Production Information (England) (by James Proctor)

From a former fettler who worked at the Krystonia factory in Stoke-on-Trent UK:

Production logistics were:
1. Molding/Casting
2. Fettling (cleaning up the seams)
3. Sponge Painting
4. Eyes and Detail Painting (more skilled)
5. Adding bottom felt and crystals
6. Boxing up
7. Shipping from England to Ann Arbor
8. Filling orders from Collectible stores

So, this guys job was to fettle (scrape off extra material from seams from casting) recently molded figurines to be sent to painters who worked from home so as to avoid the company from having to pay benefit costs. He said he and his friends would have a quota of around 800/day. He said they were not paid well at all, but he enjoyed working with his co-workers. The company hired young people and trained them to paint at home, not in the factory so they would be independent contractors. He mentioned that Large N'Borg was the most difficult to clean up due to a lot of seams and being so heavy. The staff was difficult due to breaking easily too.

He said that the owners (Chandok family/Panton) did a "runner back" to the states owing the workers at the factory 2 months of wages. He said they never did get paid due to the company being headquartered in Michigan back in the States.

He mentioned a time when some resin caught fire and they had to evacuate the building due to fumes. He said they were not allowed to keep any unpainted ones and that the factory workers attempted to unionize and were summarily quashed by the plant managers.