M S HARISH VARDHAN

CAREER SERVICE

MYDM-2021-14
 MUMBAI DABBAWALA

CASE STUDY:

How do they do it.

Organisational Structure
Code.
Operations
Time management.

INTRODUCTION:

The dabbawalas (also spelled dabbawallas or dabbawallahs, called tiffin wallahs in older
sources) constitute a lunchbox delivery and return system that delivers hot lunches from homes
and restaurants to people at work in India, especially in Mumbai. The lunchboxes are picked up
in the late morning, delivered predominantly using bicycles and railway trains, and returned
empty in the afternoon. They are also used by meal suppliers in Mumbai, who pay them to ferry
lunchboxes with ready-cooked meals from central kitchens to customers and back. The 2013
Bollywood film The Lunchbox is based on the dabbawala service.

The Dabbawala, (one who carries the box), in the Indian city of Mumbai. Carries and delivers
freshly made food from customer’s home in a lunch box (Dabba) and deliver it to offices.
HOW THE DABBAWALA SYSTEM STARTED:

It was the time when the English were ruling India. New government offices, post
offices, bridges, etc. we’re being constructed. No MacDonald or Pizza Hut. A Parsi
banker employed a person to bring homemade food to the site of work home-made
food to the site of work. His colleagues too liked this idea and started availing this
service. Slowly this evolved into the present strong Dabbawala system. For the efficiency
of their supply chain, it has been claimed that this virtually achieves a six sigma
performance rating (i.e. 99.99% of delivery are made without error, he is at CMMi 6).
It is a highly specialized trade that is over a century old and which has become integral
to Mumbai's culture. The dabbawala originated when India was under British rule: many
Indian people who worked in British companies disliked the British food served by the
companies, so a service was set up to bring lunch to them in their workplace straight
from their homes. Nowadays Indian businesses are the main customers for the
dabbawalas, and the service often includes cooking as a delivery.

It is a highly specialized trade that has evolved in its current form over a century and has
become integral to Mumbai’s culture. There are employees about 5000 in number and
deliver approximately 200,000 tiffin boxes every day in 3 hours, through 60 km of public
transport, and in a very rare case, a tiffin may miss being on its owner’s lunch table at
the lunch hour.
The organization is a marvel as a result of it achieves a high level of potency and
performance with no documentation, while not computers, and while not a highly
educated manpower. Yet, they're the last word professional person of provision
management. they need been an active hub and spoke system, just-in-time ways, no
inventory policy, and provide chain management principles even before these terms
were even coined.

BELIEVES OF DABBAWALA:

The organization work on a ‘work is worship’ philosophy, which is the traditional Indian
practice because of which they are known as fuel suppliers and if the local train is the
lifeline of the city then the dabbawalas are the food line.
Annadan is Mahadam, Unity is power, Time is Money.

WORKINGS OF DABBAWALA:

Error rate: 1 in 16 million transactions.

Education: 85% of the workforce are illiterate & 15% were educated up to 10 th class.
There was no involvement in technology.
 Cost of service: Rs. 350-500/month.
No strike record till date.
Earnings – 8000 p.m. per Dabbawala.
Diwali bonus: one-month salary.

MAJOR QUALITIES OF DABBAWALA:

Zero % fuel.
Zero % modern technology.
Zero % Investment.
99.999% performance rate
Food is taken from home or mess and is delivered at office.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE:

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

13SECRETARY
GENERAL MEMBERS

TREASURER

DIRECTOR(9)

MUKADAMS(800)

DABBAWALA(5000)

The dabbawalas follow a flat organization structure. In 1890, when the dabbawalas
actually began their services, there was no umbrella organization the first attempt to
unionize was made by Mahadev Bacche in 1930. The carriers started collecting one anna
each per month then as fund and these funds were used to build an inn in 1940. A
charitable trust was registered in 1956 under the name of “NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN
BOX SUPPLIERS TRUST”. Today every dabbawala contribute certain amount per
month towards the trust. The commercial arm of this trust was registered later in 1968
as “MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX CARRIERS ASSOCIATION”.
 The NMTBST is that the apex body representing the dabbawalas. It represents a trim
hierarchy with 3 tiers. The governing council, the mukadams or team leader, and also
the dabbawallas themselves.

