Mumbai’s Dabbawalas - Amazing Management Success Story India - Presentation Transcript

1. The Wonder of Mumbai Dabbawallas Inspiration of Management supported by h ttp://www.mydabbawala.com/

2. Introduction

o A dabbawala ( one who carries the box , see Etymology ), 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, (i.e. 99.9999% of deliveries are made without error, he is at CMMi level 6). [1]

o Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized trade that is over a century old and which has become integral to Mumbai's culture.

o 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 home. Nowadays, Indian businessmen are the main customers for the dabbawalas, and the service often includes cooking as well as delivery.

3.o (Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association)

o History : Started in 1880

o Charitable trust : Registered in 1956

o Avg. Literacy Rate : 8 th Grade Schooling

o Total area coverage : 60 Kms

o Employee Strength : 5000

o Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes

o i.e 4,00,000 transactions every day.

o Time taken : 3 hrs

What is NMTBSA ?4.o Error Rate : 1 in 16 million transactions

o Six Sigma performance (99.999999)

o Technological Backup : Nil.

o Cost of service - Rs. 200/month ($ 4.00/month)

o Standard price for all (Weight, Distance, Space)

o Rs. 50 Cr. Turnover approx.

o [200,000*200=400,000,00 p.m. i.e 48 crore p.a.]

o “ No strike” record as each one a share holder

o Earnings - 5000 to 6000 p.m.

5. DABBAWALLAS IN TRAIN COMPARTMENT The word "Dabbawala" can be translated as "box-carrier" or "lunchpail-man". In Marathi and Hindi , "dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical aluminium container), while "wala" means someone in a trade involving the object mentioned in the preceding term, e.g. punkhawala with "pankha" which means a fan and " wala " mean the person who owns the pankha (The one with the fan).

6. APPROACH

o DISCIPLINE :

o No Alcohol Drinking during business hours

o Wearing White Cap during business hours

o Carry Identity Cards

o WOMEN:

o Mrs. Bhikhubai of Borivali(East)

o Mrs. Anandibai of Andheri(East)

o LATEST MARKETING STRATEGY:

o Marketing message in the “dabba”

7.o How do they do it…?

o Organizational structure

Executive Committee (5 members) Teams of 20-25 headed by a group leader Individual Dabbawalla workload = 30 tiffinso Operations

o War against Time (10.30 – 1.00)

o The Code

Case Study : TBSA Tiffin Box Suppliers Association8. 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 inside the boxes. However, this was usually before the accessibility of telecommunications

9. 13 MEMBERS PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT GENERAL SECRETARY TREASURER DIRECTORS(19) MEMBERS(5000) MUKADAM

10. PRESIDENT & GENERAL SECRETARY NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION

11. FINANCIAL DATA OF A GROUP 1 st group – Rs 125000 Total earnings -20 People Rs 35000 Maintenance cost Tiffin luggage basket pass – Rs 180 per person. Maintenance of cycles – Rs 300 – 2 cycles per month. Maintenance of wooden boxes – Rs 100 per person . T.C , police robbery of Tiffin Rs 500 yearly. Organizational fee Rs 15 per head. Puja held per station Rs 50 per head.

12. Awards and Felicitation

o Shri.Varkari Prabhodhan Mahasmati Dindi (palkhi) sohala – 4 th march – 2001.

o Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore.

o Documentaries made by BBC ,UTV, MTV, and ZEE TV

o Dabbawalla services are popular with the Indian IT developer community in Silicon Valley , California , USA

o In literature

o One of the two protagonists in Salman Rushdie 's controversial novel The Satanic Verses , Gibreel Farishta, was born as Ismail Najmuddin to a dabbawallah. In the novel, Farishta joins his father, delivering lunches all over Bombay (Mumbai) at the age of 10, until he is taken off the streets and becomes a movie star.

o Dabbawalas feature as an alibi in the Inspector Ghote novel Dead on Time .

13. Some Achievements

o World record in best time management.

o Name in “GUINESS BOOK of World Records”.

o Registered with Ripley's “ believe it or not”.

14. LOGISTICS

o Logistics is happening 24 hrs a day,7 days a week and 52 weeks a year.

o Logistical competency is achieved by coordinating the following:

o Network Design

o Information

o Transportation

o Inventory

o Warehousing

15.o Coding

VLP 9E12 E 3 VLP : Vile Parle (Suburb in Mumbai) 9E12 : Code for Dabbawallas at Destination E : Express Towers (Bldg. Name) 12 : Floor No. E : Code for Dabbawallas at Residential station. 3 : Code for Destination station (E.g.. Nariman Point)

16.o Let us now look at an example of these codes on the

tiffins to better understand the system and what it all denotes:

E VP 9 VS 12 3 GH 13 2 P 9 D 3 4CB10 BO G 6 2GPO M D

17. MR. RAGHUNATH MEDGE

18.o 10:34-11:20 am

o 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.

