The fable of Faber

Talk about pencils and for us Indians, it might most probably be only Nataraj, made by Hindustan Pencils. But world over, the one name when it comes to pencils is faber Castell. It has been making pencils since 1761, with its flagship company in Stein, Germany, in a fairy tale like setting. Faber-Castell was founded by Kasper Faber, a carpenter’s apprentice. His great-grandson Lothar Faber was given noble status in 1861 by King Maximilian II of Bavaria after building the company into the world’s dominant pencil maker. Later generations intermarried with the aristocratic Castell clan, creating the Faber-Castell name. 

This is a mid-size company and its success even when things turned grim is a thing to celebrate. About 60% of Germany’s jobs come from mid sized companies and have been able to hold their steed and stay competitive in the global marketplace and more importantly, unlike the trend where most have shifted production base to China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam , many companies in Germany continue to manufacture in Germany. This is dome for two reasons – to ensure the high quality and keep the know-how in Germany. Faber has said that it would not like to give the know-how for its best pencils to China.

Well, Faber too has factories in Indonesia and Brazil but unlike outsourcing all production, Faber-Castell and many other German companies make a point of keeping a critical mass of manufacturing in Germany. They see it as central to preserving the link between design, engineering and the factory floor. Faber has managed to stay competitive despite competition but the moot question now is - how writing will develop with the advent of digital technology?