“志合者,不以山海为远”

2006年，刚退休的日本专家丹藏淳治登上了一架向西飞行的客机，远赴中国东部小城——海宁，寻找志同道合的朋友——浙江万方安道拓纺织科技有限公司总经理毛伟华。

从此，他的生活轨迹就和这座小城、这家企业、这个人交集在一起。

13年瞬息而过，海宁变了、企业大了,他的头发也白了，唯一没变的是他来海宁的初心：“做最好的经编产品。”

一分钱工资都不拿

丹藏淳治出生于1945年，在万方安道拓的生产车间里，年过七旬的他，穿一套蓝色、有点褪色的厂服，一双黑色、边缘破开的大头皮鞋，鬓角不多的头发早已花白，从灰色的工作帽里露了出来。

他几乎是每天第一个到厂的。8点半上班，8点不到他肯定已在车间里了。13年来就这么两点一线，风雨无阻。

“他可是我们厂里的名人，大家都亲切地称他‘丹藏’。”即使在一起工作10年了，整经岗工人杨怀琴至今仍难以理解丹藏的这份近乎“偏执”的坚持，“自我进厂后，他几乎天天如此。”

更让大家佩服和不解的是，“他是做技术义工的，到厂工作13年，竟然一分钱工资都不拿。”

经常有人就这个问题询问丹藏，他的回答总是轻描淡写，“我退休了，有退休金，足够维持生活，对金钱没有执念。能够每天快乐地做自己喜欢的事情，本身就很有价值。”

如果继续问他，“为什么选择海宁，选择万方？”丹藏自己也没有答案，时间长了，他就将这一切归于“天命”，“能认识海宁，认识万方，是命运的安排，没有理由，自然而然的” 。

丹藏是日本奈良人，退休前是日本尤尼吉可公司的技术专家，拥有40年经编技术经验。与海宁结缘是在2003年，当时的他代表日本尤尼吉可公司到万方谈合作，对万方留下了非常好的印象，更对中国经编产业的方兴未艾印象深刻并念念不忘。

“当时日本的经编产业已在逐步衰退，而海宁有众多经编企业，但规模都不大，技术也比较落后，无法与日本的比。”临近退休，丹藏不无悲凉地发现，日本的经编产业开始没落，自己的技术所能作的贡献越来越少。

在一次与毛伟华的见面会上，丹藏当面提出了一个请求，“退休后我能不能到你的企业工作，不拿工资。”

面对这个“特殊”的请求，毛伟华有点愕然，随后紧紧握住丹藏的手，“有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎！欢迎，欢迎！”

追求“做最好的产品”

在万方，丹藏有了一个新身份：技术参谋兼高等工程师。其工作就是将自己毕生积累下来的技术、经验毫无保留地传授给企业、员工。

“停、停……”在成品检验车间嘈杂的环境下，丹藏用不太标准的普通话大声让检验员停下机器。他伸手拿起面料，凑到眼前仔细看了看，将细微的褶皱抚平，“ok，ok。”

“丹藏啊，严格，又可爱。”看了一眼正在仔细检查面料的丹藏，检验员张良琴说，“整个车间他都会管起来，看到问题就指出来，然后告诉你怎么做。”

每天一大早，丹藏会先在公司所有车间里走上一圈，从整经车间到经编车间再到定型车间，看看生产中有没有问题，最后回到成品检验车间检验疵点。

别人的工作量都是按时间或者产量来计算的，丹藏不同，他的工作量是以步数来计量的。

“他每天在车间里来来回回要走两万多步，超过任何一个男同志。”检验员夏媛挺佩服丹藏，“他是我们所有人的榜样。”

丹藏的工作可以用“细致入微”来形容。在检验车间，大家都习惯把剪下来的布头随意丢在地上，丹藏看见了，总是默不作声地捡起来。日复一日，时间一长，整个车间的工人都能自觉地将剪下来的纱头放置一处，等待回收。

看到工人裁剪下来的布头很多，他就会拿起来查看并保存下来，开会的时候帮着分析原因，提出改进意见，“这种潜移默化的影响，不可估量。”工厂里的员工说。

13年来，在降低成本、节省原料、提升品质、新品研发等各个方面，丹藏为企业做了大量工作，从管理上、技术上一步步影响着企业每一个部门、每一个人。

“我希望客户想要的只有万方能做出来，我们要做别人做不出来的最好的产品。”这是丹藏一直以来的信念。到万方后，他帮助公司开发了一种医用面料，远销日本和国内的众多医疗机构。

“他老是跟我说一句话，要在中国生产出比日本还要好的产品，而不是为了便宜。”10多年来，毛伟华和丹藏一直在“生产最好的产品”这条路上不断前进。

奈良海宁都是他的家

丹藏有两个家，一个在奈良，一个在海宁。

“我在日本有家人，妻子，3个孩子，6个孙子孙女。”丹藏每年回去四五次，和家人团聚，带孙子孙女出去玩，“隔一段时间回去看到孩子们在成长很开心，但不一定要每天都在一起。”

“我在海宁也有‘家人’，他们是我的同事们，和他们在一起很快乐、很开心。”

闲暇时，丹藏喜欢去东山、西山散步，到盐官看潮，沿海宁大道看樱花，但他最喜欢的是在住所看书，“我很喜欢看中国的历史书，了解中国的文化和故事。”