19.o 11:20 – 12:30 pm

o At this stage, the unloading takes place at the destination station

o Re-arrangement of tiffins takes place as per the destination area and destination building

20.o In particular areas with high density of customers, a

special crate is dedicated to the area. This crate carries 150 tiffins and is driven by 3-4 dabbawalas!

21.o 1:15 – 2:00 pm

o Here on begins the collection process where the dabbawalas have to pick up the tiffins from the offices where they had delivered almost an hour ago.

22. RETURN JOURNEY:

o 2:00 – 2:30 pm

o The group members meet for the segregation as per the destination suburb.

23.o 2:48 – 3:30 pm

o The return journey by train where the group finally meets up after the day’s routine of dispatching and collecting from various destination offices

o Usually, since it is more of a pleasant journey compared to the earlier part of the day, the

dabbawalas lighten up the moment with merry making, joking around and singing .

24.o 3:30 – 4:00 pm

o 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

25. THE ROYAL VISIT:

o Recently, the dabbawala’s had royal company at Churchgate station. The Prince of Wales himself had visited them when he came down to Mumbai.

o He took keen interest in their way of functioning, expressed surprise at their efficiency and was struck with awe when he was told that they didn’t employ any technology.

o The prince was presented a small memento, accompanied with a garland, a Gandhi topi and a trophy by the dabbawalas.

26. RICHARD BRANSON CHAIRMAN VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS MUMBAI

o Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Atlantic Airways, meeting the Mumbai's famed 'Dabbawalas' at their nodal point, the Churchgate Railway Station in South Mumbai, on April 1, 2005.

27. Order Dabbawalas Products and services Online MyDabbawalas.com developing a software  application  through which the people of Mumbai can order Dabba service online through internet. The order will be booked online and Dabba will be picked up from your home and will be delivered to office in time. Please wait  , the software will be soon available. Meanwhile you may send us E-Mail us at [email_address] with your

details ( name, home address , office address , home phone , office phone , mobile number , whether you want dabba on Saturday) and He will contact you to start the service.

28. Order through SMS

o Although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot delivery boys as the prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace technology, and now allow booking for delivery through SMS . A web site, mydabbawala.com , has also been added to allow for on-line booking, in order to keep up with the times. An on-line poll on the web site ensures that customer feedback is given pride of place. The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management that would be the envy of a modern manager. Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely literate and barefoot delivery boys (there are only a few delivery women) who form links in the extensive delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at all. A simple colour coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. There are no elaborate layers of management either — just three layers. Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a minimum capital in kind, in the shape of two bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white trademark Gandhi topi (cap). The return on capital is ensured by monthly division of the earnings of each unit. - [email_address]

29. THANK YOU http://www.mydabbawala.com/ Presentation : Paavan Solanki [email_address]

Management Learnings From Dabbawalas - Presentation Transcript

1. MANAGEMENT LEARNINGS FROM DABBAWALAS STALIN SATHITHARAN.V

2. THEY ARE DABBAWALAS

3. THEIR ACHEIVEMENTS

o SIX SIGMA PERFORMANCEOF 99.99999

o ISO CERTIFIED

o GUINESS WORLD RECORD

o BEST TIME MANAGEMENT OF THE WORLD

o FEATURED IN RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT

4.  

5. KEEP OPERATIONAL COSTS TO MINIMUM Cycles & hand carts No costly posh offices

6. MINIMUM CAPITAL INVESTMENT No fuel vehicles Invest hard work Bank on honesty

7. SERVE ONLY THE CUSTOMERS Deliver the goods on time They keep us in business

8. COMPLEXITY OPPOSES COMPLIENCE Simple procedures Plain language of communication

9. MARKING A DABBA VLP 9 EX 12 3 E

10. NEVER DEVIATE FROM YOUR CORE COMPETENCY Marketing of FMCG failed

11. DABBAWALA & AIRTEL

12. DONOT BE OVER DEPENDENT ON TECHNOLOGY 116 years old and do not completely rely on technology

13. FLAT ORGANISATION Every one are share holders- BOSS 25-30 employees are headed by one head

14. ORG PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT 13 Members ORGANISATION STRUCTURE TREASURER HEAD 5 MEMBERS GENERAL SECRETARY

