Nantes: Despite a declining pen market, Waterman is turning his back and relocating – 20 Minutes

It is one of the emblematic companies of the Nantes conurbation. For more than 54 years now, the Waterman factory has been producing pens in Saint-Herblain, a stone’s throw from the Atlantis zone. The site, owned by Newell France production, a subsidiary of the American group Newell Brands, manufactures refillable pens (nib, roller, gel and ballpoint) for brands
Waterman (Hemisphere, Expert models, etc.) and, above all,
Parker (Jotter, Duofold, Sonnet…). Some eight million units are released each year, not counting ink and refills, also designed on site.

A specific know-how, requiring many manual tasks, but weakened for twenty years by the rise of computers and smartphones. The workforce has thus increased from approximately 500 employees ten years ago at 360 (including 250 in the workshops). They were even close to a thousand at the end of the 1980s. “The market is shrinking from year to year and so is the number of employees. It hurts, ”says Laurence Griveau, CGT union representative.

The factory will be able to recruit

Fortunately, the start of the 2021 school year will bring a new lease of life. After a “complicated” 2020 financial year due to the health crisis, sales of pens have recently started to rise again, reports management. Part of the automated production, which was previously outsourced to Asia, will also be reintegrated into the Saint-Herblain plant. “Two new production lines will be put into service by the end of the year,” explains Bruno Réaud, plant manager. This activity was entrusted to our Chinese partners but the group wanted to relocate it in order to strengthen the site. This is obviously very good news. This will allow us to increase our volumes by around 10%. “

Fountain pens produced by the Waterman brand. – F. Perry / AFP

A new line of ecological packaging design has also been set up. Consequence of these changes: the plant will be able to recruit between ten and twelve additional people. “This does not mean that the workforce will increase, nuance Laurence Griveau. When we look in detail, there will be as many retirements as there are recruitments. “

Luxury fountain pens

Parker and Waterman pens produced near Nantes are sold “all over the world”, particularly in China, Japan, Europe and the Middle East. France, it represents about 15% of outlets. Customers are schoolchildren, families and business people. “The development of digital technology necessarily has a negative effect on the use of the pen. But the market is far from having disappeared. We are in the beautiful object, the gift, the rechargeable, the indestructible ”, describes Bruno Réaud.

Luxury too, for some feather models, accessible only over a thousand euros, like the Exception collection. “The top of the range undeniably offers potential. But the company is less and less interested in it. She prefers to do volume with medium or low-end pens, ”regrets Laurence Griveau.

Waterman: shocked, the dismissed will have to train their successors