Mitsubishi Pencils acquires Lamy

[Claes]

https://www.jottacloud.com/s/3162e03874ad59641d4bc46b5de760b6503/thumbs

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

[arcfide]

PM_LAMY_Mitsubishi_Pen_EN.pdf - Jottacloud

[arcfide]

Gotta say, this stings quite a bit to me. It didn't take them long to get moving on this, did it? Makes me sad. 

[Azulado]

I say as in the case of Pelikan (Hamelin) or Otto Hutt (Faber-Castell), better a company in the same sector than an investment fund.
The uncertainty is logical. Many of us would have preferred the company to remain family-owned, maintaining the values that have made it legendary, but it seems that the new managers were unable to get things back on track. Anyway, I am not pessimistic, let's wait and see.

 

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmm.  Wondering now if this is why the 2024 Safari SEs are two-toned (the sections being a different color from the barrels and caps).  

I kept thinking that this seemed to be similar to a lot of the color choices for Sailor pens, which will have a different color end cap or section from the rest of the pen in a lot of their lines these days....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mark from Yorkshire]

I hope this doesn’t spell the end for Lamy fountain pens. Mitsubishi Pencil CO’s specialty is Rollerballs and Mechanical pencils. I can see them discontinuing the bottled inks and also cartridges and only continuing with the maker specific filled rollerballs and ball points. That and als the mechanical pencils I do hope to god that I’m wrong but only time will tell.

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I suppose we can always hope that they are trying to expand their market...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mark from Yorkshire]

1 minute ago, inkstainedruth said:

Well, I suppose we can always hope that they are trying to expand their market...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I do hope so and use Lamy’s in house expertise. That now leaves Fabre Castle, Pilot, Sailor and Nahvular. To name an few independent fountain pen manufacturers still in business. I know there are more I just can’t think of them at the moment 

[Bill P]

Well this is certainly shocking....I always believed that Lamy would remain a Family owned and operated business.

 

We can only hope that Mitsu doesn't screw it up.

 

I personally really have enjoyed Lamy Products (for a very long time), and was always prepared to support a Family owned and operated business.

 

I have an order of Lamy products on it's way to me as I write this.

 

RIP Lamy, as we have known it for many many years.

[Bill P]

5 hours ago, Claes said:

https://www.jottacloud.com/s/3162e03874ad59641d4bc46b5de760b6503/thumbs

 

Have fun!
Claes in Lund, Sweden

Thanks for posting

 

[Bill P]

3 hours ago, arcfide said:

PM_LAMY_Mitsubishi_Pen_EN.pdf - Jottacloud

Thanks for the english translation

 

[PAKMAN]

I guess I'm surprised by this, hope the brand keeps it's identity in this change. And hope the legendary Lamy 2000 hangs around and is not discontinued.

[Sailor Kenshin]

This is a shock.  Don't like the wording in the annoucement, either...it makes me wonder just what Mitsu intends to do with the brand.  

 

There may now be a run on genuine Lamy products.

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

That now leaves Fabre Castle, Pilot, Sailor and Nahvular. To name an few independent fountain pen manufacturers still in business.

 

How independent is Sailor, anyway? 

 

2 hours ago, Mark from Yorkshire said:

I know there are more I just can’t think of them at the moment 

 

Santini Italia, for one, if you're looking for companies with in-house expertise and capability to manufacture their own nibs. Scrittura Bolognese, too, maybe; not quite sure about its company ownership.

 

If using JoWo and/or Bock nibs doesn't automatically disqualify a pen manufacturer, then surely the likes of Ranga Pens and Edison Pen Company would count as independent?

[arcfide]

For me, the "independent pen makers" that interest me are specifically those who have in-house nib manufacturing capabilities. I think you're in a different class when you make your own nibs versus fitting a Jowo, Bock, or Schmidt housing into your pens. And, unfortunately, there just aren't that many of those around now which are truly independent. 