15. CO OPERATION Competition only in collection of boxes

16. KEEPS EXTRAS FOR FAULT TOLERENCE 1: 20 employees are kept as reserve They get the same wages as others

17. COMMITMENT MATTERS NOT QUALIFICATION 85% are illiterate 15% failures of 8 th standard

18. KNOW THE IMPLICATION OF FUTURE Wrong delivery gets the heat from every one

19. BUILD AROUND EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURES Existing transportation facility - Train

20. ABANDON BAD CUSTOMERS When the dabbas are not ready on time for 3 days – DROP THE CUSTOMER

21. STRIKE MEANS SUICIDE-WORK IS LIFE Never on strike for 116 years Sort out differences amicably

22. PENALIZE EMPLOYEES FOR NON COMPLIENCE Penalize for not wearing full uniform Misbehavior, leaves with out prior information

23. DONOT TRANSFER EMPLOYEES OFTEN They lose customer knowledge, customer trust is wasted, takes time to accustom

24. HIGHSALARY ALONE CANNOT RETAIN EMPLOYEES Keep the employees emotionally united, Respect, relationship, ownership and no fear factor.

25. BE HUMBLE AND DONOT BOAST ON SUCCESS Never be media savvy Respect the customers

26. THANK YOU HAVE A NICE DAY

Four thousand five hundred semi-literate dabbawalas collect and deliver 175,000 packages within hours. What should we learn from this unique, simple and highly efficient 120-year-old logistics system?

Hungry kya? What would you like: pizza from the local Domino's (30 minute delivery) or a fresh, hot meal from home? Most managers don't have a choice. It's either a packed lunch or junk food grabbed from a fast food outlet. Unless you live in Mumbai [ Images ], that is, where a small army of 'dabbawalas' picks up 175,000 lunches from homes and delivers them to harried students, managers and workers on every working day. At your desk. 12.30 pm on the dot. Served hot, of course. And now you can even order through the Internet.

The Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is a streamlined 120-year-old organisation with 4,500 semi-literate members providing a quality door-to-door service to a large and loyal customer base.

How has MTBSA managed to survive through these tumultuous years? The answer lies in a twin process that combines competitive collaboration between team members with a high level of technical efficiency in logistics management. It works like this...

After the customer leaves for work, her lunch is packed into a tiffin provided by the dabbawala. A color-coded notation on the handle identifies its owner and destination. Once the dabbawala has picked up the tiffin, he moves fast using a combination of bicycles, trains and his two feet.

A BBC crew filming dabbawalas in action was amazed at their speed. "Following our dabbawala wasn't easy, our film crew quickly lost him in the congestion of the train station. At Victoria Terminus [ Images ] we found other fast moving dabbawalas, but not our subject... and at Mr Bhapat's ayurvedic pharmacy,

the lunch had arrived long before the film crew," the documentary noted wryly. So, how do they work so efficiently?

Team work

The entire system depends on teamwork and meticulous timing. Tiffins are collected from homes between 7.00 am and 9.00 am, and taken to the nearest railway station. At various intermediary stations, they are hauled onto platforms and sorted out for area-wise distribution, so that a single tiffin could change hands three to four times in the course of its daily journey.

At Mumbai's downtown stations, the last link in the chain, a final relay of dabbawalas fan out to the tiffins' destined bellies. Lunch hour over, the whole process moves into reverse and the tiffins return to suburban homes by 6.00 pm.

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.

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 to. If 150 tiffins are to be delivered in the Grant Road Station area, then four people are assigned to that station, keeping in mind one person can carry no more than 35-40 tiffins.

During the earlier sorting process, each dabbawala would have concentrated on locating only those 40 tiffins under his charge, wherever they come from, and this specialisation makes the entire system efficient and error-free. Typically it takes about ten to fifteen minutes to search, assemble and arrange 40 tiffins onto a crate, and by 12.30 pm they are delivered to offices.

In a way, MTBSA's system is like the Internet. The Internet relies on a concept called packet switching. In packet switched networks, voice or data files are sliced into tiny sachets, each with its own coded address which directs its routing.

These packets are then ferried in bursts, independent of other packets and possibly taking different routes, across the country or the world, and re-assembled at their destination. Packet switching maximises network density, but there is a downside: your packets intermingle with other packets and if the network is overburdened, packets can collide with others, even get misdirected or lost in cyberspace, and almost certainly not arrive on time.

