Part 6 in a series on planned obsolescence.
In 1953 Marcel Bich formed an inventive pen company named Société Bic. Based in Clichy, France – a Paris suburb – this enterprising gentleman was ready to launch a remarkable new approach to writing, a disposable ballpoint pen called the Bic Cristal. The company name was a shortened version of his name, one that would be easier to pronounce and remember. Not only did the truncation make an easy to remember name, the world of writing consumers and the stationery industry would never again be the same.
The low-cost Bic wrote as well – and often better – than more expensive pens and could be tossed out when the ink cylinder went empty. Best of, it was remarkably cheap. When the product was finally launched on American soil in 1960, the price tag tallied a hard-to-beat 19 cents.
In short order the name of Bic was equated with the rising popularity of inexpensive disposable products – an emerging trend. The list of wares ran the gamut, from razors to disposable cameras. Unlike Brooke Stevens’ adage involving a product that was newer and slightly better, the world of disposables simply involved low cost and the ability to produce at a massive scale.
The primary material making disposable products economically possible was plastic, a far-fetched material concept heard in Dustin Hoffman’s 1960s film, “The Graduate,” when a martini-toting businessman quipped at a cocktail party, “The future’s in plastics.”
Even if such concept may once have seemed crass and shallow, especially to a young generation wanting to reconnect with the earth, love, drugs and sexual experimentation, these words were prescient. Plastic, in about as many formulations as can be imagined, has indeed been fundamental in making a majority of products leaving the drawing board today.
Regardless of a “sometime-far-in-the-future” vanishing ingredient consideration, plastics engineers, industrial designers and entrepreneurs designed for a no-holds-barred future using the diminishing resource of petroleum. Plastic became a staple of modern life, from credit cards to cars to bottles and packaging. The material cost was ridiculously low and nobody has yet sounded the alarm for limited availability.
Before most people even thought about plastics as part of a recycling stream, the majority of what obsolescent or used plastics ended up in the trashcan en route to the dump. What’s most remarkable, there is little concern that the product was as disposable as a paper bag.
Like many new-age disposable products, the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen makes a case study for a remarkably well-designed product – inexpensive, simple, reliable, and something that could be tossed into the trash can without second thought, knowing the next pen would be just as reliable.
The pen is a study of industrial design innovation, having secured a display at Its hexagonal shape was taken from the wooden pencil and yields an economical use of plastic along with strength and three grip points giving high writing stability. The pen’s transparent polystyrene barrel shows the ink-level. A tiny hole drilled in the barrel’s body keeps the same air pressure both inside and outside the pen. The thick ink is pulled down by gravity from a tube inside the barrel to feed a ball bearing, which spins freely within a metal tip.
So somewhere around 150 billion pens later, Société Bic has grown to now manufacture lighters, shavers, stationery, water sports, and phones. As for negative notions about throwaway items, the pen said to be one of the world’s most efficient pens, able to write over 100,000 words.
Philosophically Bic products – plus those of its many competitors – are designed to provide “easy answers for everyday needs.” Which all seems like a smooth evolution of what planned obsolescence meant. Where to next, is the question that begs to be asked.
About this report: The following series on planned obsolescence is taken from a book Glenn Meyers presently writing, “The Growth Quotient.” Here is an archive of these posts:
- The Greatest Invention: Planned Obsolescence – Part 1
- The Freight Train for Planned Obsolescence Jumps to High-Speed Tracks – Part 2
- Moore’s Law & Planned Obsolescence Construct a Technology Traffic Jam: Part 3
- Planned Obsolescence & the Bubble That Burst: Part 4
- Unplanned Obsolescence & the Texas Back Roads: Part 5
- Planned Obsolescence and the Bic Effect – Part 6
- The Evolution of Planned Obsolescence: Innovation’s Litter – Part 7
Photos: Bic car in Beost, France & child carrying recyclables from Shutterstock
