It's a side of the figure industry I always wanted to see. Many thanks to you then!

No wonder why they called themselves "Factory" when you see this. lol.

Hmm.. New factory visits pics/contents.
And yeah, most figure factory are in China. Hope they wont cheat the materials unlike some other companies ;__;

So thats how things are mass produced in China~
What if one of the works steal one??

@Sam,

no the factory is not in HK, it's in Guang Zhou. it's about 120km northwest of Hong Kong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou

I want to take a tour at the factory.

I don't see the airbrush workers wearing face masks.

Is that a tiny Henrietta figure with her AMATI violin case that I see in the corner of the last screenshot there?

Very cool photos, Danny; I appreciate the virtual tour and getting to see a bit of what the working conditions are like.

Even tho I am not really into figures I would love to visit the factory. Seems like an amazing place to me :D

oo - there's Henrietta

factory looks pretty gloomy - but after I saw "average age is about 20" - I thought maybe it might not be so gloomy after all...

Visit? Yes. And maybe take a few "samples" on the way out :D

Well, it's not quite the simpsons take on factory conditions, but then they were doing animation and the factory was in Korea, complete with military men and whips!

So I see Van, Satoko from Higurashi and Henrietta from gunslinger girls just lying around... hmm...

Must be boring as heck putting on hundreds of layers of paint on the same figure day in, day out! I couldn't do that. I like my variety!

Oh yes, it would be interesting to to go for a visit. Nice of Watanabe-san to invite you to come along. I have a feeling he is an interesting individual to talk with.

Interesting to see lots of young guys in the factory. So often one sees young women doing painting. Surprise no one is wearing mask in the paint area. ^^;

Reminds me of Command & Conquer.

"Building.... Unit Ready"
"Building.... Unit Ready"
"Building.... Insufficient funds!"

of course i'd like to make a comment about how the words factory and China being together brings to mind a picture of a dirty, polluted, place chock full of human-rights and environmental abuse cases. HOWEVER, this ruins my perception. the factory looks neat, great and really professional.

Wow, so its like the one shown before. People hand paint them instead of machines (like hand assembling bikes).

Like said, it does (somehow) reminds us (some) of a RTS type of games ^_^;;
IE:
- Command & Conquer
- War Craft III
- War Hammer 40K: DoW

"EXECUTING YOUR ORDER! SIR!" - Imperial Guards

Great to know that in Chinese factories employees are given treatment like how normal humans should be treated.

But is this the norm there? I do hope so ^^

Anyway, speaking of Guang Zhou, I know a little bit about the city, they have great hospital that can cure severe cancer where the cancer has spread throughout the body.

My uncle had his severe cancer healed in Guang Zhou.

Now if only China would stop counterfeiting stuffs...

Wow. Factory conditions there are pretty good. I guess it makes sense though, seeing as MaxFac makes a ton of money off figures. Though, I wonder how much their salary is?

200 USD per month if I am not mistaken.. It's also already been increased from around 150 USD per month recently.

My memory is pretty faint, I remember reading it in newspaper but not really sure if I remember it correctly ^^

Wow the factory looks pretty damn clean and well organized. It's a lot better than i imagine what a factory in china would be =p. However, those workers should really wear a respirator, since those vacuum vents are not good enough when they are holding the figures so close to themselves.

well at least the painter is quite an artist

i think i will ruin the figure if i do painted it.

anybody proficient with airbrush?

cool!!!

they check the quality of every figure they made.

i love u max factory

btw anyone knows what kind of paint they used? watched the vid on goodsmile website but they did'nt metioned what paint was used. wuld be great if someone could tell me what paint was used thx ^^ll

that completely changes my perceptions of china's factories.

i would love to visit the factory and see how figures are made and mass produced ^__^

i wonder if there's a figure factory here that i don't know about lulz XDD

Well now that I know how its done, I'm more willing to spend so much on figures! ^^ Very impressive environment.

So that's why these damn things cost so much. They sure put a lot of work in.

Reminds me of my D&T days in school =.=; the machines and floor look so familiar..

so there's where my money flew to...?

