Should Pelikan Be Considered Asian Brand?

[4lex]

  On 2/1/2016 at 1:21 PM, twdpens said:

Pretty much all Pelikan pens are made in the same factory outside Hanover, from fine writing LEs all the way down to office products. I visited the factory last year and saw the production. It was fascinating! Unfortunately, photography was not allowed.

 

So whilst I cannot say that every Pelikan pen is made in Germany, certainly all the company's fountain pens are (including the Pelikano and steel nibs).

 

So when you see "Made in Germany", that's what it means. 100%

 

HTH,

 

Martin

Thanks. That is very reassuring.

[dfo]

  On 2/1/2016 at 10:11 PM, vonManstein said:

 

I think my fears were unnecessary. I researched a bit more and Pelikano is still made in Germany.

It wouldn't be the end of the world if it is not. As long as the ethos, skills and tradition are not lost. After all I think Pelikan was making some pens in Milan after 1947. I keep coming back to Cross and Sheaffer. That was such a loss. I am glad Pelikan is not going that way. I guess they are smarter than that.

 

 

Alles klar. Pelikan ist deutsch.

[hari317]

  On 2/1/2016 at 1:21 PM, twdpens said:

Pretty much all Pelikan pens are made in the same factory outside Hanover, from fine writing LEs all the way down to office products. I visited the factory last year and saw the production. It was fascinating! Unfortunately, photography was not allowed.

 

So whilst I cannot say that every Pelikan pen is made in Germany, certainly all the company's fountain pens are (including the Pelikano and steel nibs).

 

So when you see "Made in Germany", that's what it means. 100%

 

HTH,

 

Martin

Martin,

 

Do you know where the new Stola-III FPs are made? Atypically, there is no manufacturing location indication on the packaging or on the pen.

Tks!

Hari

[twdpens]

  On 2/2/2016 at 9:19 AM, hari317 said:

Martin,

 

Do you know where the new Stola-III FPs are made? Atypically, there is no manufacturing location indication on the packaging or on the pen.

Tks!

Hari

Hi Hari,

 

Don't know 100% for sure as I only saw what was running at the time of my visit. However, what I can say is that Pelikan's manufacturing is highly mechanised uses a lot of production technology and equipment that Pelikan's Engineers have developed and built in-house. In this respect Pelikan is very highly vertically-integrated which is unusual these days. It therefore doesn't make sense to not make it in the same factory as their other models.

 

HTH,

 

Martin

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pelikan has always been an office supply company. It is more than likely the printer ink and other office supplies are made where they can be made cheap.

At the price of Pelikan ink in Asia ...some of the ink must be made there too. It is I believe less than 4 Euros there.

[Parker51]

I would not assume that simply because Pelikan, or any other high volume manufacturer sells ink at a low price in a market which has a lot of competition that it is not made at the same location and on the same production line as the expensively priced ink in the less competitive market. I say this because it is my impression that ink has actually fairly low production costs when produced in large quantities as demonstrated by the low cost of ink in the past by high volume producers. I suspect that ink is sold not based upon a cost plus minimum profit basis in much of the developed world, but on the basis of market analysis of how high the manufacturer can sell the ink for and still maintain sales goals due to the willingness and ability of buyers to support said prices.

[jonveley]

  On 2/1/2016 at 10:11 PM, vonManstein said:

 

I think my fears were unnecessary. I researched a bit more and Pelikano is still made in Germany.

It wouldn't be the end of the world if it is not. As long as the ethos, skills and tradition are not lost. After all I think Pelikan was making some pens in Milan after 1947. I keep coming back to Cross and Sheaffer. That was such a loss. I am glad Pelikan is not going that way. I guess they are smarter than that.

 

I think you need to edit your first post. WTH, I just read all these posts and I'm just now finding out you posted in error??

[proton007]

  On 2/3/2016 at 1:47 AM, Parker51 said:

I would not assume that simply because Pelikan, or any other high volume manufacturer sells ink at a low price in a market which has a lot of competition that it is not made at the same location and on the same production line as the expensively priced ink in the less competitive market. I say this because it is my impression that ink has actually fairly low production costs when produced in large quantities as demonstrated by the low cost of ink in the past by high volume producers. I suspect that ink is sold not based upon a cost plus minimum profit basis in much of the developed world, but on the basis of market analysis of how high the manufacturer can sell the ink for and still maintain sales goals due to the willingness and ability of buyers to support said prices.

 

This makes sense, considering the fact that inks allow for variation easily when compared to pens. A new ink, a good color is important for a pen to make a statement.

[Mastiff]

Volvo. Made 'BY' Sweden (owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group).

 

Sorry for sidetracking.

[alexwong001]

"Flame suit on" ....

 

Would i be wrong to say, ultimately its the end product that counts?

[4lex]

  On 2/12/2016 at 5:28 PM, alexwong001 said:

"Flame suit on" ....

 

Would i be wrong to say, ultimately its the end product that counts?

 

Yes.

You would be wrong because when I buy a Pelikan I buy the whole story...not just the product. I buy history, back to Laszlo Kovacs' piston filler patent or Gunther Wagner, I buy tradition, brand, image, it is all part of it. If the story would end the same way that Sheaffer's did, i.e. "and now pens are made in China using cheap labour" I would not buy it.

It is not only the end product that counts because, for instance, if I can get a Rolex copy that is so well made that is as good as, or better than the original, I still would not be willing to pay more than a fraction of what I would pay for the original.

It is never just the end product that counts. Thats why billions are invested in marketing.

Edited February 12, 2016 by vonManstein

[Ursus]

It was stated in the original post, that Pelikan is owned by Malaysians... I thought it was controlled by some Swiss company...

Edited February 14, 2016 by Ursus

[sargetalon]

From the 2016 catalog....

 

[fplover01]

  On 2/14/2016 at 1:27 PM, Ursus said:

It was stated in the original post, that Pelikan is owned by Malaysians... I thought it was controlled by some Swiss company...

 

The Pelikan business was owned by Pelikan Holding (swiss company), whose majority holders have been the malaysians since ca 1996. in 2015 the Malaysians acquired a German stationary company named Herlitz which was bankrupt but had strong real estate assets and a serious logistics business. Operating business was transfered from Pelikan Holding (Swiss company) to acquired Herlitz AG, and Herlitz was renamed to Pelikan AG. So todays Pelikan AG is essentially what was Herlitz AG, that was renamed to Pelikan AG in 2015. The Malaysians own directly or indirectly through Pelikan Holding and other companies most of the shares (more than 95%). As I understand it, it is planned to make Pelikan AG a public company throuch capital injection, where the Malaysians will own 1/3 directly, 1/3 through swiss Pelikan Holding, and 1/3 will be publicly traded. However this structure has yet to be fully realized. In any case, the Malaysians will own the majority of the shares.