Feasibility Study

By Austin Nelson
Doan Nyugen
Gabreilla Marquez
Roberto Lebron

Prepared for Mr. Terry Smith
TECM 2700.001
Date 5/4/2014

Table of Contents

Contents
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 7
Methods of Evaluation .................................................................................................................. 13
Results of Evaluation .................................................................................................................... 17
Price of the pen (per unit/per packaging) .................................................................................. 17
Price per Unit ............................................................................................................................ 17
Pentel..................................................................................................................................... 18
Bic ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Papermate .............................................................................................................................. 18
Zebra ..................................................................................................................................... 18
Pilot ....................................................................................................................................... 18
Sharpie .................................................................................................................................. 18
Uni-ball ................................................................................................................................. 18
Price per Package ...................................................................................................................... 18
Pentel..................................................................................................................................... 20
Bic ......................................................................................................................................... 20
Papermate .............................................................................................................................. 20
Zebra ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Pilot ....................................................................................................................................... 20
Sharpie .................................................................................................................................. 20
Uni-ball ................................................................................................................................. 20
Replacement Ink ....................................................................................................................... 20
Design of the pen ...................................................................................................................... 21
Comfort ..................................................................................................................................... 21
Pentel..................................................................................................................................... 22
Bic ......................................................................................................................................... 23
Papermate .............................................................................................................................. 23
Zebra ..................................................................................................................................... 24
Pilot ....................................................................................................................................... 24
iv Title of Manual
Sharpie .................................................................................................................................. 25
Uni-ball ................................................................................................................................. 25
Analysis of Evaluation .................................................................................................................. 29
Recommendation .......................................................................................................................... 33

Executive Summary 3
Executive Summary
Pens are the second most popular writing utensil for college students, only behind pencils. This
feasibility report will be over pens sold specifically at Walmart for UNT students. For this report
we limited our options to 7 brands sold in Walmart. The criteria for the evaluation of the brands
were as follows:
Price per Unit
Price per package
Replacement Ink
Design
Comfort
The results for our feasibility report came from 30 different UNT students, and did not mark a
clear pen that was above the others. Further analysis of these results only agreed with the
numbers given by the results. Our recommendation for this feasibility report is to choose the
Uni-ball pen because of its overall quality, but the survey results showed that it simply lies in the
needs of the student purchasing the pens and our recommendation section displays that.

Fly page chapter 1
Introduction 7
Introduction
The purpose of the feasibility report began with the question: What is the best kind of pen? This
question led to whether or not there exist opinions on if different brands of pens feel different to
the point of choosing design over price. The main topic of the report focuses on how comfortable
a pen seems when writing with it. Background information on this report goes back to Egyptian
times when papyrus scrolls were written on with reed brushes. From then, there flourished a
continuous advancement in pen production from different types like; ballpoint, rollerball,
fountain, and felt pens.
An overview of the report consists of 7 different brands including; Bic, Pentel, Papermate, Pilot,
Sharpie, Uni-ball, and Zebra. In this report, a survey of 30 people reports different statistics on
whether price, design, or quality of a pen matters and how much those criteria mattered. The
survey goes on to ask if each person could rank each pen on how comfortable each pen was to
them personally. The report shows different correlations between price, quality, and design and if
any of those correlate with the comfort of a pen. The report relates to readers by giving each
statistic in visible graphs and terms and reporting on something that almost every audience uses
every day.

Fly page chapter 2
Method of Evaluation 13
Methods of Evaluation
Pens
BIC
Pentel
Papermate
Pilot
Sharpie
Uni-ball
Zebra
Criteria
Design
Price/unit
Comfort
Price/package
Replacement ink
We used internet research of pen ratings and reviews to determine which brands and types of
pens to use for our feasibility study. The survey conducted became complete by and for college
students, therefore deciding to pick the most popular pens at a reasonable price for a student
budget. We did not include any pens sold individually because cheap pens seem most practical
for a student who writes frequently, but on a budget. The brands of pens we chose for our study
consist of; Bic, Pentel, Papermate, Pilot, Sharpie, Uni-ball, and Zebra. Since students do a lot of
writing, quality, and feel of the pen became important criteria. Paying extra for design within a
pen does not seem typical for a student on a budget, but design became a criteria in the survey.
The survey conducted at Willis Library on the University of North Texas campus had randomly
selected participants that accepted observation. These participants varied from a variety of age,
race, and gender. Only 30 out of 34 people selected answered the survey which also varied, but
for different reasons; busy, uninterested, or confused. This observation took place at 12 noon on
a Sunday afternoon when the population of the library stays at a minimum. The information
gathered came from going up to each random individual and asking them the simple question of,
Would you like to do a survey? Participants then answered in front of a team member who
helped with the understanding of which pen correlated with which brand. The participant gave
back the survey within a 1-5 minute time frame.

