2025-10-29
29 分钟Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, Radio, News.
On a summer morning, a group of us, Americans, Chinese, and Vietnamese are packed in a van.
We're moving fast on a brand new highway that slices through Vietnam's Red River Delta.
We're on our way to a toy factory.
But just a few hundred yards away from the factory gate, we've come to a dead halt, stymied by an unexpected obstacle.
Huge puddles.
The road leading to the factory gate is pockmarked with water-filled potholes as big as truck tires.
The only option is to get out and walk the last 100 yards.
It's barely 9 a.m. and it's already 90 degrees.
My travel companion is ready to face the heat.
It's hard to dress for these factory tours.
I've now just basically created an attire of a T-shirt and some sort of very lightweight pants.
I'm here with Alana Woldenberg Ruffman, Vice President of Marketing and Product Development for Learning Resources,
a family-run toy company just outside of Chicago.
She's a mechanical engineer by training and helps run the family business alongside her dad, CEO Rick Woldenberg, and her two brothers.
Some of my earliest memories with toys would be the Learning Resources cash register or the pretend phone,
which is a little dated at this point.
You need the pretend iPhone.
The company traces its roots back more than a century ago to Alana's great-grandfather.
These days, if you have young kids, there's a chance you know their products.