Elegant logistics

In the dabbawalas' elegant logistics system, using 25 kms of public transport, 10 km of footwork and involving multiple transfer points, mistakes rarely happen. According to a Forbes 1998 article, one mistake for every eight million deliveries is the norm. How do they achieve virtual six-sigma quality with zero documentation? For one, the system limits the routing and sorting to a few central points. Secondly, a simple color code determines not only packet routing but packet prioritising as lunches transfer from train to bicycle to foot.

Who are the dabbawalas?

Descendants of soldiers of the legendary Maharashtrian warrior-king Shivaji, dabbawalas belong to the Malva caste, and arrive in Mumbai from places like Rajgurunagar, Akola, Ambegaon, Junnar and Maashi. "We believe in employing people from our own community. So whenever there is a

vacancy, elders recommend a relative from their village," says Madhba, a dabbawala.

"Farming earns a pittance, compelling us to move to the city. And the tiffin service is a business of repute since we are not working under anyone. It's our own business, we are partners, it confers a higher status in society," says Sambhaji, another dabbawala. "We earn more than many padha-likha (educated) graduates," adds Khengle smugly.

The proud owner of a BA (Hons) degree, Raghunath Meghe, president of MTBSA, is a rare graduate. He wanted to be a chartered accountant but couldn't complete the course because of family problems. Of his three children, his daughter is a graduate working at ICICI [ Get Quote ], one son is a dabbawala and the younger son is still studying.

Education till standard seven is a minimum prerequisite. According to Meghe, "This system accommodates those who didn't or couldn't finish their studies. It's obvious that those who score good marks go for higher education and not to do this job, but we have people who have studied up to standard twelve who couldn't find respectable jobs." There are only two women dabbawalas.

Apart from commitment and dedication, each dabbawala, like any businessman, has to bring some capital with him. The mini-mum investment is two bicycles (approximately Rs 4,000), a wooden crate for the tiffins (Rs 500), at least one white cotton kurta-pyjama (Rs 600), and Rs 20 for the trademark Gandhi topi.

Competitive collaboration

MTBSA is a remarkably flat organisation with just three tiers: the governing council (president, vice president, general secretary, treasurer and nine directors), the mukadams and the dabbawalas. Its first office was at Grant Road. Today it has offices near most railway stations.

Here nobody is an employer and none are employees. Each dabbawala considers himself a shareholder and entrepreneur.

Surprisingly MTBSA is a fairly recent entity: the service is believed to have started in the 1880s but officially registered itself only in 1968. Growth in membership is organic and dependent on market conditions.

This decentralised organisation assumed its current form in 1970, the most recent date of restructuring. Dabbawalas are divided into sub-groups of fifteen to 25, each supervised by four mukadams. Experienced old-timers, the mukadams are familiar with the colors and codings used in the complex logistics process.

Their key responsibility is sorting tiffins but they play a critical role in resolving disputes; maintaining records of receipts and payments; acquiring new customers; and training junior dabbawalas on handling new customers on their first day.

Each group is financially independent but coordinates with others for deliveries: the service could not exist otherwise. The process is competitive at the customers' end and united at the delivery end.

Each group is also responsible for day-to-day functioning. And, more important, there is no organisational structure, managerial layers or explicit control mechanisms. The rationale behind the business model is to push internal competitiveness, which means that the four Vile Parle groups vie with each other to acquire new customers.

Building a clientele

The range of customers includes students (both college and school), entrepreneurs of small businesses, managers, especially bank staff, and mill workers.

They generally tend to be middle-class citizens who, for reasons of economy, hygiene, caste and dietary restrictions or simply because they prefer whole-some food from their kitchen, rely on the dabbawala to deliver a home cooked mid-day meal.

New customers are generally acquired through referrals. Some are solicited by dabbawalas on railway platforms. Addresses are passed on to the dabbawala operating in the specific area, who then visits the customer to finalize arrangements. Today customers can also log onto the website www.webrishi.com to access the service.

Service charges vary from Rs 150 to 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. He then divides the money equally among members of that group. It is assumed that one dabbawala can handle not more than 30-35 customers given that each tiffin weighs around 2 kgs. And this is the benchmark that every group tries to achieve.

Typically, a twenty member group has 675 customers and earns Rs 100,000 per month which is divided equally even if one dabbawala has 40 customers while another has 30. Groups compete with each other, but members within a group do not. It's common sense, points out one dabbawala.

