C. Josef Lamy Gmbh

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Dear all,

 

I have been collecting LAMY pens for some four or so years. For a long time now, I was really keen to visit and see the place where LAMY pens were made. Well, Heidelberg is some 500 km away from where I live, so it was not that easy, but finally - last week I went there.

 

Before I went, I contacted LAMY if it was possible to maybe visit the premises of the company, but they turned me down, so I was only able to take pictures of the building itself. It was still quite interesting, and I am really glad I went. Besides, Heidelberg is truly a sweet city.

 

Please visit my FLICKR account to see couple of the pictures from my C._Josef_Lamy_GMbH visit.

 

Kind regards,

Jan

My FLICKR account.

Please see other Topics I've started:

LAMY_17_special; LAMY_18_special; LAMY_18_special_vs._LAMY_27/32; LAMY_27e_vs._Montblanc_254; LAMY_67P; LAMY_80_profil; LAMY_lady_set;

1979_LAMY_Fachhandels_Katalog;

Montblanc_254;

[JF_LAMY Collection]

C. Josef Lamy GmbH

[Doug C]

Nicely done. Lamy is what got me into fountain pens years ago...

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Hello Doug,

 

That is wonderful. There are so many LAMY fans. So many people interested in LAMY pens. And yet, LAMY seems not to care at all.

 

I once read somewhere, that someone contacted them asking about the early models and this was the result:

 

"On the issue of historical interest I was confirmed that Lamy is a future oriented company that has very little information on older models"

 

So sad. But we will still love the pens anyway, right? J

 

Kind regards,

Jan

My FLICKR account.

Please see other Topics I've started:

LAMY_17_special; LAMY_18_special; LAMY_18_special_vs._LAMY_27/32; LAMY_27e_vs._Montblanc_254; LAMY_67P; LAMY_80_profil; LAMY_lady_set;

1979_LAMY_Fachhandels_Katalog;

Montblanc_254;

[gammada]

 

"On the issue of historical interest I was confirmed that Lamy is a future oriented company that has very little information on older models"

 

So sad. But we will still love the pens anyway, right? J

 

 

Weird coming from a German company. Then again, the 2000 and the Safari could might as well be considered old Lamys based on the years they were introduced!

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Well, I guess they started counting their “history” in 1966 J

 

Jan

My FLICKR account.

Please see other Topics I've started:

LAMY_17_special; LAMY_18_special; LAMY_18_special_vs._LAMY_27/32; LAMY_27e_vs._Montblanc_254; LAMY_67P; LAMY_80_profil; LAMY_lady_set;

1979_LAMY_Fachhandels_Katalog;

Montblanc_254;

[Bo Bo Olson]

Nice roof top garden....part of it is an out door extension of the canteen. Part is places where one can sit and smoke. Then it behind a 3 meter wall it divides to two more solitary areas; 30 meters, 20 another wall, and fifty, with a small pond......where one can turn one's back on work. In the last two sections some subculture...more modern than I like.

 

 

I took a factory tour two summers ago. We won it in a newspaper lottery.

 

Sigh, the going away gift was a ball point.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Glad to know that at least someone went inside. LOVELY, congratulation!!!

 

[MJSchuelke]

I can sort-of understand their response, though. You can't just have random visitors wander around your company, not even one. Even if you're not worried about theft, or confidential information going astray, there are health-and-safety matters if you have on-site manufacturing, workshops, labs, etc. So you need someone to drop whatever they're doing for a couple of hours and give you a tour instead; I doubt Lamy gets enough visitors to organise regular guided tours with professional tour guides. Also I don't know much manufacturing they do on-site. If it's not much, and they can't show you next year's top-secret designs, what's left may be mostly people sitting at desks in offices...

[Ernst Bitterman]

Looks like it's mostly bloodthirsty robots in there.

 

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Hello,

 

Well, it is quite difficult to tell what the reasons are. On the other hand, the next day I went to Neckarsulm to AUDI Forum and took a guided factory tour there. LAMY representatives were nice and polite when refusing me, so there is nothing to complain about. It is just sad, that there is not at least a small place “remembering” the history of the company and its early products. In one of the videos about LAMY on You Tube, I noticed displays full of LAMY pens. And that is what I don´t understand: why are they turning their backs on the pre 2000 models (including Artus).

 

Kind regards,

Jan

 

My FLICKR account.

Please see other Topics I've started:

LAMY_17_special; LAMY_18_special; LAMY_67P; LAMY_80_profil; LAMY_lady_set;

LAMY_18_special_vs._LAMY_27/32; LAMY_27e_vs._Montblanc_254;

1979_LAMY_Fachhandels_Katalog; C._Josef_Lamy_GmbH;

Montblanc_254;

[Bo Bo Olson]

From what Thomas (Kaweco) said, the son in charge has no interest in past glories.

Thomas is a schollar of German fountain pens, and has talked to everybody or their sons and daughters.