Fly page chapter 3

13%
37%
13%
23%
14%
Price Importance
1
2
3
4
5
Results of Evaluation
Price of the pen (per unit/per packaging)
We asked the students about how important the price of the pen was to them. Most student
responded that pen price was somewhat important, and least students answered that pen price
was important to them.

Pen Price
Percentage
(%)
1. Not Important 13.5
2. Somewhat Important 36.7
3. Important 13
4. Really Important 23.3
5. Extremely Important 13.5




Price per Unit
This section goes over the price of the purchase of the item as a whole without regard to how
many pens came in the packaging. These prices also excluded the tax markup that would be
given in stores. The Sharpie brand pens came in at the most expensive with a price tag of 5.48$,
while the Uni-ball pens came in at the cheapest at 2.59$. Based solely on price Uni-ball would be
your best choice. The graph below shows the prices of all the brands compared to each other.

Brand Name Pentel Bic PaperMate Zebra Pilot Sharpie Uni-ball
Price (USD) $4.79 $2.67 $5.24 $3.97 $4.79 $5.48 $2.59

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Pentel Bic Papermate Zebra Pilot Sharpie Uni-ball
P
r
i
c
e

Pen Brand
Price Per Unit
18 Title of Manual
Pentel
Pentel pens cost 3.75$. That price was one of the lower costs of the pens we surveyed. Out of 7
pens it came in as the third cheapest pen.
Bic
Bic was our second cheapest pen with the price tag of 2.67$. The Bic pens were only bested by
the Uni-ball pens in price per unit.
Papermate
Despite being one of the lesser known brands of pens, Papermate pens were among the most
expensive coming in at 5.24$ per unit. The only brand that was more expensive was Sharpie.
Zebra
Zebra pens cost 5.24$, which came in as a middle ground price. They were the fourth cheapest
pen on our list of pens.
Pilot
Pilot pens cost 4.79$ ranking them as the 5
th
cheapest pen on our list.
Sharpie
Sharpie pens cost 5.48$ which makes them the most expensive pens on our list. Though, this is
only by a margin of 0.24$.
Uni-ball
Uni-ball pens cost $2.59 making them the cheapest pen on our list, by a small margin of $0.11 to
the next cheapest pen brand, Bic.
Price per Package
The price per package is different from the price per unit in that the price per package takes into
account the amount of pens giving per package. Bic had the cheapest price per unit at $0.27 per
pen per package. Zebra technically had the most expensive price per pen per package at $3.97.
Though, this result may be slightly skewed because the pen came with a pencil rather than
another pen. In the interest of proper results, we will say that the Sharpie pens had the most
expensive price per package at $2.74 per pen. Below is a graph displaying the prices compared to
each.


Brand Name Pentel Bic Papermate Zebra Pilot Sharpie Uni-ball
Price (USD) $0.75 $0.27 $0.65 $3.97 $2.40 $2.74 $1.295


Below is a graph which displays the amount of pens in each package.

Brand Pentel Bic Papermate Zebra Pilot Sharpie Uni-ball
Amount per Package 5 10 8 1 2 2 2

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Pentel Bic Papermate Zebra Pilot Sharpie Uni-ball
P
r
i
c
e

(
U
S
D
)

