最牛的縫紉機

Across factories in South China, millions of young Chinese spend their days churning out garments for consumers in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the US. For many of the workers, their most important piece of equipment — after the umbilical smartphone — is a sewing machine made by Juki.

在中國華南地區的一座座工廠內，數百萬名中國年輕人每天爲日本、韓國、歐洲和美國的消費者們製造着服裝。對許多製衣工人來說，他們最重要的設備——除了離不開的智能手機以外——是一臺Juki牌縫紉機。

The Tokyo-based company, which started making sewing machines in 1947, has customers in 170 countries from China to the Vatican. While some of the big manufacturers — such as Sony — that were synonymous with the rise of Japan have lost their lustre, Juki is an example of the low-profile companies sustaining Japan’s economy.

總部位於東京的Juki公司從1947年開始生產縫紉機，客戶遍及從中國到梵蒂岡的170個國家。當一些與日本同步崛起的大廠商——如索尼(Sony)——失去了昔日的光彩，像Juki這樣低調的企業撐起了日本經濟。

The business is the leading player in the industry, with 30 per cent of the market, and is especially popular among manufacturers that produce for multinational retailers. “It’s rather a personal preference, like choosing a car,” says Gerhard Flatz, managing director of the Chinese apparel manufacturer KTC, which uses Juki for more than 90 per cent of its machines. “But Juki machines are as reliable as a draught horse.”

Juki是業內的龍頭企業，擁有30%的市場份額，尤其在跨國零售商的代工商中間特別流行。中國服裝製造商KTC所採用的機器90%以上都是Juki的，總經理格哈德•弗拉茨(Gerhard Flatz)說：“這更像是個人喜好，就像選車一樣。但Juki的機器就像挽馬一樣可靠。”

TAL, a Hong Kong apparel maker whose clients include Brooks Brothers and Burberry, says at least 80 per cent of its machines are Juki. Harry Lee, TAL chairman and a leading figure in the Hong Kong garment trade, says the Japanese group owes its success to the close relationship it builds with its customers.

香港服裝生產商聯業製衣(TAL)的客戶包括布克兄弟(Brooks Brothers)和博柏利(Burberry)，該公司表示所用機器至少80%都是Juki。香港製衣業的領軍人物、TAL董事長李乃熺(Harry Lee)表示，這家日本集團的成功要歸功於其建立起了與客戶之間的密切關係。

Naotake Miyashita, head of Juki’s sewing machine business, who spends half his time visiting clients, also stresses the importance of relationships — sometimes nurtured over the umeshu plum wine it makes in the grounds of its factory in Tochigi prefecture north of Tokyo — and how the company is quick to respond. “When TAL has a problem, we hear from Harry Lee,” he jokes. “I have been summoned many times over our long relationship.”

Juki縫紉機業務負責人宮下尚武(Naotake Miyashita)在工作中會把一半的時間花在拜訪客戶上，他強調了客戶關係的重要性（Juki在東京以北的栃木縣有間工廠，有些客戶關係就是靠在該廠釀造的梅酒培養出來的），並表示該公司能夠對客戶需要做出迅速反應。宮下尚武開玩笑說：“當TAL遇到問題時，李乃熺便會告知我們。在我們的長期合作中，我多次受到召喚。”

The Tokyo-listed company’s origins are in the second world war. When the army ran out of its most popular rifle in 1938, small manufacturers came together to form a group to produce the Type 99 guns, which are called juki in Japanese. As demand for rifles evaporated after the war, Juki switched to making domestic and industrial sewing machines. The group wanted to keep the name but wrote the word juki with different Japanese characters that meant heavy machinery instead of rifle.

這家東京上市公司起源於第二次世界大戰。1938年，由於日軍的三八式步槍不夠用，小型製造商聚到一起組成了一個集團，開始生產九九式步槍，該型號槍支的日語名爲“juki”。二戰結束後隨着對步槍需求的消失，Juki轉向生產家用及工業用縫紉機。該集團希望保留juki這個名稱，但更改了日文寫法，原來的日文意思是“步槍”，更改後的意思爲“重機”。

While Juki also makes robots to place components on circuit boards, its sewing machine business — which generates 73 per cent of its turnover — provides a window on trends in the global textile business.

雖然Juki也生產貼片機器人（將元器件貼裝到電路板上的機器人），但其營業額的73%來自縫紉機業務。Juki的縫紉機業務提供了一個窗口，讓人們可以看到全球紡織業的發展趨勢。

In 1970, the company opened its first overseas subsidiary in Hong Kong, then the centre of the global textile industry. Soon after, it followed suit in Europe, and later moved into the US.

1970年Juki在香港開設了第一家海外子公司，當時香港是全球紡織業中心。不久以後，它又在歐洲開設了子公司，然後又將分支擴展到了美國。

Speaking at Juki’s headquarters in western Tokyo, Mr Miyashita says the company entered China in 1976 when it won a contract to supply the state-owned clothing manufacturer, which had 32 factories across the country.

在Juki位於東京西邊的總部裏，宮下尚武介紹說，Juki於1976進入中國，當時公司爭取到了一份爲國有服裝公司供貨的合同，該企業在全中國擁有32家工廠。

After Deng Xiaoping launched economic reforms in 1979, Juki increased its orders — a trend that continued as Hong Kong companies moved production across the border, and accelerated following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. “Until then, even though China had started reforms, there was still a lack of capital and infrastructure,” says Mr Miyashita.