I think its fantastic that they are still hand painted. The quality difference shows Im sure. Im also amazed at how open and clean the factory is. Im a little disappointed to not see masks being worn by the workers painting, but Im pretty bad at that sometimes too. I wouldnt mind working at a place like this. Especially if I got a discount... maybe when I was younger.

wow, a lot of process and quality control as well. GOod.

No wonder some of the figures costs so much. Now I understand why. The production pipeline must really be a strict one in order for the best quality to be churned out.

thanks.. I always wondering how those figures were painted. Impressive.

and wow... thats so different from other factories..

Really cool, would like to go there

@Edward and DRAGUN: I also find it odd that they don't wear masks... Better be ashamed than being critically sick decades after... I would impose rules on that, myself.
Yup, I'm a bit annoying.

@DRAGUN: Good to see you again. I missed your crazy comments for quite a bit and the blog has been too quiet lately. lol.

while a mask could help you out its probably not needed since the setup is like a lab hood. if you blow the paint towards the hood there should be no issues from the fumes. protective eyewear and gloves, i would say, are a must. just my guess, but theres a chance theres no a/c so a mask could be unbearable depending on how hot it gets.

Factory of dreams, uhm... Great article, good see the figures before the finish product, thanks Danny.

Thanks for this article! I was always wondering how figures were being made, and now I know. The factory looks very clean (probably because top brass was visiting) and very professional.

hahaha, in Guangzhou??? I believe the factory is in somewhere far away from the city center, otherwise i will definitely know where is it and I will probably visit it frequently, maybe to steal/plunder all the figures, hahah ..
It's really appreciated that this post exposed some kinda positive side of my country. Since china is a mammoth world factory, ... much bigger than you can image, you will never see the big picture of this place by reading one or two pieces of report..
I know many people here are working on this business, but some of them make both genuine and faked one... and the actually cost of this figure is lower than you can image too.. that's why the factory owner want desperately to reduce the cost, and therefore exploit on the young labors and degrade the qualities, it finally image of made-in-china..
Anyway, thank you for your picture, danny. I will find where the factory is one day... and take my "special action" :)

@D_Blade, good to be back! Also, my comments arent "crazy" per se.... But then again, what crazy person ever realizes they are crazy? Okay, thats all I have to say so you can stop reading now.
.... seriously, Im done.... you are still reading this arent you? Sigh. Well.. I have nothing left to say, so staring at the computer screen isnt going to help..............................................................................................................................................................BOO!

That was a great article Danny! I love seeing how these figures are produced. Though i wonder: The machines they use, and tech people they employ to write the code/algorithims for the machine, must be very expensive. I have 6 years of experience w/ manufacturing/shipping business, and i know how much even the most simple piece of machinery can cost. Sadly, the low wages of the non-tech skilled employies must help balance that out. Business is very evil in that way.

would i like to visit the factory? HELL to the YEAH!! i really admire how anime figures are made it's amazing Thanx Danny for this article this is the very first time that i see how the figures are made

It's really nice to see how the figures are made and how the facilities and staff look like. ^^ And I gotta admit, the factory looks decent and professional.

gee, i would love to work there even with minimum wage.

Very nice. The Japanese sure are neat.

I myself have visited the Trumpeter factory in China (Trumpeter is a scale model company) and it looks very similar to those pictures except that it isn't as orderly as the Max Factory......uhh......factory. We were even given access to the R & D department.

Much as I love modelling, this is one job I'll pass. It looks so dull...

Nice post on demystifying the anime figure production process. I personally visited several factories in another industry in China last summer, and the labor was similarly divided.

the quality of pvc/abs toys has really gotten much better over the last few years I think because of the new techniques and the expanded use of computers. just to think resin models were the order of the day when it came to a precision representation of your favorite anime character some 7 years ago.

ic ic... that's why if we look at the box and the figure stand, there is "Made in China".

How do the workers know where to paint? Or is one person/team assign to paint one type of figure to simply production?

That is pretty neat knowing how the figures are made and all the custom work they go through!:D Would like to visit the factory someday!:D

One of the guys working on it looks like Lanzer. O.o [/randomness]