Faber-Castell (pencils)
Faber-Castell International
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Faber-Castell PITT藝術筆創作影片榮獲知名Silver Telly電視大獎. 2010-05-28, 6/1~6/30前報名師資速成， ... 林布蘭》2008 FABER-CASTELL盃全國繪畫比賽得獎作品欣賞 ...
無毒鉛筆！三大創新突圍電腦時代
作者：經濟學人 出處：Web Only 2010/09
相關關鍵字：經濟學人
Faber- Castell成立於1761年，是全球最大的品牌鉛筆製造商，它的任務讓人望而怯步：改良那個鉛筆愛好者認為已臻完美的產品。許多人認為，進入電腦時代 之後，鉛筆會逐漸被人遺忘，但鉛筆的銷售仍持續增加。Faber-Castell年產量約22億枝。它們便宜又耐用，在學校非常受歡迎。
不 過，Faber-Castell在衰退中仍能繼續成長，上個財報年度銷售上升了近6%。Faber-Castell在新興市場表現不 錯，也經由改良鉛筆增加在富有世界的市佔率。Lothar von Faber是公司創立者的曾孫，於1839年接掌公司；他發明了六角形鉛筆，讓鉛筆不會一直在桌面上滾動。
Faber-Castell的第二項創新被人偷走了。1875年，美國最高法院判決Faber有權在鉛筆後頭加上橡皮擦，即使另一位發明家已經為此申請了專利。自那時之後，研發轉為讓筆心變得更為堅硬、找出最能保護鉛筆的木材。
但 對用鉛筆的人來說，有三項創新特別重要。其一，Faber-Castell於90年代開始採用環保塗料。老師和家長擔心小孩咬鉛筆會吞下有毒物 質，但小孩喜歡彩色，所以Faber-Castell伯爵重整製程，改用不含有毒化學物質的新塗料。第二項創新則是推出符合人體工學的三角形鉛筆，小孩也 非常喜歡這種鉛筆。第三項則是為鉛筆加上橡膠點，讓鉛筆不會從流汗的小手中滑開。
Faber-Castell伯爵認為未來還是有進步的空間，不過，接下來10到15年裡，鉛筆的基本設計應該不會有所改變，木頭還是會包著石墨。被問到接下來100年的情況時，他笑著答道，這應該得交給另一個世代來決定了。
From The Economist
Published: September 23, 2010
A wonderful tool with many uses.ULYSSES GRANT, an American general, jotted down battle plans with one. Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian chancellor, used his to tamp down the tobacco in his pipe. Vincent van Gogh used one to "draw a woman sewing" and found they "produce a marvellous black and are very agreeable to work with."
Craftsmen have made pencils in Stein, near Nuremberg, for nearly four centuries. Faber-Castell, the world's biggest branded pencil manufacturer, has done so since 1761. Its task is daunting: to improve a product that pencil-lovers insist has been perfect for well over a century. Among these is Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell, a dapper former investment banker and the eighth member of his family to run the firm. "At my home I have a Faber-Castell pencil I bought from an antique dealer that must be from 1890 or 1895," he says. "It writes perfectly, even after all these years. That's the fantastic thing with a pencil."
Many people thought that pencils would become obsolete in the computer age, yet sales continue to grow. Perhaps 15 billion-20 billion are made each year, roughly half of them in China. Faber-Castell produces about 2.2 billion. They are cheap, sturdy and popular in schools, especially in poor countries. As countries grow richer, children's pencil cases grow fatter, though only up to a point. Sales of pencils in most European countries are growing only slowly, if at all.
Faber-Castell, however, has kept growing despite the recession. In its past financial year sales increased by almost 6%. The firm does well in emerging markets with vast numbers of bright-eyed schoolchildren. It is also grabbing market share in the rich world by making its pencils better. This is nothing new for Faber-Castell. Lothar von Faber, the great-grandson of the company's founder, took over in 1839 and invented the hexagonal pencil. By cutting the edges off a cylindrical one, he stopped it from rolling off a table.
Faber-Castell's second big innovation was stolen. In 1875 America's Supreme Court ruled that Faber was entitled to put rubber erasers onto the back of its pencils, although another inventor had already patented the idea. The court felt that the idea was too obvious to patent.
Since then, years of research have gone into making leads firmer and finding the type of wood that best protects them from breaking when dropped. But for scribblers, three ideas stand out. First, Faber-Castell started using water-based, environmentally friendly paints in the 1990s. Teachers and parents, who used to worry that children would swallow toxins while chewing their pencils, would have preferred plain wooden ones. But children love bright colours. So Count Faber-Castell reworked his entire process to accommodate new paints without harmful chemicals. Teachers in Europe now urge parents to buy them by name.
The count's second innovation was to introduce an ergonomic triangular shape that is popular with children. His third was to add rubbery dots that keep the pencils from slipping out of sweaty little hands.
As for the future, Count Faber-Castell still sees scope for further refinement. Pencils could perhaps be made tougher, or easier on the eye. But the basic design—graphite encased in wood—is unlikely to change much in the next ten to 15 years, he says. Asked about the next 100, he laughs. That may be for another generation to decide.
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