Making a quality pen for the Chinese people

How long has it been since you wrote with a pen?

In the era of computer input and paperless offices, stationery seems to have gone far away from us. Are Hero, M&G, True Color, Deli andother domestic stationery brands old school?

Froma retailer of foreign stationery, to the development of their own research, production and marketing system, M&G has fought for over 30 years to become a house hold name as a domestic stationery brand. Growing alongside generations of Chinese people, M&G is not only a brand of student stationery sold on the street store next to schools, but also one of the world's largest stationery manufacturers, with more than 76,000 retail points across the country and products exported to more than 50 countries and regions around the world. M&G aims to become a "world-class stationery brand".

No more sources of goods? Make your own

In 1990, M&G Stationery took its first step to start its business in two small cottages in Hengshan Village, Gurao Town, Shantou.

Founder Chen Huxiong's family was very poor when he was a child, he recalled:"At that time, we often did not have enough to eat. We truly were a family of farmers, with five of us working little more than half an acre. In junior high school, I was one of the five or six people in class who couldn't afford to eat in the cafeteria, had topack and bring their own thin rice, and rode their bicycles for an hour to school In the winter there was no insulation, and the ricegot cold very quickly."

After dropping out of school to start his own business, he became a salesman. "At the beginning of the business, there was no capital, no background, no brand, in short, nothing. It was entirely up to me to create." Chen Huxiong said, "At first it wasreally just about staying alive and having enough to eat."

After a period of time working as a salesman, Chen Huxiong found that the stationery industry had a relatively stable demand. Students have a large demand for stationery, and office supplies also have a large market. Compared to flowers and food, stationery does not deteriorate and does not rot. In case there is a failure to sell, an excess ofinventory will not incur too much loss. Contact with the Xinhua Bookstore gave him the idea of selling stationery.

In Xinhua Bookstores throughout the country, books and stationery are sold next to each other. The displays at the front were the best.Chen Huxiong thought: as a retailer, if you can get bookstores to help you sell your product, sales will be good. Chen Huxiong established contacts in Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and other locations with Xinhua Bookstores to gain their cooperation and supply them stationery. After a few years, Chen Huxiong went from salesman to sales representative to regional representative. Sales of stationery to South Korea and Taiwan reached two or three hundred million yuan.

     Transformation occurred in 1997. After the Asian financial crisis, many foreign stationery suppliers closed down. With no suppliers of goods, Chen Huxiong became anxious and felt helpless. He made a decision - to build his own pens.

      He chose to go to Shanghai to set up a factory. "Shanghai is the commercial center of China, many old pen companies are here, and at that time private enterprise development incentives were given." Chen Huxiong said.

Around 1998, Chen Huxiong established a factory six miles from Shanghai Pudong six miles. In 1999, he bought 6 acres of land in Fengxian to build a factory, officially entering a stage of integrated industrial production and sales.Within 20 years, M&G would become one of Asia's largest stationery producers, with the production of neutral pens a yearalone reaching 5 billion units.

A series of problems encountered after the start of production leading Chen Huxiong to recognize the importance of technological research,and not just relying on imports. “We used to rely on importsfrom Japan, South Korea, Germany, etc. for inkand nibs.A few years ago we overcame the technical difficulties in the production of nibs." Chen Huxiong said.

The era of China not being able to make ballpoint pen nibs was over!

     Neutral pens, ballpoint pens and other stationery are things that people take for granted in their lives. Few people consider the hidden technological content and technical difficulties involved in these common products.

Atthe beginning of 2016, a headline in the news that read "China unable to make ballpoint pen head" attracted much attention. The article mentioned that although China had more than 3,000 penenter prises, more than 200,000 employees, and an annual output more than 40 billion ballpointpens, the core components of the nib could only be attained through imports.

(The precision and difficulty of pen nib processing is no less than thatof precision watch parts. Pictured is a M&G pen head machine.)

      "A pen may seem simple, but the manufacturing of a single pen head requires more than 20 procedures. Just look at the small ball on the tip of the pen -we have a whole scientific research team studying it.The processing accuracy and difficulty is no less than that of precision watch parts." Chen Huxiong said.

To some extent, the technical content of the nib of a pen is even higher than the watch parts. First of all is the processing difficulty.Under experimental conditions, a pen must be able to write 1500 meters in length, with stand 300,000 repetitions of friction between the nib and the nib seat to ensure that the two match. The precision requirements are very high. At the same time, the material is tungsten steel, giving it high durability, wear resistance, and manufacturing difficulty. Secondly, it is difficult to test forquality. The inner parts of a watch are solid and poorly processed superficially, which can be detected by measuring devices. Nibs,however, are hollow, and can only be test by a far-infrared ray using a 50x microscope.

