DABBAWALA Dabbawala or tiffinwala is a person whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food from home in lunch

boxes to office workers in the Indian city of Mumbai. It sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized trade that is over a century old and which has become integral to Mumbais culture. In 1980s Mahadev Havaji Bacche, Pune district started this service. That time there were no canteens, fastfood centres. Recognising the need of different communities, Mahadev started this lunch delivery service. Describes the Mumbaibased Dabbawala organization, which achieves very high service performance (6 Sigma equivalent or better) with a low-cost and very simple operating system. The case explores all aspects of their system (mission, information management, material flows, human resource system, processes, etc.) and the challenges that the Dabbawala organization faces in a rapidly changing environment. An outside consultant proposes the introduction of new technologies and management systems, while the leading logistics companies (e.g., FedEx) come to Mumbai to learn about the Dabbawala system. No over-reliance on technology. Create an integrated performance chain. Acute visibility. Keep it simple. There is no retirement age for the workers and each employee gets monthly income and employment for life.

 Strengths: simplicity with innovation, team work, coordination, low operation cost. Weakness: Not educated, high dependability on local trains. Opportunities: Wide range publicity, low operation cost, catering. Threats: Growing fastfood centres.