Sheaffer pen factory

[jhill2d]

I'm sure many of you will find this article interesting.

 

 

http://www.mtvernonlisbonsun.com/article.php?viewID=595

[randyholhut]

A nice piece on the Sheaffer factory.

 

We've been waiting to see what was going happen ever since Bic announced in 2004 that it was shutting down operations in Fort Madison.

 

Sadly, it looks like 2007 is the year that more than a century of penmaking in Fort Madison comes to an end.

[aunt rebecca]

hi,

 

the article hit the nail on the head. the factory and a way of life is going. only the bexley is made in the u.s.a. it is sad!!

[cakibler]

MIchaels Fat Boy does make pens in the US as well. Mostly Ball Points, but his Fat Boy pen is a nice writer and uses a German Schmidt nib. I have one and I love it!

[Richard]

Fort Madison was to be closed and shuttered last May. Now it's to be closed in 17 months.

 

I wonder. When the Valor was being brought up for manufacture, Sheaffer signed a contract with Bock to make the Inlaid Nib units. Bock's people spent two months in Fort Madison to learn how to do the job, and then they broke the bad news. They couldn't make the thing, and they were breaking the contract. That's why Fort Madison is still working.

 

Who is there to do it if Bock couldn't?

[RLTodd]

.... only the bexley is made in the u.s.a. .....

Uhm..... Cross.....

[saintsimon]

.... only the bexley is made in the u.s.a.  .....

Uhm..... Cross.....

The nibs of the Cross Verve are made in Japan (by Pilot?), that's the way to go.

 

Maybe the costs for the tools to make inlaid nibs do prevent a proper business case, with Sheaffer being the only customer for them. All the other Bock nibs just get a different decoration and slightly different specs for the various pen manufacturers, but are essentially the same.

[bernardo]

Na ja, bussiness is bussiness, if the Fort Madison factory is no longer profitable, they should shut it down, but that does not mean the brand Sheaffer is going to disappear. Anyway, I collect vintage Sheaffers only...

[*david*]

... Sheaffer signed a contract with Bock to make the Inlaid Nib units. Bock's people spent two months in Fort Madison to learn how to do the job, and then they broke the bad news. They couldn't make the thing, and they were breaking the contract. That's why Fort Madison is still working.

 

Who is there to do it if Bock couldn't?

Perhaps "nobody, there will be no more inlaid nibs" is the sad answer.

[RLTodd]

Na ja, bussiness is bussiness, if the Fort Madison factory is no longer profitable, they should shut it down, but that does not mean the brand Sheaffer is going to disappear. Anyway, I collect vintage Sheaffers only...

I think you have the point. Iowa is a horrible state to try and do business in. (That is relative as all of the other states have gotten very antagonistic to manufacturing business.)

 

I am sure that BIC only bought Sheaffer for the brand. As it is now their property it is interesting to see what they are doing with it. I still think we will see premium Sheaffer branded BIC Stiks somewhere down the line.

[DRP]

Fort Madison is unprofitable?

 

Just because Bic says it is doesn't mean anything. Bich (the real name) has demonstrated an inability to produce any product that costs more pennies than what they can count on their fingers and toes.

 

Bich proved that it doesn't know how to market to a higher end market ("high end" defined as anything beyond a Bic Stick). Since their founder died, Bich hasn't shown much in the way of creativity or innovation in the marketplace.

 

It's time to let Bich, not Sheaffer, be forgotten except to MBA students writing case studies about why things failed.

[johnr55]

It's always sad when a family sells out to a faceless corporation. So often it has proven to be the beginning of the end. Look at Citroen after the Michelin family sold it. One wonders when the Wildorf family will leave Rolex.

 

Sheaffer pens will no more die out than have Esterbrooks. I have no real desire to own a foreign-made Sheaffer, and think if the Bic people want to make Euro pens why they don't just name them something else.

 

In the meantime, those of us who love Sheaffer pens still have the opportunity, for a time, to continue to buy NOS American-made ones. I've bought half a dozen in the past year and will treasure these as another part of our national history dying out.

[RLTodd]

Fort Madison is unprofitable?

I find that most people have absolutely no idea of how much profit is necessary to sustain a business. Of course I find most people have no understanding of econoimics, value, worth, how things work or most other things in life.

[DRP]

Do most people have an understanding of the level of profit needed to sustain a business?

 

Probably not. Then again, it is my impression that neither do many people who are in positions which one would ordinarily expect to possess that knowledge.

 

Having analyzed several corporate acquisitions, I am appalled by the absence of common sense in decision making. Due diligence is heaved out the window by decision makers whose pipe dreams -- and egos transcend any shred of rational thinking.

 

Although I have not had the opportunity to examine the Bich acquisition of Sheaffer, there are enough red flags to suggest that Bic just didn't have the type of knowledge and experience to have acquired Sheaffer and made it work.

 

Would Sheaffer have been better off as a stand-alone manufacturer of US or US hybrid writing instruments (like a Toyota Camry which is made in USA using a mix of US and foreign parts)? Hard to say. One would have to really study the situation to make an informed decision.

 

What is clear is that Bich paid a lot of money and succeeded only in dissipating the value of their corporate asset. Whether they will be able to reconfigure Sheaffer as a foreign producer remains to be seen.

 

It is evident that if they believed they could enter the mid and upper range market, they should have just created a new "brand" and entered the market that way.

 

Bich/Bic has failed. Period.

[dcjacobson]

It's always sad when a family sells out to a faceless corporation.

 

Johnr55,

 

Where have you been? The Sheaffer family sold the business to Textron in 1966!

 

Your point is well-taken, no matter how late it is: Sheaffer has suffered over the years from its indifferent owners, particularly the last two, Gefinor and BIC. BIC just happens to have really driven the stake into it.

[johnr55]

dcjacobwhatever--I know very well when Sheaffer was sold to Textron, having already been purchasing their products for many years. I stand by my original statement.