丹藏说，自己的两个“家”有着深厚的历史联系，“奈良是一座美丽的旅游城市，跟中国的交流源远流长，它是古丝绸之路的一个终点，与中国的商贸文化交流有上千年历史。”

为了继承和发扬这份商贸文化交流，2007年，他和毛伟华一起在厂区种下了一棵樱花树，象征着两地、两个企业、两个人的友谊之树。

刚种下时，树干只有拇指大小，现在已经长得比碗口还粗了。“再过一段时间，又能开出美丽的花朵了。”丹藏说。

对于海宁的发展，丹藏用两个词来形容：高速、迅猛。

“我第一次来的时候，这个城市很偏僻，没有高楼大厦，皮革城还是老的，没有五星级酒店，最好的酒店是花园酒店。”

短短十多年时间，海宁的发展已经天翻地覆，日新月异，高楼大厦越来越多，环境越来越美，社会治理也越来越好，这让丹藏印象深刻，“现在的海宁是一座能安心生活、工作的美丽城市。”

海宁经编产业也一样，丹藏刚来的时候，虽然工厂很多，但技术不好，“现在很多技术已经比日本的还好了！”

热情友好的海宁人也没有忘记这位日本经编技术专家做出的贡献，他曾授予海宁“十大突出奉献奖”，还被嘉兴市授予南湖友谊奖。

Tanzoh Works in Haining

Tanzoh Junji came to work in Haining in 2006. Born in November 1945, the Japanese expert in warp knitting had just retired and his purpose for being in Haining was to join Mao Weihua, general manager of Zhejiang Adient Wanfang Textile Technology Co Ltd. Sandwiched between Shanghai and Hangzhou, Haining is a warp-knitting production powerhouse in eastern Zhejiang.

Tanzoh had met Mao Weihua in 2003 when Tanzoh was visiting on business for future cooperation with Wanfang Textile on behalf of Unitika, a Japanese company which, previously a textile maker, was branching out into other product fields for future growth. Tanzoh found Mao’s business impressive. The Haining visit gave him a general picture of the warp knitting industry in Haining.

“The warp knitting industry was phasing out in Japan then whereas it was going strong in Haining. However, the businesses in Haining were not technologically advanced and they looked small and not so competitive if compared with warp knitting businesses in Japan,” recalls Tanzoh. He felt dejected that there would be little room for his expertise in Japan.

It was after seeing Bao’s business in Haining that Tanzoh figured out his future and made up his mind. He offered to work free for Wanfang Textile after his retirement, much to Mao’s surprise and joy. They shook hands on the deal.

Thirteen years has just elapsed and Tanzoh’s life has been interwoven with Wanfang Textile. His work has won him respect from everyone at the business. At Wanfang, Tanzoh works in the capacity of advisor and senior engineer.

In the past 13 years, Tanzoh has done a great deal in cutting down cost, saving raw materials, enhancing quality, and developing new products. In doing all this, he has helped transform Wanfang Textile into a modern business operation.  

As firm believer in hands-on management, Tanzoh inspects workshops every day. The work his colleagues do is measured by time or quantity, but his work can be measured in footsteps he takes a day. It is estimated that Tanzoh walks more than 20,000 steps a day overseeing the whole production and quality control.

Tanzoh wants Wanfang Textile to make best warp knitting fabrics that its competitors can’t make and wants clients to turn to Wanfang Textile as the only supplier of best products available on the market.

“He has repeatedly stated to me that China should produce warp-knitting products better than those made in Japan, He doesn’t want Wanfang Textile to be a producer of cheaper warp-knitting fabrics,” Mao says. With the assistance of Tanzoh, Wanfang has developed a fabric for medical use. It has been exported to Japan and is widely used by medical institutions in China.

At first, some colleagues at Wanfang Textile were curious about and/or puzzled by Tanzoh’s commitment. His answer is simple: “I am now retired with a pension adequate for everyday life. I don’t have a hunger for money. It is valuable to do what I like to do and I am happy.“ But, for a long time he did not have an answer to a more profound question: why Haining and why Wanfang? He has asked himself this question many times over years and now he has contented himself with this answer: “This was my fate to know Haining and Wanfang. That did not require a reason. It just happened naturally.”

Tanzoh Junji is from Nara. “I have a family in Japan. My wife, three children and six grandchildren,” Tanzoh says proudly. He goes back for family reunion four or five times a year. “I am happy to see them every once a while. I don’t need to be there in their lives every minute. I am happy in Haining as all my colleagues are family,” says Tanzoh. “Nara is a scenic tourism destination. It was a destination on the ancient Silk Routes and its trade and cultural ties with China go back to a thousand years.”

Tanzoh values the ties between China and Japan very much. In 2007, he and Mao Weihua planted a cherry tree on the compound of the factory. It is a symbol of friendship. “It was just as thick as a thumb in 2007. Now it is as thick as a bowl. It will give beautiful flowers before long,” says Tanzoh.

Over the past 13 years, Tanzoh Junji has witnessed the miraculously fast development Haining has experienced.

“The city seemed far from anywhere when I first came here. There were no high-rises and the leather product marketplace was old. And there was no five-star hotel and Garden Hotel was the best hotel in Haining,” recalls the Japanese technician. Haining has seen sea changes in the past ten plus years. “Now Haining is a pretty city where one can live and work peacefully with ease. And now Haining is better than Japan in terms of warp-knitting technology,” notes Tanzoh.

(Executive Editor: Xinyu Xie)