金型製作と量産部品の加工で出発した（株）浜野製作所（東京都墨田区、従業員53人、1968年創設）は、その後精密板金による多品種少量の部品製作へ移行、さらに、加工単価低下に対処するため、装置類の開発設計・製作へも進出、現在はそれぞれが売上の半分を占め、来年度は装置類が60％になる開発設計・製作の割合がさらに増加する見込みです。浜野慶一氏が父親の急逝で修業先から急遽社長に就任した当時（1993年）、従業員2人、取引先4社の４次・5次下請でしたが、現在は取引先4,800社、毎年トップレベルの大学から新卒者を採用できる独立企業に発展しました。浜野社長のお話から感じたのは、このような発展と不可分なのが社長自身の学習による成長です。

父親の経営する町工場を継ぐ気のなかった浜野氏は、大学生として就職活動をしていた時、父親から誇りを持って仕事をしていると伝えられます。それまで喧嘩ばかりをしている両親を見て、いやいやながら経営しているに違いないと思っていたため、衝撃でした。そして、後年、両親の「ドンパチ」や父親のそれとないふるまいから経営者として必要な事、例えば職人に対する気遣いなどを学んでいたことに気づきます。技術面では、多品種少量生産の時代を迎えると読んでいた父親の指示で、それを学ぶのにふさわしい板橋区の企業で「丁稚奉公」を7年間しました。父親は、給料は一番安くてよいから折り曲げの加工、溶接、プログラミングなどいろいろな技術を学ばせてほしいと頼んだそうです。

こうして、浜野氏は企業という「実践共同体」に、まずはその「周辺」に「新参者」として参加、学習を始めました。「周辺」での学習というのは全体（この場合は経営）とのつながりを意識しながらも「局所」から学び始めることです。そして、継いだ工場の全焼（2000年）、その再建など苦労に満ちた実践を経ながら、「実践共同体」に「十全的に参加」できる―「周辺的・局所的参加」でなく―「一人前」へ成長します。私はそのメルクマールとして“「おもてなしの心」を常に持ってお客様・スタッフ・地域に感謝・還元し、夢（自己実現）と希望と誇りを持った活力ある企業を目指そう”という経営理念を決めたことをあげます。これは経営理念という形をとっていますが、浜野氏の「アイデンティティ」つまり「自分とは何か」を示すものの一部です。学習とはあれこれの知識の獲得ではなく、実践を通じ、人の全存在にかかわる「アイデンティティ」を形成する過程なのです。

しかし、時代は同社を「金属部品加工」の経営ではすまなくしました。浜野製作所を有名にした電気自動車「HOKUSAI」や江戸っ子一号の開発プロジェクトは単なるロマンではなく、浜野氏が装置類の開発・製作へ進出するための学習でした。また、アイディアは面白いが作り方がわからないというベンチャー起業家支援のため設立した「Garage Sumida」も、ベンチャー起業家との接触から世の中の隠されたニーズを知り、ものづくりではこういうことをすると失敗するといった勘所を知る学習の場でした。「古参者（一人前）」が再び「新参者」として学習を始めたと言えます。別の文脈で学習を開始できるのは、学習とは学習する力をつけることでもあることを示しています。また、社長就任前後の「新参者」の時代と違うのは、別の「実践共同体」との連携といういわば「境界人」の役割を果たし、「実践共同体」を革新的に再生産している点も注目されます。「実践共同体」での学習と共同体の革新は表裏の関係にあります。

以上では浜野製作所の発展を浜野氏の「実践共同体への周辺的参加から十全的参加へ、そしてその再生起」という学習の過程として素描しました。学習者として経営者を取り上げましたが、企業とは社員の学習の場でもあります。社員が学習をこそこそとやるものとせず、企業内の学習資源（ヒトやモノ）に社員がアクセスしやすい仕組みを整え、学習を起きやすくすることも、企業の革新につながります。

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Hamano Products Co., Ltd. (Sumida-ku, Tokyo, 53 employees, founded in 1968) started with mold manufacturing and processing of parts for mass production, then moved to manufacturing small quantities but many kinds of parts using precision sheet metal. Furthermore, in order to deal with the decrease in processing unit price, they have expanded their business to the development, design and manufacture of equipment. Currently, each business field accounts for half of sales, and next year, the ratio of development design and production is expected to increase further, where equipment will be 60%.

When Hamano Keiichi came back to the company as the president from the other company under training due to his father's sudden death (1993), he had only 2 employees and 4 business partners at the 4th and 5th subcontractor of major companies. And now, he has developed the company into an independent company that can hire new graduates from top-level universities every year with 4,800 business partners. From the story of President Hamano, I felt that such development was possible in accordance with the growth of the president himself.

Mr. Hamano was not willing to take over the small workshop run by his father, so he was looking for a job as a university student, when he was told by his father that he was proud of his work. It was very shocking for him because he saw his parents always fighting until then and thought that his father must be running the business unwillingly. Later, he realized that he had learned what he needed to be a business owner, such as caring for craftsmen, from the fights of his parents and the behavior of his father. On the technical aspect, at the direction of his father who expected the era of producing small quantities but many kinds, he spent seven years at a company in Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, as a trainee to learn about it. The father asked the company to teach various techniques such as bending, welding, and programming at the cheapest salary.

In this way, Mr. Hamano participated as a "newcomer" in the "periphery" of the "community of practice" of a company and began learning. Learning in the "periphery" is to start learning from the "local" while being aware of the connection with the whole (in this case, management). Then, through the painstaking practices such as the burning of the inherited factory (2000), and its reconstruction, it grew until it could "fully participate" in the "community of practice", i.e., matured into a “full-fledged business owner” instead of "peripheral / local participant". As the criteria for my judgement, I would like to point out that he decided on the management philosophy of "always have a hospitality in mind and thank and give back to customers, staff, and the community, and aim to be a vibrant company with dreams (self-realization), hope, and pride." This is in the form of a management philosophy, but it is part of Mr. Hamano's "identity," that is, "what he is." Learning is not the acquisition of this or that knowledge, but the process of forming an "identity" related to the whole existence of a person through practice.

However, the times did not end the company with the management of "metal parts processing". The development project for the electric vehicle "HOKUSAI" and Edokko-1 submarine that made Hamano Products famous was not just a romance, but a learning for Mr. Hamano to advance into the development and production of equipment.

In addition, "Garage Sumida", which he established to support venture entrepreneurs who have interesting ideas but do not know how to make them, was also a place for learning the hidden needs of the world by contacting venture entrepreneurs, and also to know the key points that doing this in manufacturing would fail. It can be said that the "veteran (full-fledged person)" has begun learning again as a "newcomer". In another context, being able to start learning also shows that learning is also about developing the ability to learn.

Also, what is different from the era of "newcomers" before and after taking office as president is that he played the role of "boundary people" in collaboration with another "community of practice", and it is also noteworthy that he innovatively reproduced the "community of practice". Learning in a "community of practice" and community innovation are two sides of the same coin.

The above is a sketch of the development of Hamano Products as a learning process of Mr. Hamano "from peripheral participation in a community of practice to full participation and its rebirth." I mentioned about a business owner as a learner, but a company is also a place for employees to learn. Rather than sneaking learning by employees, establishing a system that makes it easy for employees to access learning resources (people and things) within the company and making learning easier will also lead to corporate innovation.