THE SUCCESS

STORY OF MUMBAI
DABBAWALLAS
CONTENTS

STUDY OF SUPPLY CHAIN

INRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
 WHAT IS SUPPLY CHAIN ?

A supply chain is a network between a company ad its suppliers to

produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. This
network includes different activities, people, entities, product or
service from its original state to the cutomers .
Supply chains are developed by compaines so they can
reduce their costs and remain competitive in the business
landscape.
Supply chain Management is a crucial process because an
optimized supply chain results in lower costs and faster
production cycle.
OBJECTIVE OF SUPPLY CHAIN

 Reduces transportation cost.

 Reduces warehouseing cost.
 Improving quality.
 Improving visibility demand.
 Minimizing the time.
 Fast service.
 NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION

History : Started in 1890

Charitable trust : Registered in 1956
Avg. Literacy Rate ; 8th grade schooling
Employee Strength ; 5000
Number of Tiffins ; 200000 tiffin boxes i.e. 400000 transactions everyday
Time taken ; 3 hrs
Total area coverage : 60 Kms to 70 Kms
 WHO ARE DABBAWALA?

One who carries the box , is a person in the indian city of mumbai whose job is to
carry and deliver freshly made food made food from home in lunch boxes to
office workers. Tiffin is an old-fashioned english word for a ligth lunch, and
sometimes for the box is carried in . Dabbawalas are sometimes called tiffin-
wallas..
For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed that virtually achived a
six sigma performance rating (i.e. 99.9999% of deliveries are made without error)
Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized tradw that is over
a century old and which has become integral to mumbai’s culture.
The dabbawalas originated when india was under british rule : Many Indian people
who worked in british compaines disliked food served by the companies , so a
service was set up to bring lunch to them in their workplce straight from their
home nowadaysn, ianian businessmen are the main customers for the
dabbaawallas , and the service often includes cooking as well as delivery.
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.
 (200000*200=40000000 p.m.i.e 48 crore p.a )
 “NO STRIKE” record as each one a share holder
 Earning -5000 to 6000 p.m.
APPROACH-DISCIPLINE

 No alcohol drinking during business hour .

 Wearing white cap during business hour also known as gandhi
cap.
 Carrying identity card.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The service is uninterrupted even on the days of extreme

weather,such as mumbai’s characteristic monsoons . The local
dabbawalas at the receiving and the sending ends are known to the
customers personally , so that there is no question of lack of trust .
Also, they are well accustomed to the local areas they cater to ,
which allows them to access any destination with
ease.Occasionally ,people communicate between home and work
by putting messages insinde the telecommunications.
 FINANCIAL DATA OF GROUP

1. 1st group-
2. Rs 125000 Total earnings -20 people
3. Rs 35000 Maintenance cost
4. Tiffin luggage basket pass – Rs 180 per person.
5. Maintenance of cycles-Rs 300-2 cycles per month.
6. Maintenance of wooden boxes-Rs100 per person.
7. T.c,police robbery of tiffin Rs500 yearly.
8. Organizational fee Rs 15 per head.
9. Puja held per station Rs 50 per head
AWARDS AND FELICITATION

 Shri.Vakari Prabhodhan Mahasmati Dindi(palkhi)sohala -4th

March 2001.
 Invitation from CII from conference held in bangalore.
 Documentaries made by BBC,UTV,MTV and ZEE TV.
 Dabbawalla service are popular with the indian IT developer
community in silicon valley, california,USA.
SOME ACHIEVEMENTS

 World record in best time management.

 Name in “GUINESS BOOK of World Records “.
 Registered with Ripley’s “believe it or not”.
FLOWCHART OF SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
Pick up dabba from Uploading and
“Journey in local
residence and bring sorting at destination
train”
it to andheri station. station.

Delivery to
Sorting at Collection of respective
destinations station. empty dabba. customers.

Returning dabba to
residence.
HOW DOES THEY WORK ?

 Dabbawala simply works on coding system

 E : code for dabbawala street at residential station
 VLP : residenttial station ville parle
 3 :code for destination station.
 E.G: church gate
 9 : code for dabbawala at destination
 Ex : express towers(buliding name)
 12 : floor no. in the building
TIMINGS
10:34-11:20 am
This 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 .
Generally , they choose to occupy the last compartment of the train.
11:20-12:30 pm
At this stage , the unloding takes place at the destination station . Re-arrangement
of tiffins takes place as per the destination building.In particular areas with high
density of customers a special crate is dedicated to the area . This crate carriers
150 tiffins and is driven by 3-4 dabbawallas.
1:15-2:00 pm
Here on begins the collection process where the dabbadwalas have to pick up the
tiffins from the offices where the had devivered almost an hour.
.
RETURN JOURNEY :

2:00-2:30 pm
The group members meet for the segregation as per the destination suburb.
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.usually since it is more of a plesant journey compared to the earlier
part of the day , the dabbawalas lighten up the moment with merry
making , joking around and singing.
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.
HURDLES
 Unpunctual customer
 Physical distance
 Large number of dabbas
 Mumbai traffic
 Crowded trains
 Multiple handovers
 Scattered pickup and drop off destinations
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

 With high team spirit and time management with the low
operations cost they are giving full customer satisfaction.
 The recommendation is that they are highly dependent on local
trains so they must be prepared in case if the local trains stop
working.
 They have to be prepared about the competition which they are
facing from hotels fast food chains.
 They have high range pubilicity so based on that they can enter
other cities also.