What is NMTBSA?

N- Nutan, M- Mumbai, T- Tiffin, B- Box, S- Suppliers, A- Association

In the late 1800's, an increasing number of migrants were moving to Bombay

from different parts of the country, and fast food and canteens were not
prevalent. All these people left early in the morning for offices, and often had to
travel hungry for lunch. They belonged to different communities, and therefore
had different types of tastes, which might satisfied be happy by their own home-
cooked meals. So, in 1890, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche started a lunch delivery
service in Bombay with about a hundred men. In his business he recruited young
men from the villages neighbouring Mumbai (Pune and adjoining areas) who had
no formal education or technical efficiency to get work in the city. This proved to
achieve success, and therefore the service grew from there.
In 1930, he informally tried to unionize the dabbawallas. In 1950, Dabbawallas
were delivering 1,00,000 lunches per day. After the death of Mahadeo they
became organized in 1954 and later, a charitable trust was registered in 1956
under the name of Nutan Mumbai tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. The commercial arm
of this trust was registered in 1968 as Mumbai tiffin Box Supplier's Association. In
2005, Dabbawallas are delivering around 2,00,000 lunches per day.
Mumbai dabbawalla Six Sigma Theory:
For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed that this virtually
achieves a six-sigma performance rating (i.e. 99.99% of delivery are made
without any error.)
 Zero % fuel.
 Zero % modern technology.
 Zero % Investment.
 99.999% performance rate
MEMBERS OF ORGANISATION:

1. The Governing Council:

 The governing council is a 13-member body for which election are held every five
years. The committee works on the guidelines of the cooperatives, the vice
president, the general secretary, the treasurer and nine director constitute the body.
 President and vice president are responsible for conducting monthly meetings
checking the bank accounts and problems of members.
 The general secretary looks into the daily matters of the trust and association like
drafting letters, making vouchers, collecting funds as a fee for the trust and other
work.
 The treasurer, who looks into the accounts of the trust.
 The directors help the president in decision making and also helps in smooth
functioning of the association.
2. THE MUKADAMS:
 A mukaddam is the team leader for a group of 25-30 members.
 Although his key responsibility is sorting Tiffin boxes; he plays a crucial role in
settling disputes maintaining records of payments of the members of his group and
getting new clients.
 Another important function of the mukaddam is to ensure consumer satisfaction. A
mukaddam is generally chosen as the leader on the basis of his experience and skill.
3. DABBAWALAS:
 Dabbawala is a businessman himself. Therefore, each one has to find out his own
way to run a sustainable business.
 The dabbawalas operate in groups of roughly 20-25 members, each carrying around
30-35 Tiffin boxes.
 There are also some dabbawalas who operate individually. A total of 120 groups are
registered and all groups are independent of each other.

CODING SYSTEM

The number of tiffin’s have increased for the dabbawalas as the days passed on. As every tiffin
box had to be carried to and fro, mapping each box its carrier was crucial or else, it would lead
to chaos. For this purpose, the dabbawalas started trying strings to their boxes while some used
wires or coloured threads. But soon, these methods were found inadequate the number of
tiffin’s kept growing exceptionally. Therefore, there was a need for a new form of inexpensive
coding which would be understandable by the illiterate dabbawalas.
Each tiffin containing the food has a number of codes in alphabets and numbers on its top
which identify the following: -

 E - This is the code for the dabbawala who is picking up the tiffin from its origin or home.
 VLP - Residential Station Ville Parle.
 3 - This is the code for the destination area. This may not necessarily be restricted to a
station only. For, instance, church gate is allotted number codes from 1-10. Number 11 is
allotted to Marine lines ,12 to Charni road and so on. In this example, the number ‘3’ is
allotted to the area between Flora Fountain and cross Maidan area.
 9 - This is the code number for the dabbawala who delivers the tiffin to the destination
office from Church gate station. This is the dabbawala who is responsible for delivering to
the respective office and picking it up after the lunch hours.
 EX - Express towers (Building name)
 12 - Finally, the last code among the three codes that form the right side of the top of the
dabba is the floor on the building.

