MUMBAI

DABBAWALA
Supply chain management
SHALU
SHIVANGI
SHARAD
SOURAV
SHADAB
ABHIJEET
ADITI
ZAINAB
Contents
Introduction
History
Organisational Structure
Dabbawala’s unique supply chain model
Approaches for good supply chain management
Journey of Dabbawala
Expert’s attribute to success of dabbawala
Key features of dabbawala
 Awards & achievement
 Conclusion
 INTRODUCTION
 A dabbawala, is a person in the city of mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food
from home in lunch boxes to office workers.

 For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed that this virtually achieves a six sigma
performance rating, (i.E. 99.9999% of deliveries are made without error, he is at CMMI level 6 .

  125 years old and growth 5-10% annually (NY times-2007).

 Represented maharashtra – republic day 2010.

 NMTBSA
• Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association.

• History: Started in 1880.

• Charitable trust: Registered in 1956.

• Average literacy rate: 8th grade schooling.

• Total area coverage: 60 kms.

• Employee strength: 5000+ persons

• Num of tiffins: 2,00,000 tiffin boxes i.e. 4,00,000 transactions per

day.
 HOW THEY STARTED

About 125 years back, a Parsi banker wanted to have home cooked
food in office and gave this responsibility to the first ever
Dabbawala. Many people liked the idea and the demand for Dabba
delivery soared. It was all informal and individual effort in the
beginning, but visionary Mahadeo Havaji Bachche saw the
opportunity and started the lunch delivery service in its present
team-delivery format with 100 Dabbawalas .
The Dabbawala’s organization started with a hundred men who
lunched the delivering service in the years 1890, a period when
Bombay saw an influx of people from various communities and
regions of India migrating to the city .
 Approach-Discipline

1. No alcohol drinking during business hour

2. Wearing white cap during business hour also
known as Gandhi cap.
3. Carrying identity card.
Hierarchial
Structure
PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

GENERAL SECRETARY

TREASURER

DIRECTORS(9)

MUKADAMS(800)

MEMBERS (5000+)
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
(5 MEMBERS)

TEAMS OF 20-25 HEADED

BY A GROUP LEADER

INDIVIDUAL DABBAWALA’S
WORKLOAD-
COLLECT FROM HOME/CATERER- 35
TIFFINS
DELIVERY AT OFFICE- 35 TIFFINS
RETURN EMPTY TIFFINS TO HOME-
35 TIFFINS
 DABBAWALA’S UNIQUE SUPPLY CHAIN MODEL
1. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

O
F
H Aggregation
F
point
O I
M C
E E
S S

Collection points Railway station Destination zones

◦ Dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas either from a worker's
home or from the dabba makers.

◦ Dabbawalas use cycles or go by foot to every household. The waiting

time to collect a lunch box is maximum 2 minutes

◦ Every Dabbawala has to assemble at his/her reported collection point

at sharp 9. 30 am

◦ From these collection points they assemble at the nearest railway

station which is the Aggregation point

◦ The next mode of transport is the trains where the carriers containing
lunch boxes are transported to the destination railway stations
◦ From every Destination station the dabbas are carried over carts, cycles
and carriers to the destination zones which are given a specific number

◦ From these zones, the lunch boxes are carried to the offices or
workplaces which reach by lunchtime

◦ From here the reverse process of delivering the empty lunch boxes back
to homes starts

◦ All through the above process, there is no slack at any point of time

◦ Traffic Jams, pedestrians, delays in train and signals do not stop the
functioning. The trademark white cap wore by these Dabbawalas are
known to everyone including the police who don’t interfere in their
process
2.CODING
SYSTEM
Coding System is meticulously followed in order to avoid
any mistakes involving interchange of lunch boxes, that is,
wrong Tiffin box reaching the customer.
◦ As given in the above Diagram, the Coding system can be explained as follows:
◦ ANVT: Anand vihar, a suburb in Mumbai. This denotes the residential station
◦ 9 RC 15: Code for Dabbawalas at destination. This user code is different for
each customer
◦ RC: Raheja Chambers, name of a building or office ANVT

9 RC 15
◦ 15: Floor Number
E 5
◦ E: Code for Dabbawala at Destination station. For example, 
E is a code for Nariman Point, Churchgate ANIL
◦ ANIL: Name/Surname of the customer
3.
EMPLOYEE
◦ All the employees or Dabbawalas are the stakeholders in this organization

◦ They are given basic idea about writing the alphabets and numbers on the boxes on
joining the organization.

◦ Every Dabbawala takes about 3 hours for completing his assignment and has to
cover 60-70 km on foot, carts, cycles and carriers combined.

◦ Alcohol consumption is strictly avoided during work hours.

◦ The employees’ monthly salary is about Rs.6000 per month.

APPROACHES FOR GOOD SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Disciplin Six sigma

e performance

Organisational Latest
structure & marketing
working style
strategy

Coding Uninterrupted
services
JOURNEY OF DABBAWALA
Pick up dabba
from
residence /
caterer and
bring it to
andheri
staion. 9:30-
10:30 AM
Returning
Dabba to Journey in
Residence local train .
Caterer . 3:30- 10:30-
4:40 PM 11:34AM

Sorting at Delivery to
Destinations resspective
station . 2:48- customer .
3:30 PM 12:30-1:00 PM

Collecting of
Empty Dabba.
1:30 PM-2:30
PM
Experts attribute success of dabbawalas to two
factors :
◦ Mumbai’s train network:
 Mumbai’s train system is the backbone of dabbawala network.
 About 2300 trains run every day, with an interval of not more than 4-5 minutes.
 Cuts the travel time extraordinarily.
 Utilizing such an affordable and efficient transport system helps dabbawalas keep their prices low.

◦ Work ethic:
 Most dabbawalas belong to the varkari section.
 It is a religious group known for traveling 21 days on foot in the heat of june and july.
 Have beliefs like “work is worship” and “providing food is the highest form of charity.”
 Dabbawala, and has a strict code of conduct.
 Disputes are settled by an internal committee.
 Punctuality and unwavering pursuit of timely delivery.
◦Key Features of the Dabbawalas organization:

◦ Organization Turnover is about Thirty Six Crores annually

◦ Uninterrupted and on time service delivered even in occasions of bad weather and transportation/traffic
problems
◦ Dabbawalas are well used to the local areas where they are functioning and make use of short cuts to
save time
◦ No error inspite of lunch boxes changing hands six times
◦ During the working hours, they do not take a break or rest & thus no slack is present in the system
◦ They do not use vehicles which require fuel which makes them 0% Fuel reliant
◦ They do not use any modern technology for carrying out the logistics
◦ There are no disputes between the employees and no presence of any union
◦ Unique organization with Six Sigma designation and 99.99% rate of performance
◦ Cost of Service per lunch box = Rs. 450 per month and is standard price for all
◦ Customer Satisfaction accounts 100% with utmost trust
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
◦ World record in best time management.

◦ Name in "guiness book" of world record

◦ Registered with ripley's "believe or not"

◦ Documentaries made by bbc, utv, mtv and zee tv.

◦ Shri varakari prabhodhan mahasmati dindi(palkhi) suhala on 4th march 2001.

◦ Invitation from cil for conference that held in bangalore.

 CONCLUSION
1.Managing more than 5000 dabbawalas
daily.
2.Six Sigma service provide 100%
satisfaction level.
3.Work is Worship
4.Serving people is serving GOD.
5.Time is Money.
6.Unity is Power.
7.Logistics and coding.
THANK YOU