Harvard studies how Japan perfectly cleans every bullet train in 7 minutes

A nation that is a model of efficiency, Japanonce again deserves the applause of the whole world. In the midst of a pandemic, his cleaning method and leave unpolluted, without dust molecules, each tren bala arrive at the terminal Tokyo is so perfect and flawless that now studying at Harvard University.

Each tren bala O Shinkansen It is made up of 17 wagons. When passengers leave it completely empty, a team of 44 people take possession of the entire convoy and only 7 minutes they almost leave him as clean as an operating room.
And this operation is repeated 120 times, since it is the amount of high speed trains who are mobilized every day in Tokyo.
This is why in the United States they baptized “The miracle of the seven minutes” to the Japanese cleaning method.

A miraculous choreography

Japan inaugurated the Shinkansen on the occasion of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Today they have developed units that reach the 320 kilometers per hour and they arrive and depart from Tokyo with punctuality enviable.
When stopping on the platform, passengers should evacuate the wagons at 3 minutes. As most of them consumed something during the trip and trash cans do not exist in all of Japan, everyone is responsible for their waste and keeps food packaging, bottles, towels, newspapers or anything else in their purse or backpack. Or, failing that, the cleaning staff makes a visible container for former passengers to drop off the disposable. The seats and the floors are absolutely empty and there is no argument.

The staff get into the car. Their the stopwatches read 0: 6: 59 and the Countdown.

Without wasting a second, the employees open the curtains, clean the window, clean each seat, its table, its armrests and, since the seats are swivel, they orient them according to the direction of departure of the train. They change the covers of each headrest, sweep the floor and they clean every bathroom.

If a seat is very dirty, they deactivate it with a sign saying “do not use”. If they find something fell, they keep it, but by registering the seat number where was the object.
All staff descend when the timers indicate 00:00:00.

In everyone’s wagons Shinkansen or high speed train on the left As if they were brand new; they even clean windows, floors and bathrooms.

The following passengers will have 2 minutes to board and sit down. They will leave thinking that they are the first passengers of the day on this train. The doors are closed as all the cleaning staff form a line and returns the convoy with a bow: They lean their torso forward, their hands at the side of the body and their gaze fixed on the ground, never straight in front of them.
And all this protocol, which arrogant Western eyes would take for gestures of submission, now he studies at Harvard Business School.

“In a country where schools train their students to form teams that clean classrooms, hallways and bathrooms, the miracle of the 7 minutes only made the news when Harvard Business School (HBS, for its acronym in English) assigned it as a compulsory case study “in its academic programs, according to RFI.

The price of recording current to do a master’s degree in Business Administration at Harvard It is $ 119,821.
In this third cycle of one of the world’s leading business schools, students watch a video recorded at Tokyo Station, while the cars are being cleaned. So discuss the leadership model implemented by executive Teruo Yabe in 2005, when Tessei hired him to clean up the business of 669 people that the East Japan Railway Company (JR) had authorized to take care of the hygiene of Shinkansen.

How did you do?

When Yabe took over from Tessei, there were a lot of passenger complaints, The JR claims and the employee demotivation to do their job. “Like many contemporary leaders, Yabe selects the transparency as your tool. It is, however, unique in taking a very nuanced approach to implementing transparency. In the process, he not only leads a fantastic organizational twist but also helps transform an otherwise “ dirty ” job into something more important for Tessei frontline employees “, pray it paper the Harvard.

Yabe listened to the suggestions of their own employees and ideó “A vigorous cleaning choreography” what did he call “7 Minute Shinkansen Theater.” Workers have asked to wear lighter clothes in summer and a changing room has been redesigned hawaiian shirts. It has also set up a system of promotions who ended up raising the moral Team. And the results are visible.

Entrepreneurs who wish to deepen this leadership model will be able to enroll in the HBS MBA program or buy it paper published by Harvard Business Publishing Education “Trouble at Tessei”, written by Professors Ethan S. Bernstein, Ryan W. Buell, available online in 5 languages, for only US $ 4.25.