(The Writing Circle Scribe performs a factory quality check on the nibs.)

It is important to ensure that the quality of the pen nib production is consistent. During processing, tool wear and changes in machine temperature affect the processing parameters of the nibs. Eliminating the effects of tool wear and changes in machine body temperature requires timely fine-tuning of the nib processing parameters. For example, it is necessary to ensure that the gap between the ball and seat body of the pen tip is within 3 microns.

(China's first push-action neutral pen K35)

For the Chinese to make their own high quality pens, much scientific and technological research and development is needed. In 2002, Chinese people began using domestically developed push-action neutral pens for the first time when two products, K35 and GP1008, were launched.Flash forward to 2012, M&G established a more complete R&D mechanism, overcome the core technological challenge of nib ink,polished the production process, and oversaw various national scientific research projects. China Pen Industry Base, China PenCenter, National Industrial Design Center and China Light Industry Pen Engineering Technology Key Laboratory are all located within M&G’s compound.

Pennib processing is highly demanding in terms of production process,operator technical level, testing technology and production management. Global pen nib processing equipment was solely produced in Switzerland. After the introduction of Swiss pen nib processing equipment, M&G has made breakthroughs and improved the quality of its products to different degrees through years of process improvement, research on the matching of pen nibs and inks, and skill enhancement of industrial workers. Currently, M&G is in a leading position in China’s pen industry with regard to pen nib production scale and  processing core technologies.

(Foreign consumers experience the M&G Pleasure Write Cushion Neutral Pen)

In addition to excellent performance, comfort is also important for a pen. In the face of diversified competition, M&G developed the"Comfort Grip" series to relieve writing fatigue and alleviate middle finger calluses. To address the situation of ink contamination on paper and hands, M&G developed the"quick-drying" series, which says goodbye to "littleblack hands" and makes the paper surface cleaner. The "Pleasant Writing Cushion" neutral pen innovated a front cushion springstructure, effectively reducing writing fatigue and improving comfort, winning the product the 2019 German iF product award.

Crafting stories, emotions and spirit through with stationery

 “Doesn't M&G make stationery?” In the memories of many "post-80s"and “post-90s" children, M&G stationery has been with them through their unforgettable student eras. After entering thework world, paperless offices have gradually let go of this old brand. However, this stationery production-oriented enterprise has recently begun appearing in the lives of young people with renewed vigor.

In a large shopping mall in Daxing District, the Beijing Jiu Mu Store, with its fashionable decoration and a wide range of goods,attracts a lot of consumers into its store. When a reporter met Ms.Su, a Beijing resident, she was standing in front of shelves picking out portable batteries. Some portable batteries had exquisite patterns, exquisite packaging, some were made to look like a game controller. "Compared to ordinary portable batteries, these incorporate a lot of creative elements. This one in my hand has animal cartoon patterns and exquisite packaging, and using it feels very ‘cute’." In the end, Ms. Su chose a portable battery with a cosmetics mirror and cell phone buckle.

(JiuMu Store)

      This store, specializing in creative products, has changed traditional perceptions of stationery stores. Street-side stationery stores with the M&G logo situated near schools are no longer the entirety of M&G's offline stores. Ms. Su exclaims "even when you grow up you find that M&G stationery is still around."

"JiuMu Store offers a more complete range of products, such a smake-up tools, hats, bags and toys that I want to buy, all in one place. The whole store is also beautifully decorated,” Ms. Susaid. The reporter noticed that a long line had formed in front ofthe cashier at the store.

     Founded in 2016, Jiu Mu Store is a new attempt to strategically upgrade M&G Stationery. In order to expand to new consumer groups, M&G Stationery began spreading into the field of medium-and high-end consumption, and built a new cultural and creative product sales environments in commercial centers, exploring newretail models for the stationery industry.

       Unlike traditional channels such as cooperative franchising and onlinesales, a physical store is more like a platform to attract more consumers with similar interests and hobbies by shaping the environment and bringing people together. The vice president of M&G Stationery said "the stationery industry should build an environment around the consumer experience, and take the experience as the seed to give birth to a new retail industry." The importance of experiential activities is that how customers experience their space directly determines how long they stay at the retail terminal.

    Beyond functionality, M&G manages to imbue its products with stories,emotions, and spirit to establish an emotional connection with consumers. M&G Stationery cooperates with many famous IPs domestically and internationally, such as Miffy, King of the Navigator, and The Little Prince, to launch cultural and creative products that young consumers love. From stationery to stationery creation, it is not only the added value of the product that is improved, but also the brand awareness.

Reprinted from June 7, 2019, People's Daily Overseas Edition, Reporter: ZhangPengyu