SUPPLY CHAIN OF DABBAWALA:

Pick up dabba from

Unloading and Sorting Delivery to respective
Residence and bring it Journey in Local train
at Destination station customers
to Andheri station 10:30-11:20 A.M
11:30 - 12:30 P.M 12:30 - 1:00 P.M
9:30 - 10:30 A.M

Returning Dabba to Sorting at destination Collection of empty

Residence station Dabba
3:30 - 4:30 P.M 2:50 - 3:30 P.M 1:30 - 2:30 P.M
STAGE 1: LOCAL TRAIN JOURNEY

 10:30-11:20 A.M
 This time period is actually the journey
time. The dabbawallas load the wooden
crates filled with tiffin’s onto the luggage
or goods compartment in the train.
Generally, they chose to occupy the last
compartment of the train.

STAGE 2: UNLOADING AND SORTING

 11:30-12:30 P.M
 At this stage, the unloading takes place at
the destination and destination building
In particular areas with high density of
customers, a special crate is dedicated to
the area. This crate carries 150 tiffin’s and
is driven by 3-4 dabbawallas.

STAGE 3: DELIVERY TO RESPECTIVE CUSTOMER

 12:30- 1:00 P.M

 Delivery to respective customer in that locality.

STAGE 4: RETURN JOURNEY

 Here all begins the collection process

where the dabbawallas have to pick up the
tiffin’s from the offices where they had
delivered almost an hour ago
STAGE 5: AT DESTINATION STATION

 2:50-3:30 P.M
 The dabbawallas meet for the segregation as per the destination community.
 The return journey by the train where the group of finally meets up after the day’s
routine of dispatching and collecting from various destination offices. Usually, since it is
more of a pleasant journey compared to the earlier part of the day, the dabbawalla
lighten up the moment.

STAGE 6: FINAL STAGE

 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 tiffin’s as per the origin area.

PRICING FACTORS OF DABBAWALA:

 Generally, the service charges vary between Rs.150 to Rs.300 per month depending on
factors: Location and Time.
 Money is collected in the first week of every month and it is remitted to the ‘Mukadam’
on the first Sunday. The money thus collected, is divided among all the members of the
group equally.

HUMAN RESOURCE OF DABBAWALA:

 One of the most important factors behind the success of the dabbawalas is efficient
human resource management. Most of the dabbawalas come from the same region and
community in Maharashtra.
 Dabbawalas operate without any HR policies but still each dabbawala is self-motivated
to perform is job. There is no absenteeism and every dabbawala follows the rules and
policies of the association perfectly. There is very low attrition rate and the recruitment
and training of dabbawala is also carried out by themselves.

TRAINING:

 Every dabbawala when recruited undergoes minimum six-month training about

traveling in train delivering the tiffin’s language etc. this is the crucial part where a new
dabbawala will learn every aspects of the process. As they are recommended by an
existing dabbawala the training process becomes easy. Here dabbawala is thought to
follow the code of conduct and discipline that he has to maintain during his working
hours. After the training period the dabbawala becomes the owner of his business and
will be given chance to recommend new member.
DISCIPLINES:

 No Alcohol Drinking / Smoking during business hours.

 Wearing White Cap during business hours.
 Carry Identity Cards.
 No Leave without Prior Notice.

