Mumbais Dabbawala Service

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INTRODUCTION
A dabbawala, 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. Tiffin is an old-fashioned English word for a light lunch, and sometimes for the box it is carried in. Dabbawalas are sometimes called tiffin-wallas. For the efficiency of their supply chain it has been claimed that this virtually achieves a Six Sigma performance rating.

Though the work sounds simple, it is actually

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specialized trade that is over a

.
Mahadeo Havaji Bacche (Mahadeo), a migrant

from North Maharashtra, started the lunch delivery service.

Mahadeo recruited youth from the villages

neighboring Mumbai, who were involved in agricultural work

Service started with about 100 Dabbawalas Descendants of soldiers of the legendary
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Maharashtrian warrior-king Shivaji, dabbawalas belong to the Malva caste, and

What is NMTBSA
(Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association) History : Started in 1880 Charitable trust : Registered in 1956 Avg. Literacy Rate : 8th Grade Schooling Total area coverage : 60 Kms Employee Strength : 5000 Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes i.e 4,00,000 transactions every day. Time taken : 3 hrsz
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Cont..
Six Sigma performance (99.999999) Technological Backup : Nil. Cost of service - Rs. 300/month Rs. 50 Cr. Turnover approx. No strike record as each one a share holder Earnings -5000 to 6000 p.m.
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Cont..

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PORTERS FIVE FORCE THEORY

Competition: Itsdifficult to replicate their supply chain network as office canteens. However, since neither of these serve home food, the dabbawallas' core offering remains unchallenged. Delivery rates areso nominal (about Rs 300 per month) that one simply wouldn't bargain any further. minimum infrastructure and practically no technology is used, hence they are not dependentonsuppliers. product or service: No substitutes to home cooked food in Indian scenario, hence threat to the dabbawalla service is not an issue at least in the foreseeable future.

New entrants: Fast food joints as well

Bargaining power of buyers:

Bargaining power of sellers:

Threat of a new substitute

HOW THE DABBA IS DELIVERED

The entire system depends on teamwork and meticulous timing. Tiffins are Collected from homes & taken to nearest railway Station. Then they are sorted out for area-wise distributiuon, so that a single tiffin could change hands 3 to 4 times in the course of its daily journey. To better understand the complex sorting process, let's take an example. At Vile Parle Station, there are four groups of dabbawalas, each has twenty members and each member services 40 customers. That makes 3,200 tiffins in all. These 3,200 tiffins are collected by 9.00 am, reach the station and are sorted according to their destinations by 10.00 am when the 'Dabbawala Special' train arrives

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Cont..
The railway provides sorting areas on

platforms as well as special compartments on trains traveling south between 10.00 am and 11.30 am.

During the journey, these 80 dabbawalas

regroup according to the number of tiffins to be delivered in a particular area, and not according to the groups they actually belong 5/2/12 If 150 tiffins are to be delivered in the to.

Cont..
The Color Coding of Dabbas
The color coded on Dabbas can be Read in following pattern:

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Cont..
1-11
12 13

CODING OF DABBAS CHURCHGATE MARINE LINES GRANT ROAD, BOMBAY CENTRAL

15 16 17 18
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LOWER PAREL DADAR (WEST) DADAR (EAST) ANDHERI (EAST, WEST)

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:

Simplicity in organization with Innovative service

Coordination, team spirit, & time management Low operation cost Customer satisfaction Low Attrition Rate

Weaknesses:
High dependability on

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Cont..
Opportunities
Catering

Threats Indirect competition is being faced from caterers like maharaja

community
Indirect threats from fast foods and hotels

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Building a Clientele
The range of customers includes students (both college and

school), entrepreneurs of small businesses, managers, especially bank staff, and mill workers.
New customers are generally acquired through referrals.

Some are solicited by dabbawalas on railway platforms.

Service charges are around Rs 300 per tiffin per month,

depending on location and collection time. Money is collected in the first week of every month and remitted to the mukadam on the first Sunday.
.Meetings are held in the office on the 15th of every month

at the Dadar. During these meetings, particular emphasis is paid to customer service. If a tiffin is lost or stolen, an investigation is promptly instituted. Customers are allowed to deduct costs from any dabbawala found guilty of such a 5/2/12

ACHIEVEMENTS
World record in Best Time

Management with Six Sigma rating.

Name in GUINESS BOOK of World

Records.
Registered with Ripley's believe it or not. Participated in Deal Ya No Deal Contest by
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Sony Entertainment Television

Documentaries made by :
BBC ,UTV, MTV, ZEE TV, AAJ TAK, TV TODAY, SAHARA SAMAY,

STAR TV, CNBC TV 18, CNN, SONY TV, TV TOKYO, NDTV.

CASE STUDY made by :

ICFAI Press Hyderabad & Bangalore Richard Ivey School of Business Canada Also, Included in a subject in Graduate School of Journalism

University of California, Berkeley

Invitations from :
CII for conference held in Bangalore, IIML, IIMA, CII Cochin, CII
5/2/12 Dr. Reddys Lab Foundation Hyderabad, SCMHRD Pune, Delhi,

Learnings
Honesty and Integrity The threads of integrity and honesty hold the dabbas together. Though it is lunchtime for dabbawalas also, the aroma wafting from the dabbas has never tempted them. Overcoming a basic instinct like hunger is possible only because of strong roots in a culture that encourages truthfulness and integrity. Discipline and Time Management
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The dabbawalas operate on the Chanakya

Cont..
Pride towards their work The dabbawalas take their role as 'Annadatas' very seriously. For them, the delivery of tiffins is much beyond a job it means quelling the hunger that strikes the customer when lunch hour approaches. And so they move about their mission briskly with a smile, making sure they are never late.
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Recruitment policies and manpower

References
www.mydabbawala.com Shamsi Maria, The charioteers of meals, Jetwings Online, June 2003. www.sixsigmaquality.com/sixsigma papers.html

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THANK YOU
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