The Binder Blues….
By Michael G. Henry
Bill Walters of Ertl

For practically each month during the past few years I have been writing articles for the Toy Tractor Times under the column “Pedaling around Pennsylvania.” Just as in all aspects of life, times change and sometimes so do column ideas. Gathering reader input from our supporters, it seems though there is a lot more support going towards other scales of toys and not as much towards the pedals. After speaking with Jay about article ideas, I have decided to shift my attention towards a variety of topics, mostly focusing on International Harvester since I enjoy learning about binders the most. So, December opens up the new “Binder Blues” section of the Toy Tractor Times.

This month I utilized the world of email to speak with Ertl’s Bill Walters. Bill was kind enough to share a little bit of information about himself. I thought of this topic while reading Toy Talk. We are also picking Bill’s brain and what he is thinking, but rarely any of us know about him. This month, Bill has been willing to share about his job, and personal life, outside of Ertl.

1. Bill, how long have you worked for Ertl?
I have worked at Ertl since October of 1993.

2. What is your current position with Ertl?
I am Managing Director of Ag &Off-road Vehicles. I am responsible for agricultural, construction, and other off-road vehicles such as ATV's, snowmobiles, etc.

3. How did you get your job/position with Ertl?
I started out working on customer service and then was promoted into Marketing. From there I've worked my way up to become the Director.

4. What do you find to be the most exciting aspect of your job?
There are really two: #1. Talking with all the collectors and people involved in the hobby. #2. Working with the OEMs on developing the new replicas.

5.  How many people are on your staff at Ertl?  What does your department do?
I have 4 product engineers/managers and two graphics managers.  We work together to develop new farm toy products for Ertl.

6.  How does your team decide which farm toys to produce?  Once you decide on a model how do you decide what scales to offer it in?
There are several things we look at.  How popular were the real machines in terms of sales or length of time produced?  Is there a big demand for it from the collectors?  Did it have some new technology or something special that makes it unique?  How relevant is the unit to the current collecting market?
You also then have to look at the economics and decide if you can sell enough volume to pay back the tools.  How many versions can you do from the tooling?  What retailers can I get to sell it?  What will my price point be?  Is there a hole in our product offerings that this unit fills? 

Obviously this has to be reviewed at the same time with all of the requests we get from the OEMs for modern equipment replicas.  We then have to look at our tooling budget over all scales and determine how best to proceed.

7. You see allot of custom farm toys on ToyTractorShow.com Toy Talk and at farm shows.  Would Ertl be interested in using pictures (and possibly actual models) of customized and scratch built farm toys made by people for purposes of illustrating new models with various options/configurations for new product surveys and to jump start and speed up the prototyping process for new models.

At this time we're not interested, but it is intriguing.  We do check out what customs are being built to make sure we understand all the different versions that can be produced.  Unfortunately trying to do too many versions gets our tooling costs pretty high.

8. Collectors would like to know what tractors and farm toys you would like to do make, whether it be for sentimental reasons or its just your favorite tractor?

I'm probably opening up a can of worms, but I would love to see an AC D-21 and a Case TK 1470 as a Precision.  Because we are offering 1/32 as a expanded world brand through RC2/Britans/Ertl  here some of my wishes:

AC D-19 with snap coupler 3 bottom plow
AC 185 with 3-point
New Idea Mower Conditioner
New Idea Uni System with ear and shelled corn attachments.
IH 1066 w/disk
Gleaner L2
All JD 4WDs
IH 2+2
Case IH MAGNUM
JD 8000 Series
These are some fun..... Not that I'll ever get some of this tooled.

9. How many toy shows do you attend each year?
Normally only 4-5 a year. Lafayette Show, Summer Farm Toy Show, Plow City Show, National Toy Truck N Construction Show, National Farm Toy Show.

10.  When you attend shows and chat with collectors on-line at ToyTractorShow.com Toy talk you takes lots of comments and ideas.  It often seems that even when bring out long awaited items often critical comments are made before you hear positives. How do you feel about that?

I like to hear the criticisms and comments.  I can't solve issues or problems unless I know they exist. Collector input positive and negative beneficial.  I love to get input from the collectors because you're the ones we're trying to serve.  I hope I get across the barriers I have in making models and deciding what to do.  I realize everyone wants different items, and it does get very hard sometimes to determine which items to make or not make. All we can do is try our hardest and learn from our mistakes.

11. What do you feel the biggest improvement has been in the toy industry?

Honestly, the level of detail that you can now get is amazing. Our ability to produce in China has allowed us to get greater detail, while still keeping prices lower.

12.  How far in advance do the OEMs show ERTL a new product that they want ERTL to make a replica of?  For example, the 1/16 8520 had several features which had changed prior to the actual tractor's Introduction, obviously the toy was begun using a pre-production design.

It all depends.  On some new units they call us in after they have the first prototype produced.  If the first units are off being tested, we have to start with engineering drawings.  We try to meet several times to get updates and see how things are progressing.  At some point we have to finalize our replica and proceed with tooling to hit a ship date.  Depending upon when the OEM wants the replica introduced, we might be finalizing our design up to 6 months before the real unit is introduced. For planning purposes we like to know of new products at least 2 years in advance.  I have to plan tooling dollars, new releases and manpower requirements needed to make everything work. 

13. Do you collect farm toys as well? If so, what does your collection have in it?

I just checked the other day and I have around 105 in my collection. Mainly 1/16th and 1/64th projects I have worked on throughout the last 10 years.

14. What is the most prized / cherished piece of your collection?
I have my Ford 6000 Commander pedal tractor that I played with when I was young. I recently had it restored. Also the first Precision AC D-17. That was done from my Dad's original D-17 that is owned by his next door neighbor.

15. What has the Internet done for the hobby?
The internet has allowed collectors to find out very quickly what is being produced. It has also allowed price shopping. The ability to chat with other collectors without having to travel to a show has probably hurt that part of the business.

16. Bill, can you tell us a little about your personal life? Most people often wonder who the man is behind the computer in Toy Talk.
I grew up on the family farm which is approximately 20 miles North of Dyersville. It is roughly 160 acres that is primarily corn, oats and pasture. It is pretty rough, clay ground. I grew up around Ford and AC tractors. My dad still owns a Ford 860 and a AC D-19. I
Graduated High School, and then got an Associates Degree from a local two year college. I then joined the Air Force and got my bachelor's degree by going to night school. I was stationed in South Carolina, so my bachelor's degree is from the University of South Carolina.

Thank you very much to Bill Walters of Ertl for taking time out of his day to share information about his position with Ertl, a position which we dream of as kids