 

They had a connection to Artus before the war, then bought it out after the war for the plastic machine. Artus, which has regular flex nibs, were Lamy's second tier pen, even though at the start Artus wasn't all that 'second tier'.

The design engeer led the tour. They had two tours, one day after another, and the reporter took both. I showed him my Persona and was told a new Persona was due out this year. It has not shown up yet.

 

I'm not into factories to say what is huge or not...to me it was huge. As up-todate & automatic as possible other wise they would have to move to China. a good 7 iron long in one section....of heavy machines. a good 5 iron on the other side where there was lesser machines.

The warehouse was effecient...picked up a trick or two. I'd drove forklifts in a ware house.

Not high regals like say Ikea, low, in and out. Just in time and all that.

I could see some of the movement of thier 600,000 pens they make a year. That's including bp&mp also.

 

Some 28 steps in cutting a steel nib. Saw a single band of steel where they showed all the cuts.

They cut the slits with a thin rubber wheel, impregnated with something. Was surprized it was rubber and not a stiffer cutting wheel.

 

As mentioned before the steel nibbed pens are made in the large factory section. The gold nibs in an old fashioned small room...that was closed for the 9'O'clock breakfast. All I saw was two women in the distance grinding at the 2000 type ball points.

The steel nibs are tested in their sectionon a rotating paper covered drum, and checked by sound. That is why they all have a bit of ink in them when new.

 

Those that don't sound right are kicked out, into a seperate line, so a single old woman can tweek the nibs.

A real boring job....but that's why it's called a job. Mostly it was one tweek and go, a couple of times two...once I saw her tweek a nib three times.

 

Ball point cartridge is made old fashioned.....hi-tec....'70's with oil bath drilling machine.

Cartridges on their sides are filled 2-3 a second.

There is a huge 300 ton? a day ink making section, we did not get to see.

Could be I'm off on that...something over in that corner ate up about that much....could have also been the plastic to make everything.

 

In another few machines, Safari, barrles and caps were being formed every 4 seconds. A machine putting on the clips.

 

In the last section, certain other pens were being sprayed.100 pens in a lot at 3 of the four places it could be done, by one machine. Some 10-15 seconds. Then brought up moved to drying area, where what ever was sprayed on seemed to dry fast.

Edited September 18, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Hello, and THANK YOU for the additional information, Bo Bo ... nicely written

Jan

[MJSchuelke]

I'm not sure the comparison with Audi is entirely fair. Lamy is a medium sized company with 320 employees; Audi probably employs more people in their Neckarsulm Forum alone to handle the quarter-of-a-million visitors they get each year.

[ac12]

What part of Heidelberg is it located?

Found it on Google Earth. It is on the opposite side of town from where I stayed.

 

I wish I was into pens back when I used to go to Germany on business and stayed in Heidelberg.

Edited September 27, 2014 by ac12

[Keyless Works]

I haven't been to any pen factories before but I have been to furniture factories in Switzerland and Germany and most of them will let you see their production if you are a customer and you make arrangements before hand. If it's a safety concern, a timing issue or a concern for guarding technical knowhow I can see why factories would turn people away but if it is a product that they take pride in they will likely want to show off their production.

 

http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab201/unroyalwarrant/IMG_2096_zps5c4fb12c.jpg

Edited September 27, 2014 by Keyless Works

[JF_LAMY Collection]

Dear all,

 

Thank you for all your comments and ideas. Recently, I have had a conversation with one of the very nice members on FPN and thanks to him I realized one thing: LAMY is still a family owned company and the year 1966 is the year which might have made the difference ...

 

Of course I was disappointed at first, but I respect their decision, and understand it.

 

It is on us to remember their past, and I believe it will be even more interesting this way ...

 

Kind regards,

Jan

 

My FLICKR account.

Please see other Topics I've started:

LAMY_17_special; LAMY_18_special; LAMY_67P; LAMY_74_Dialog3; LAMY_80_profil; LAMY_lady_set;

LAMY_18_special_vs._LAMY_27/32; LAMY_27e_vs._Montblanc_254;

C._Josef_Lamy_GmbH;

1979_LAMY_Fachhandels_Katalog; LAMY_Vintage_Advertisements

Montblanc_254;

[JF_LAMY Collection]

All pictures of the C. Josef Lamy Gmbh factory are here.

 

Kind regards,

Jan

 

My FLICKR account.

Please see other Topics I've started:

LAMY_17_special; LAMY_18_special; LAMY_67P; LAMY_74_Dialog3; LAMY_80_profil; LAMY_lady_set;

LAMY_18_special_vs._LAMY_27/32; LAMY_27e_vs._Montblanc_254;

C._Josef_Lamy_GmbH;

1979_LAMY_Fachhandels_Katalog; LAMY_Vintage_Advertisements

Montblanc_254;

[Bo Bo Olson]

Weiblingen some 15K's outside of Heidelberg. Heidelberg-Wieblingen

Edited October 28, 2014 by Bo Bo Olson

[JF_LAMY Collection]