Pen Brand
Price per Package
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Pentel Bic Papermate Zebra Pilot Sharpie Uni-ball
P
e
n
s

p
e
r

P
a
c
k
a
g
e

Pen Brand
Amount Per Package
20 Title of Manual
Pentel
Pentel came with 5 pens in the package at a price of 3.75$, which meant that the Pentel pens cost
0.75$ per pen.
Bic
Bic came with 10 pens in the package at a price of 2.67$, which meant that the Bic pens cost
0.27$ per pen.
Papermate
Papermate came with 8 pens in the package at a price of 5.24$, which meant that the Papermate
pens cost 0.65$ per pen.
Zebra
Zebra came with 1 pen in the package at a price of 3.97$, which meant that the Zebra pen cost
3.97$ per pen.
Pilot
Pilot came with 2 pens in the package at a price of 4.79$, which meant that the Pilot pens cost
2.40$ per pen.
Sharpie
Sharpie came with 2 pens in the package at a price of 5.48$, which meant that the Sharpie pens
cost 2.74$ per pen.
Uni-ball
Uni-ball came with 2 pens in the package at price of 2.59$, which mean that the Uni-ball pens
cost 1.29$ per pen.
Replacement Ink
Replacement ink is an important aspect to know when buying a pen.
Brand Replacement Ink Availability
Pentel No
Bic No
Papermate No
Zebra No
Pilot Yes
Sharpie No
Uni-ball No








0%
27%
20%
27%
26%
Pen Quality
1
2
3
4
5
13%
37%
10%
23%
17%
Pen Design
1
2
3
4
5
Design of the pen
We asked the students about how important the design of the pen was to them. Most student
responded that pen design was somewhat important, and least students answered that pen design
was important to them.

Pen Design
Percentage
(%)
1. Not Important 13.3
2. Somewhat Important 36.7
3. Important 10
4. Really Important 23.3
5. Extremely Important 16.7



Comfort
We asked the students about how important the quality of the pen was to them. Most student
responded that pen quality was somewhat or really important, and no students answered that pen
quality was not important to them.

Pen Quality
Percentage
(%)
1. Not Important 0
2. Somewhat Important 26.7
3. Important 20
4. Really Important 26.7
5. Extremely Important 26.6




In the survey, we had participants write with each pen and rank the pens from 1-7 on which one
was the most comfortable to write with: Pentel, Bic, Papermate, Pilot, Zebra, Sharpie, and Uni-
ball. Most students ranked Uni-ball as their most favorable brand name, and most students
ranked Pilot as their least favorable brand name for a pen. We then broke down the rating into
average ratings and overall ratings. Pilot and Sharpie scored the highest on the average ratings by
gained a 5 each respectively. Pentel and Papermate both scored the lowest on average rating with
a 3 each. Though Papermate scored the lowest on the average ratings, it managed to get the
highest rating on the overall ratings with a 6.75. Pentel scored the lowest on the overall ratings
with a 5.5






22 Title of Manual
Rank
Brand name
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Total
responses
Pentel 7 3 4 8 5 2 1 30
Bic 4 3 3 4 6 5 5 30
Papermate 3 3 11 2 4 3 4 30
Zebra 2 3 5 7 5 3 5 30
Pilot 1 5 2 4 5 8 5 30
Sharpie 5 8 2 3 2 5 5 30
Uni-ball 8 5 3 2 3 4 5 30
Total responses 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 210

Pentel
Pentel had the lowest rating of all the pens we surveyed. Its average rating was a 3 which was
among the lowest, but its overall rating was a 5.5.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
3 5.5 8 4 1 7












0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
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c
y

Rating
Pentel

Bic
Bic had an average rating of 4. It also had an overall rating of 6.5, which made it one of the
higher rated pens.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
4 6.5 6 5 3 3
Papermate
Papermate had a low average rating just like Pentel, but it had a high overall rating of 6.75.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
3 6.75 11 3 2 4




0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Rating
Bic
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Rating
Papermate
24 Title of Manual
Zebra
Zebra had one of the highest average rating with a 5, but its overall rating was a 6.25 which was
on the lower end of the ratings.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
5 6.25 7 4 2 1
Pilot
Pilot had the exact same ratings as the Zebra pen. It came in with an average rating of 5 and an
overall rating of 6.25.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
5 6.25 8 6 1 1




0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Rating
Zebra
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Rating
Pilot

Sharpie
Sharpie, like the two brands before it, had an average rating of 5 and an overall rating of 6.25.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
5 6.25 8 2 2 3 & 5
Uni-ball
Uni-ball scored an average rating of 4, which makes it one of the medium scores on that rating,
but a fairly high overall rating of 6.5.