1979年鄧小平開啓經濟改革之後，Juki的訂單增加了。隨着香港的服裝公司紛紛轉移到內地生產，Juki的訂單越來越多，而且在1997年亞洲金融危機之後呈現加速趨勢。宮下尚武說：“直到那時，儘管中國早已開始改革，但仍缺乏資金和基礎設施。”

Companies such as Walmart, Nike and Adidas decided China was more stable because the government had insulated the country from the currency crisis and because there was an abundance of cheap labour.

沃爾瑪(Walmart)、耐克(Nike)和阿迪達斯(Adidas)等公司都認爲中國形勢更爲穩定，因爲中國政府讓這個國家避免了貨幣危機，而且中國有充足的廉價勞力。

“The situation in China was nothing like today . . . when a factory advertised for 1,000 people, 10,000 people would gather outside the factory gate,” recalls the Japanese executive. As more factories moved to China, it started to account for a bigger share of Juki’s global sales, rising to 50 per cent in 2000 and staying there for much of the decade.

宮下尚武說：“中國當時的情況跟今天完全不同……那時如果有家工廠招工一千人，工廠大門外會聚集起一萬人。”隨着遷往中國內地的工廠越來越多，中國在Juki全球銷量中所佔的份額也越來越大，2000年升至50%，並且在隨後十年大部分時間裏都保持在這個比例。

Everything changed in 2005. China unpegged its currency from the US dollar and allowed it to appreciate slowly, which in turn increased manufacturing costs.

2005年一切都變了，那一年人民幣與美元脫鉤，並開始緩慢升值，這增加了生產成本。

Then, in 2008, China introduced a new labour law that ensured workers enjoyed better conditions, but dramatically raised labour costs.

接着在2008年，中國出臺了新的勞動法，雖然保障工人享受到更好的待遇，但大大提高了勞動成本。

“Costs rose, the renminbi kept getting stronger, and profits started to fall,” says Mr Miyashita. “Retailers said China was becoming difficult and slowly started shifting orders to southeast Asia.”

宮下尚武說：“成本越來越高，人民幣不斷走強，利潤開始下降。零售商們表示在中國盈利變得越來越難，於是慢慢開始將訂單往東南亞轉移。”

Currently, 25 per cent of Juki’s sales are in China. In recent decades, Juki has successfully expanded across the globe, leaving its main Japanese rival, Brother, in its wake.

中國市場目前佔Juki銷量的25%。近幾十年來，Juki已成功在全球各地擴張，將主要的日本競爭對手兄弟(Brother)甩在身後。

Today, Juki faces a challenge from a new rival: Jack, a Chinese company that has 12 per cent of the global market.

如今Juki面對着一個新對手的挑戰：中國的新傑克縫紉機股份有限公司(Jack)，該公司在全球市場中擁有12%的份額。

Mr Miyashita recalls one trip to Bangladesh where the president of an old customer took him around the factory to show him how the sewing machines were being operated.

宮下尚武回憶起一次去孟加拉的行程，當地一家老客戶的總裁帶着他參觀工廠，向他展示縫紉機的使用情況。

“He told me all its machines were Juki, but as soon as we entered the factory I realised they were Jack,” he says. “We are Juki and they are Jack with exactly the same font,” he says with a smile.

宮下尚武笑着說：“他告訴我他們的縫紉機都是Juki的，但我們一進入工廠我就發現他們用的是新傑克。我們是‘Juki’，而他們是‘Jack’，字體一模一樣。”

On other occasions, he claims, factories have phoned to complain that their new Juki machines have already broken down, only to be told that their equipment was actually made by a Chinese company based in Taizhou, a city in Zhejiang province where most of China’s sewing machine companies are based.

宮下尚武稱還有時候，一些工廠打來電話抱怨他們的Juki縫紉機纔買來就出問題了，結果卻被告知他們的機器是由一家總部在臺州的中國公司製造的。台州位於浙江省，中國縫紉機企業大部分建在那裏。

The issue highlights a problem faced by many foreign companies in China: trademark copying. Mr Miyashita says: “There was a Chinese company called JUKL, but we sued them and they went away.”

上述情況凸顯了許多在華外企面臨的一個問題：商標仿造。宮下尚武說：“有家中國公司叫JUKL，但當我們起訴他們時，他們就消失了。”

Mr Miyashita, who spent more than two decades in Hong Kong and Shanghai building up Juki’s China business, says other Chinese companies are also trying to get in on the game.

宮下尚武二十多年來致力在香港和上海發展Juki在華業務，他說還有別的中國公司也想從中得利。

One Fujian company has created a brand called “Brosister”, which is similar to the name of rival manufacturer Brother. “They really come up with amazing names,” he says.

福建一家公司推出了一個名爲“兄妹”(Brosister)的品牌，與Juki競爭對手“兄弟”名字相似。他說：“他們在起名字方面真的很驚人。”

Additional reporting by Mitsuko Matsutani and Nobuko Juji

Mitsuko Matsutani和Nobuko Juji補充報道