 

Not that you have to be independent to be great. I still consider Waterman as making some of the best nibs out there right now, but it did take them a long time to realize the value of their brand's identity, and to shift to making everything in France. It looks like part of the purchase of Lamy was at least predicated on understanding the value of retaining the made in Germany aspect. We'll see how long that lasts. 

 

I think a few people noted with the change in family ownership the shift in the way that maybe the business was signaling its own value system. A family member of mine noted that she thought the way that some of the sales executives were talking about the "Lamy Family" belied a more corporate shift away from that very value. 

 

Does anyone know if this means that the managing executives and the like will be shifting away from the influence of the Lamy family members in particular? If so, it would signal to me that this is a case of the family members no longer really caring to shoulder the burden of the company and instead wanting to cash out and move on, hopefully with "honor" or some level of respectability for the identity of the company itself, to "leave it in good hands" as it were. 

[Prof Drew]

Thanks for sharing the interesting news @Claes.  That was a surprise, although that seems the nature of firms to go on the market. With Japan's declining birth rate many Japanese firms are looking at overseas investments. Mitsubishi does almost half of its sales overseas, so it was probably better to keep the capital overseas with currency values. I'm not an economist, so I have no idea. I'd love to see what Fudefan thinks of this on his blog or Instagram or Tokyo Inklings podcast (with CY).

 

Dare I admit it on the FPN, but I've enjoyed Mitsubishi pencils and Uni Ball pens. It was interesting to read the Wikipedia entry and be reminded that it is not part of the historic Mitsubishi keiretsu (group of companies).

I imagine that Mitsubishi will do well with Lamy. I think Lamy is quite popular in Japan. I saw a few Lamy pop-up stores and heard about special editions.

 

I imagine Lamy was happy to have a buyer since it must feel threatened by counterfeit Lamy production even appearing in some stores.

 

Unlike Tombow Pencils, I don't think Mitsubishi ever made a fountain pen, so this is a nice parallel investment. I was going to say that they already make Mitsubishi Bank Paper, but I think that's by Mitsubishi Paper Mills Limited, which is part of the historic Mitsubishi keiretsu.

[GigiT]

38 minutes ago, Prof Drew said:

Dare I admit it on the FPN, but I've enjoyed Mitsubishi pencils and Uni Ball pens.

 

 

I have to admit that I too enjoy Mitsubishi drawing pencils, and Uni ball pens. 

The news of Lamy being sold is a total surprise. But at least there's consolation in that a good company is the buyer. I also do hope that Mitsubishi continues to produce fountain pens that are as good and affordable as the ones Lamy has been producing for years.

[Misfit]

It is very much a surprise. Or well, thanks to others, Pelikan’s issues were known.  I get emails from the Pelikan’s Perch blog when new entries are posted. 
 

I also use Mitsubishi Uni Style Fit customizable multi pens, as well as other brands. I like Uni’s gel refill colors the best versus Pilot, Zebra and Pentel.  Maybe that’s a hopeful sign?

 

But wow, just wow, I had no idea Lamy was on the market. 

[A Smug Dill]

18 minutes ago, Misfit said:

But wow, just wow, I had no idea Lamy was on the market. 

 

I'm sorry you missed the boat!

 

48 minutes ago, GigiT said:

I have to admit that I too enjoy Mitsubishi drawing pencils, and Uni ball pens. 

 

Personally I've always loved the Zebra Sarasa lines first and foremost, and considered Pilot pens with gel-based ink the next best thing; but recent experiences with Uni products convinced me they're more than a worthy contender, such that out of all things, Uni pens of assorted models (but not competing products from Pilot) are on my list of things to get when I visit Japan again come May.

 

51 minutes ago, GigiT said:

But at least there's consolation in that a good company is the buyer.

 

Yes, and I'm always interested to see what money and executives from the Far East would want to do with long-established European brands (to make them thrive and yield profit), far from the “let's keep European brands European in its roots and operating values” that perhaps led to them being sold in the first place.

[Misfit]

2 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

 

I'm sorry you missed the boat!

I just managed to make it onto the boat today! How long has Lamy been for sale?