Average
Rating
Overall
Rating
Highest
Frequency
Rating at Highest
Frequency
Lowest
Frequency
Rating at Lowest
Frequency
4 6.5 8 1 2 4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Rating
Sharpie
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Rating
Uni-ball

Fly page chapter 4
Analysis of Evaluation 29
Analysis of Evaluation
Our survey criteria highlighted the aspects of a writing pen that would provide the most value for
what a typical college student would want. To determine which aspect a student would value
most, three criteria were chosen. Price, quality and design were ranked to be either, not
important, somewhat important, important, very important, or extremely important.
Most people surveyed answered down the middle, making it difficult to notice a major trend.
Quality was the most important aspect of the pen, receiving the most very important answers
and least not important. Price and design both ranked about the same by people surveyed,
neither one as important as quality, yet still important enough to consider.
When the survey was created, we assumed that the highest priced pens would represent the
highest quality, and that the lowest price pens would represent the lowest quality. However, we
found this not to be true. In fact, the pattern observed would suggest that price has no bearing on
which pen would perform best. We also assumed that quality would be important because it is
the main function of a pen to perform well. Because students find the quality of a pen most
important, we compared the highest ranked pens by quality to their prices to determine which
represented the best value for the money.
Several trends from the survey data exist when comparing the overall rank assigned to each pen
based on comfort of use. Uniball and Pentel consistently ranked highest. Pentel received the top
vote seven times, but only received the second place vote three times. Uniball ranked highest
eight times, and ranked second five times. Sharpie scored not far behind the first two, with a
total of 5 first place and 8 second place votes it made the third most popular choice. Papermate
and Bic received a close amount of first and second place votes; however Papermate received
many more third place votes and was preferred next behind sharpie. The data shows that most
people ranked Bic in the lower half of the pens surveyed, making it the next and fifth most
preferred. The last two brands, Zebra and Pilot, were only ranked highest one time. Pilot
received a few more second place votes than Zebra, but fewer third place votes. Pilot ranked
lower more consistently, as denoted by the positive uptrend in the graph, making it the lowest
ranked right below Zebra.
We determined the price for each pen by dividing the total cost of the package of pens by the
number of pens supplied in each package to find the price per pen. The interesting thing about
the survey is that there is not a noticeable correlation between price and quality. The two lowest
ranked pens (Pilot and Zebra) were among the most expensive at $2.40 for the Pilot and $3.97
for the Zebra. To compare, Uniball and Pentel were the two highest ranked pens, and were only
$1.3 and $.75 respectively. Sharpie was also fairly expensive at $2.74 each, however it is a bit
more justifiable as it was third most preferred pen. The least expensive pens were Papermate at
$.66 each and Bic at $.27 each which was actually a good value considering their rank in
comparison to the highest priced pens.
Quality ranked as the most important aspect of a pen by users and the highest ranked pen in
quality was Uniball followed by Pentel. At $1.30 Uniball sits at about the median price range of
the pens tested making it the best pen for those willing to spend the money. The best priced pens
were Bic and Papermate costing just $.27 and $.66 each. Students ranked the two at a median
quality level making them an acceptable choice for people looking for a functional pen for a
small price. But, because Pentel ranks second highest in quality, while still priced to compete
with the cheapest pens surveyed at just $.75 each, it represents the best value for the money.


Fly page chapter 5
Recommendation 33
Recommendation
Our recommendation section recognizes the considerable criteria listed for each pen we are
choosing for this feasibility study. In order to choose a pen or pens that mostly or fit a persons
need, we recommend that:
1. You list out all criteria corresponded to your preferences in a pen. Those should include the
occasions in which you use the pen, price range, quality, and design.
2. Continue to compare and eliminate the options aroused in each criterion until you single out
features of a pen that suit you the best. The elimination process would take time for careful
consideration.
Although the brand name of a pen mostly influents your choices, you can always keep searching
as your preferences can change in time. Our feasibility study only lists relatively common-based
criteria for people to consider, as well as shows and interprets data in which people can take
reference of. Alternatively, a person can come up with his preferred criteria to find the pen he
needs without too much time consuming.