Pilot (pen company)

Pilot Corporation
株式会社パイロットコーポレーション

File:Pilot pen logo.svg
Headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo
Company type	Public (K.K)
Traded as	TYO: 7846
Industry	Stationery
Founded	1918 (1918) as Namiki Manufacturing Company
Founder	Ryosuke Namiki
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Writing instruments
Website	pilotpen.com

Pilot Corporation (株式会社パイロットコーポレーション, Kabushiki Gaisha Pairotto Kōporēshon, TYO: 7846) is a Japanese pen manufacturer based in Tokyo, Japan. It produces writing instruments, stationery and jewelry, but is best known for its pens.

It is the largest pen manufacturer in Japan, with competition globally from other pen companies like Japanese Pentel Co. and American Paper Mate. Pilot has a large number of subsidiaries throughout the world, including in the Philippines, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany and France. Most Pilot pens are made in Japan, France and the US. Namiki, Pilot's fountain pens with maki-e lacquering designs, are made in the Hiratsuka factory.

History

In 1915, Ryōsuke Namiki (並木良輔), a professor from Tokyo Nautical College in Japan, left his job to found a small factory near Tokyo to produce gold pen nibs. In 1916, Namiki expanded his product line and became a full-fledged manufacturer of writing instruments.

The Pilot Pen Corporation was founded by Ryosuke Namiki with Masao Wada (和田正雄) in 1918 under the name of the Namiki Manufacturing Company.

In 1926 it established overseas offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Boston, London and Shanghai. In 1938 the name of the company changed to the Pilot Pen Co., Ltd. It was again renamed in 1950 as the Pilot Ink Company, Ltd. In 1954 a branch was opened in Brazil. From 1972 to 1999 various sub-companies were formed to cover the various branches, and the collective name for these is Pilot Corporation. More recently, Pilot began the BeGreen line—pens and pencils composed of mostly recycled content.

Fountain pens

In 1964, Pilot Corporation introduced the Capless. Unlike other fountain pens during its time, the Pilot Capless featured a fully retractable nib. The Capless was later reintroduced as the Vanishing Point in 1972. In 2012, the company released the Metropolitan, a popular entry-level fountain pen.

There are a series of higher end pens that bear the name of "Custom" or "Custom Heritage" and a two or three digit number. "Custom" models are cigar-shaped, while "Custom Heritage" models have flat tops and bottoms. The number is based on the year of introduction (from the foundation of the company—the Custom 74 was introduced in 1992) for models with two digits, while the third digit on models with three digits represents a list price when multiplied by ¥10,000.

Products

The following chart contains the Pilot product lines as of November 2018.

Category	Range of products
Fountain Pens	Varsity, Plumix, Metropolitan, Prera, Custom 823, Custom Heritage 92, E95s, Falcon, Justus 95, Kaküno, Metal Falcon, Stargazer, Vanishing Point, Custom 912, Sterling Silver, Décimo Collection
Rollerballs	Precise (Hi-Tecpoint) V5/V7, VBall
Ballpoint pens	Bottle 2 Pen, EasyTouch, DownForce, Metropolitan, Dr. Grip, Better Ball Point, BP-1, RedGrip, EasyTouch Mini, Acroball
Gel ink pens	G2 (Standard, Fashion, BCA, Metallics, Mosaic, PenStylus, Limited, Pro, Mini), FriXion Ball (Standard, Clicker, LX, Point), G6, GKnock, Metropolitan (Standard, Animal, Retro Pop Collection), Dr. Grip (Standard, Gel, Limited), Bottle 2 Pen (Standard, Colors), Sterling Silver, Ageless, G-Tec-C, Neo-Gel, Juice (Pop'lol), Precise Gel, Precise P-500/P-700, Q7, Juice Up
Marker pens	Razor Point, Razor Point II, Fineliner, V Razor Point, BraVo!
Highlighters	FriXion Light, Spotliter Supreme, Spotliter, FriXion Light Pastel, Markliter
Mechanical pencils	Dr. Grip (Center of Gravity, Limited edition), G2 Pencil, Dr. Grip 4+1 Multi-Function, RexGrip, Progrex, The Shaker, EasyTouch, Mogulair
Inks	Iroshizuku line

• 
  Pilot Petit1 fountain pen.
• 
  Dr. Grip gel pen.
• 
  A 0.25 mm Pilot Hi-Tec-C gel pen used to take very compact class notes.
• 
  FriXion erasable pens whose gel ink becomes transparent by friction heat
• 
  G-2 ball pen
• 
  FriXion ball pen
• 
  B2P Bottle-2-Pen 90% Recycled Ballpoint PetPen

See also

• Companies portal

External links

• Pilot global portal
• Pilot Corporation, Japan Template:Ja icon
• Pilot Pen USA
• Pilot Pen Argentina