Sehemu ya 6 katika mfululizo juu ya ukosefu wa mpango. Mwaka 1953 Marcel Bich alianzisha kampuni ya kalamu ya kuunda iliyoitwa Société Bic. Akiwa na makao yake makuu huko Clichy, Ufaransa - kitongoji cha Paris - mwanamume huyu mwenye bidii alikuwa tayari kuzindua mbinu mpya ya kuandika, kalamu ya kuchapisha inayoitwa Bic Cristal. Jina la kampuni hiyo lilikuwa jina lake lililofupishwa, ambalo lingekuwa rahisi kutamka na kukumbuka. Si tu kwamba kuondolewa kwa jina hilo kulifanya jina hilo liwe rahisi kukumbuka, bali pia ulimwengu wa watumiaji wa kuandika na sekta ya vifaa vya kuandikia haungekuwa tena sawa. Bic ya bei nafuu iliandika vizuri <unk> na mara nyingi vizuri <unk> kuliko kalamu za bei ghali zaidi na ingeweza kutupwa nje wakati silinda ya wino ilipokuwa tupu. Jambo bora zaidi ni kwamba, ilikuwa ya bei nafuu sana. Hatimaye, bidhaa hiyo ilizinduliwa nchini Marekani mwaka wa 1960, na bei yake ilikuwa senti 19. Kwa muda mfupi jina la Bic lililinganishwa na kuongezeka kwa umaarufu wa bidhaa za bei nafuu za kutumiwa mara moja - mwenendo unaojitokeza. Orodha ya bidhaa hizo ilitia ndani vitu vingi, kuanzia mashine za kunyoa hadi kamera za kutumiwa mara moja. Tofauti na msemo wa Brooke Stevens unaohusisha bidhaa mpya na bora kidogo, ulimwengu wa vitu vya kutumiwa mara moja ulihusisha tu gharama ya chini na uwezo wa kuzalisha kwa kiwango kikubwa. "Kama vile vile ""mfano wa plastiki"" ulivyoonekana wakati wa miaka ya 1960 katika filamu ya Dustin Hoffman, ""The Graduate,"" ""Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1960,"" ""Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1960 katika filamu ya Dustin Hoffman, ""Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1960 katika filamu ya The Graduate,"" ""Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1960 katika filamu ya The Graduate,"" ""Mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1960 katika filamu ya The Graduate.""" Plastiki, katika karibu formula nyingi kama unaweza kufikiria, kwa kweli imekuwa ya msingi katika kufanya idadi kubwa ya bidhaa kuondoka ubao wa kuchora leo. Bila kujali "wakati mwingine mbali katika siku zijazo" kupotea kiungo kuzingatia, wahandisi wa plastiki, wabunifu wa viwanda na wajasiriamali iliyoundwa kwa ajili ya siku zijazo no-holds-barred kutumia kupungua rasilimali ya petroli. Plastiki imekuwa sehemu muhimu ya maisha ya kisasa, kuanzia kadi za mkopo hadi magari hadi chupa na vifurushi. Gharama ya vifaa ilikuwa ya chini sana na bado hakuna mtu aliyepiga kengele kwa upatikanaji mdogo. Kabla ya watu wengi hata kufikiria plastiki kama sehemu ya mkondo wa kuchakata, wengi wa plastiki zilizopitwa na wakati au zilizotumika zilimalizika katika chombo cha taka njiani kwenda kwenye taka. Jambo la kushangaza zaidi ni kwamba, hakuna wasiwasi wowote kwamba bidhaa hiyo ingeweza kutumiwa mara moja kama mfuko wa karatasi. Kama bidhaa nyingi za kizazi kipya, kalamu ya BIC Crystal ballpoint inafanya utafiti wa kesi kwa bidhaa iliyoundwa vizuri sana - ya bei nafuu, rahisi, ya kuaminika, na kitu ambacho kinaweza kutupwa kwenye chombo cha taka bila kufikiria mara mbili, ukijua kalamu inayofuata ingekuwa sawa. Kalamu ni utafiti wa ubunifu wa muundo wa viwanda, baada ya kupata kuonyesha kwa umbo lake la hexagonal lilitolewa kutoka kwa kalamu ya mbao na hutoa matumizi ya kiuchumi ya plastiki pamoja na nguvu na pointi tatu za kukamata zinazotoa utulivu wa juu wa kuandika. Bomba la polystyrene la kalamu inaonyesha kiwango cha wino. Shimo dogo lililochimbwa ndani ya pipa hilo huhifadhi shinikizo la hewa sawa ndani na nje ya chupa hiyo. Wino huo unashushwa chini kwa nguvu ya uvutano kutoka kwenye bomba lililo ndani ya pipa ili kuingiza rangi hiyo katika mpira unaozunguka kwa uhuru ndani ya ncha ya chuma. Kwa mfano, kampuni ya Bic, ambayo imepata utajiri wa zaidi ya dola bilioni 150 hivi, sasa inazalisha mashine za kuuzia risasi, mashine za kunyoa, vifaa vya kuandika, michezo ya majini, na simu. "Kama ilivyo kwa maoni hasi kuhusu vitu vya kutupwa, kalamu hiyo inasemekana kuwa mojawapo ya kalamu zenye ufanisi zaidi duniani, inayoweza kuandika maneno zaidi ya 100,000.""" Kwa kifalsafa bidhaa za BIC - pamoja na zile za washindani wake wengi - zimekusudiwa kutoa majibu rahisi kwa mahitaji ya kila siku, ambayo yote yanaonekana kama mageuzi laini ya kile kilichopangwa. Ni wapi tuendelee, hilo ndilo swali linalopaswa kuulizwa. "Msemo wa ""Mipango ya Uzee"" ni sehemu ya kitabu cha Glenn Meyers, ""The Growth Quotient: The Greatest Invention: Planned Obsolescence and the Effect of Planned Obsolescence"" (Kifungu cha 4) na ""Mipango ya Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee: Njia za Uzee."