CODE OF CONDUCT:

 Rs. 500- Drinking on duty

 Rs. 100- Smoking on duty
 Rs. 25- Not wearing white cap
 Rs .25- Not carrying ID card
 Rs .1000- Leave without intimation, sacked if repeated in 2-3 instances

SWOT ANALYSIS:

1. Low
operational
cost. 1. Limited
STRENGTH access to
WEAKNESS 1. wide range of
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
2. Customer publicity. 1. Change in
satisfaction education.
timings.
2. Funds for 2. Expansion of
3. Low attrition services in new 2. Competition
association.
rate locations of 3. Canteen
3. High
4. Flat Mumbai. facility in firm
dependency on
Organisation local trains.
5. Team spirit &
Management
POTER’S FIVE FORCES FOR DABBAWALA’S:

No one could possibly replicate this supply chain

THREATS OF NEW ENTRANTS network , their unique method of coding and the
use of Mumbai’s local trains as its backbone.

BARGAINING POWER OF The rates of the dabbawallas are as it is so nominal

BUYER that one simply would not bargain any further.

The use of minimum infrastructure and no

BARGAINING POWER OF
technology involvement and not dependent on
SUPPLIERS
suppliers.

THREAT OF A NEW SUBSTITUTE There is absolutely no substitute for the service

PRODUCT OR SERVICE offered by the dabbawallas.

COMPETITION -It is difficult to replicate their supply chain Network

REASONS TO USE DABBAWALA:

1. Homemade food is cheaper. When you use Dabbawallas services to deliver your home
cooked food to your office you are actually saving your hard earned pennies. The
delivery charge of Rs 250 - 300 per month is very nominal and reasonable.
2. Most of the Mumbai people prefer fresh, home-cooked food and that too a complete
lunch menu consisting of Chapatis, sabji(s), rice, Dal, pickle/chutney etc.
3. Most of them have long travel times to their workplaces meaning they have to start
quite early in the morning. It’s practically very difficult to travel in the Mumbai locals
with the huge Tiffin box especially during the peak hours, which is when most of them
travel.

MANAGEMENT LESSONS FROM DABBAWALA:

1. Utmost dependence on Human Capital:

 The most very important link during this chain of food delivery is human capital.
however, it's the implementation of the procedures that makes the system work.
The Mumbai dabbawalas propagate that correct quantity of human dependence will
yield wonderful results.
2. Discipline and Time Management:
 Dabbawala’s are extremely particular about time and realise the value of every
second in the value chain. So much so that when Prince Charles wanted to meet
 them, they gave him a precise time slot so that the thousands others would not have
to skip their lunch.
3. Just serve your Customer-Nothing Else:
 Dabbawalas always deliver food on time- even during heavy rains. On time without
wearing a watch. They do not try impress or bother customer with unsolicited offer.
Bothering customer with unsolicited offer forces them to discontinue even existing
services.
4. Never Deviate from your Core Competency
 Dabbawala are only in the business of delivering home-made food to offices.
 Effort to sell FMCG and other products through Dabbawala system failed. Be-
“Master of one trade rather than jack of all”.
 If required develop product & services around core competency.

CONCLUSION:

The concept of ‘DABBAWALA’ comes into picture in one of India’s big and busiest cities– where
people can enjoy the fresh homemade lunch every day. What a wonderful service they provide.
It is not just a service but a vocation. Their main aim is customer satisfaction. The trust shows
how these illiterate or semiliterate dabbawalas have mastered the art of logistics management,
supply chain management, customer service, Just-in-time management, team work and
problem solving. People cannot believe that uneducated people can provide such an efficient
service. The white–capped, white–shirted dabbawalas shot the limelight when they were
awarded the six sigma rating, but it was Prince Charles’ meeting with them in Mumbai in
November 2003 that really helped them. He was the first celebrity who visited them. R. Megde
said “Many people talk about us, but Prince Charles was the first famous person who met the
dabbawala and encouraged them Hard work and sincerity of dabbawalas are the two main
factors to reach such levels of efficiency with such an untrained work force. They got six sigma
rating of highest operational efficiency without using any paper work or computer. Today the
Dabbawallas have respected the utilization of web innovation just to increase their client base
and nothing more.