FLOMO’S Legendary Environmentally Friendly Erasers／FLOMO 環保無毒橡皮擦的金磚傳奇
FLOMO’S Legendary Environmentally Friendly Erasers
◎English translation: Wendy Wei Chang
In 1971, FLOMO, a Taiwanese stationary company, was established. Mr. Sen Kun-jhao, the company's President, has been very successful in developing overseas markets. He leads the company in maintaining advanced manufacturing capabilities, product development and strict quality control. The company's signature products include environmentally friendly erasers which are free of PVCs and plasticizers, yet very effective in removing pencil marks. They are currently sold in Japan, China, Indonesia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and Israel.
FLOMO offers a variety of stationery products and customizes its offerings in order to fit the various needs of the particular countries it does business with. The PVC-free, environmentally friendly erasers are very popular in the Japanese market, whereas in China, the market calls for multifunctional pencil boxes, markers, and backpacks. The European market also calls for both the PVC-free erasers and multifunctional pencil boxes, whereas in the United States, top selling items include festival decorations.
One of the reasons FLOMO has become so successful in reaching such a varied international market is because of the great attention it pays to its research and development. In Japan and Europe, the President learned about the countries' strict safety policies and details such as Japan's 10 year ban on materials such as PVCs and plasticizers. At that time, Taiwan did not have these types of regulations in place. Consequently, FLOMO began to research a formula to produce PVC-free erasers and introduced PVC-free erasers to the market in 2008. As a result, people in Taiwan can now use plasticizer-free erasers that are made in Taiwan. Now eraser crumbs do not pollute the environment when garbage is incinerated.
It is no small feat to produce an eraser that is not only PVC/plasticizer- free, but can also remove pencil marks efficiently. The company's R&D group spent 2 to 3 years of testing and experimenting with Taiwanese materials and finally found the correct formula and temperature to produce two types of, easy-to-use, PVC-free erasers, one of which is white and the other black. The black eraser is manufactured with natural bamboo charcoal powder from Nantou and is designed to crumble when removing pencil marks, making them safer for people to use and easier to clean up. FLOMO's R&D pays great attention to the hardness, gumminess, ratio and erasing efficacy. The company is consistently working to improve the quality of its products. FLOMO's erasers have passed the ASTM4236 and EN71 regulations and are the company's top products. FLOMO produces 15 million erasers a year, generating NT$180 million in annual revenue.
Although FLOMO continues to increase its business in a variety of countries, it is also trying to promote itself domestically. The company has also established the FLOMO stationary Museum, where visitors learn why PVC and plasticizer erasers are harmful for people's health and the environment. In addition, FLOMO actively promotes PVC-free erasers, such as its 2009 donation of PVC-free erasers to 1st to 3rd graders throughout Taiwan. This year, the company made more donations of PVC-free erasers to schools, institutions and organizations. FLOMO hopes the people of Taiwan will continue adopt environmentally friendly, PVC-free erasers.
| FLOMO stationary Museum Tel: 07-699-1241 |
FLOMO 環保無毒橡皮擦的金磚傳奇
◎文／侯雅婷
台灣文具品牌FLOMO(富樂夢)成立於1971年，長期耕耘海外市場，成績亮眼，文具製造實力與品質隨著市場版圖進入日本和歐洲不斷提昇，促使FLOMO投入研發完全不含PVC和塑化劑、且清潔力強的環保無毒橡皮擦，成為FLOMO最具代表性文具產品，行銷日本、中國、印尼、美國、英國、德國、歐洲和以色列等國。
FLOMO文具產品多元，外銷策略會順應當地市場需求而有所調整，比如日本以環保無毒橡皮擦為其銷售主力，中國以多功能筆盒、彩色筆和書包為銷售主力，歐盟國家以環保無毒橡皮擦和多功能筆盒等為銷售主力，至於美國則以季節性商品為主，因地制宜的發展策略，再加上不斷改良商品，使其更具競爭力，讓FLOMO品牌在當地扎根。
FLOMO開發日本、歐洲市場時，同時汲取當地安全文具觀念，董事長沈坤照觀察，日本10年前就已規範橡皮擦不得使用PVC和塑化劑等材料，反觀國內市場當時並未有相關規範，FLOMO於是投入研發，期讓國人享有安全的橡皮擦使用環境，FLOMO完全不含PVC和塑化劑的環保無毒橡皮擦於2008 年上市，讓使用者置身於零塑化劑的橡皮擦使用環境，橡皮擦碎屑在垃圾階段處理燃燒時，不污染環境。
FLOMO橡皮擦除了不含PVC和塑化劑的基本要求，還要擦拭力強，兩者相加難度不可謂不高，研發團隊歷時2～3年，使用100%台灣製原料，持續改良，找出對的配方和溫度，製作出無毒、好用的橡皮擦二款，一款是白色橡皮擦，另一款額外添加南投天然竹炭粉，產製較特別的黑色橡皮擦，擦拭時，橡皮擦碎屑的集屑度更佳，方便使用者使用後清潔桌面。每批橡皮擦都要檢測硬度、黏度、比重和清潔度等項目，致力提升橡皮擦品質和出貨產品穩定度，FLOMO環保無毒橡皮擦品質通過美國藝術材料檢驗標準(ASTM4236)以及歐盟核準規範(EN71)；講究這許多細節的橡皮擦，無怪乎成為FLOMO的金磚，FLOMO年產1,500萬塊環保無毒橡皮擦，單是橡皮擦品項一年營業額就有1億8千萬元。
FLOMO在國外逐漸建立品牌知名度之際，FLOMO盼能打開品牌在台灣知名度，透過FLOMO橡皮擦觀光工廠，讓參觀者了解使用添加PVC和塑化劑的橡皮擦對健康與環境的影響，此外，FLOMO積極推廣無毒橡皮擦，2009年時，免費贈送給全台國小一年級至三年級小朋友，去(2014)年更擴大舉辦贈送橡皮擦活動，提供學校、機關、團體免費申請，盼讓更多國人使用並認識無毒橡皮擦。