The Wonder of Mumbai Dabbawallas Inspiration of Management

Introduction

A dabbawala (one who carries the box), sometimes spelled dabbawalla or dabbawallah, is a person in the Indian city of Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers.

The dabbawala originated in 1880, when India was under British rule.

Mission of the Dabbawalas is to server their customers on time

PRESIDENT & GENERAL SECRETARYNUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATIONRaghunath Medge And Mr. Gangaram Laxman Taleker

What is NMTBSA? (Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association)

History : Started in 1880Charitable trust : Registered in 1956Avg. Literacy Rate : 8th Grade SchoolingTotal area coverage : 60 Kms Employee Strength : 5000Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes i.e. 4,00,000 transactions every day.Time taken : 3 hrs

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Executive Committee (5 members)Teams of 20-25 headed by a group leaderIndividual Dabbawalla workload = 30 tiffins

1st group Rs 125000 - Total earnings - 20 People Rs 35000 - Maintenance cost Tiffin luggage basket pass Rs 180 per person. Maintenance of cycles Rs 300 2 cycles per month. Maintenance of wooden boxes Rs 100 per person . T.C, Robbery of Tiffin - Rs 500 yearly. Organizational fees - Rs 15 per head. Puja held per station - Rs 50 per head.FINANCIAL DATA OF A GROUP

CodingVLP : Vile Parle (Suburb in Mumbai)

9E12 : Code for Dabbawallas at Destination E : Express Towers(Bldg. Name) 12 : Floor No.

E : Code for Dabbawallas at Residential station.

3 : Code for Destination station (E.g.. Nariman Point)

Journey10:34-11:20 amThis time period is actually the journey time. The dabbawalas load the wooden crates filled with tiffins onto the luggage or goods compartment in the train.

11:20 12:30 pm

Re-arrangement of tiffins takes place as per the destination area and destination building

1:15 2:00 pmHere on begins the collection process where the dabbawalas have to pick up the tiffins from the offices where they had delivered almost an hour ago.

2:00 2:30 pmThe group members meet for the segregation as per the destination suburb.

RETURN JOURNEY:

2:48 3:30 pm

The return journey by train where the group finally meets up after the days routine of dispatching and collecting from various destination offices

3:30 4:00 pm

This is the stage where the final sorting and dispatch takes place. The group meets up at origin station and they finally sort out the tiffins as per the origin area

Michael Porter's Five Forces Theory at work.

These are as follows:

Threat of new entrantsCurrent competitionBargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of sellers Threat of a new substitute product or service

Dabbawala Methodology

Operational Motto Error is horror

DISCIPLINE: No Alcohol Drinking during business hour Wearing Gandhi Cap during business hours Carry Identity Cards

What we learnt Supply chain logistics and efficient reverse logistics The concept of Multi-level coding Time Management Customer Relationship Management Customer Satisfaction Cost effectiveness

Error Rate: 1 in 16 million transactions

Six Sigma performance (99.999999)Technological Backup : Nil.Cost of Service - Rs. 200/month ($ 4.00/month)Standard Price for all (Weight, Distance, Space)Rs. 50 Cr. Turnover approx. [200,000*200 = 400,000,00 p.m. i.e. 48 crore p.a.]No strike record as each one a share holder Earnings - 5000 to 6000 p.m.

Awards and FelicitationForbes Global magazine to award its Six Sigma certification in 2001 ISO and many other certificatesShri.Varkari Prabhodhan Mahasmati Dindi (palkhi) sohala 4th march 2001. Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore. Documentaries made by BBC ,UTV, MTV, and ZEE TV Dabbawalla services are popular with the Indian IT developer community in Silicon Valley, California, USA

Some AchievementsWorld record in Best Time management.

Name in GUINESS BOOK of World Records.

Registered with Ripley's believe it or not.

Dabbawalas are mostly invited byMahindra & Mahira - Kandivli ( Mumbai ) and Nasik.

Sandoz Pharmaceuticals - Mumbai.

Indian School Of Business (ISB) - Hyderabad.

GE Money Servicing - Hyderabad.

Microsoft - Gurgoan.

Genpact - Hyderabad.

Community of cooked food - Itly.

Accenture - Mumbai.

Meetings of Confederation of Indian Industries ( CII).

Stanfort University delegation to India.

Symbiosys Management School - Pune.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

Global Business School- Nagpur.

NM Dalmia College - Mumbai.

National Stock Exchange - Mumbai.

Reserve Bank Of India.

THE ROYAL VISIT:

Recently, the dabbawalas had royal company at Churchgate station. The Prince of Wales himself had visited them when he came down to Mumbai.

He took keen interest in their way of functioning, expressed surprise at their efficiency and was struck with awe when he was told that they didnt employ any technology.

The prince was presented a small memento, accompanied with a garland, a Gandhi topi and a trophy by the dabbawalas.

RICHARD BRANSON CHAIRMAN VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS MUMBAI

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Atlantic Airways, meeting the Mumbai's famed 'Dabbawalas' at their nodal point, the Churchgate Railway Station in South Mumbai, on April 1, 2005.

Booking for delivery through SMS

mydabbawala.com website is developing a software application for on-line booking

Order Dabbawalas services Online