One dabbawala could collect 40 tiffins in the same time that it takes another to collect 30. From his earnings of between Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000, every dabbawala contributes Rs15 per month to the association. The amount is utilised for the community's upliftment, loans and marriage halls at concessional rates. All problems are usually resolved by association officials whose ruling is binding.

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 charge.

If a customer complains of poor service, the association can shift the customer's account to another dabbawala. No dabbawala is allowed to undercut another.

Before looking into internal disputes, the association charges a token Rs 100 to ensure that only genuinely aggrieved members interested in a solution come to it with their problems, and the officials' time is not wasted on petty bickering.

Learnings

Logistics is the new mantra for building competitive advantage, the world over. Mumbai's dabbawalas developed their home-grown version long before the term was coined.

Their attitude of competitive collaboration is equally unusual, particularly in India [ Images ]. The operation process is competitive at the customers' end but united at the delivery end, ensuring their survival since a century and more. Is their business model worth replicating in the digital age is the big question.

[edit]Etymology and historical roots

The word "Dabbawala" in Marathi when literally translated, means "one who carries a box". "Dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical tin or aluminium container), while "wala" is a suffix, denoting a doer or holder of the preceding word.[1] The closest meaning of the Dabbawala in English would be the "lunch box delivery man". Though this profession seems to be simple, it is actually a highly specialized service in Mumbai which is over a century old and has become integral to the cultural life of this city.

The concept of the dabbawala originated when India was under British rule. Many British people who came to the colony did not like the local food, so a service was set up to bring lunch to these people in their workplace straight from their home. Nowadays, although Indian business men are the main customers for the dabbawalas, increasingly affluent

families employ them instead for lunch delivery to their school-aged children. Even though the services provided might include cooking, it primarily consists of only delivery either home-made or in that latter case, food ordered from a restaurant.

[edit]Supply Chain

Mumbai Dabbahwalas

Mumbai is a very densely populated million cities with huge flows of traffic. Because of this, lengthy commutes to workplaces are common, with many workers traveling by train.

Instead of going home for lunch or paying for a meal in a café, many office workers have a cooked meal sent either from their home, or sometimes from a caterer who essentially cooks and delivers the meal in lunch boxes and then have the empty lunch boxes collected and re-sent the same day. This is usually done for a monthly fee. The meal is cooked in the morning and sent in lunch boxes carried by dabbawalas, who have a complex association and hierarchy across the city.

A collecting Dabbawala on a bicycle

A collecting dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas either from a worker's home or from the dabba makers. The dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a color or symbol. The dabbawala then takes them to a designated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups. The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). The markings include

the rail station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered.

At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala, who delivers them. The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses.

It has been recognized since 2002 to be one of the most reliable supply chains in the world, after being given a Six Sigma rating by Forbes Magazine. This indicates less than 3.4 errors per million items carried, and is despite the supply chain using no computers or modern technology and most of the delivery staff being illiterate.

[edit]The Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust

This service was originated in 1880. In 1890, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche, started a lunch delivery service with about 100 men.[2] In 1930, he informally attempted to unionize the dabbawallas. 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. The present President of the association is Sopan Laxman Mare. Nowadays, the service often includes cooking of foods in addition to the delivery.

[edit]Economic analysis

It is estimated that the dabbawala industry grows by 5-10% each year.

Each dabbawala, regardless of role, gets paid about two to four thousand rupees per month (around £25–50 or US$40–80).[3]

In 2002, Forbes Magazine found its reliability to be that of a six sigma standard.[4]

More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunch boxes get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality. According to a recent survey, they make less than one mistake in every 6 million deliveries.

The BBC has produced a documentary on dabbawalas, and Prince Charles, during his visit to India, visited them (he had to fit in with their schedule, since their timing was too precise to permit any flexibility),Prince Charles also invited them to his wedding with Camilla Parker Bowles in London on 9 April 2005. Owing to the tremendous publicity, some of the dabbawalas were invited to give guest lectures in top business schools of India, which is very unusual. Most remarkably in the eyes of many Westerners, the success of the dabbawala trade has involved no advanced technology.[5]

The New York Times reported in 2007 that the 125-year-old dabbawala industry continues to grow at a rate of 5–10% per year.[6]

[edit]Appearance and coding

A typical dabbawala lunch.

A dabba, or Indian-style tiffin box.

Although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot delivery men as the prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace technology, and now allow booking for delivery through SMS.[7] An on-line poll on the web site ensures that customer feedback is given pride of place. The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management. Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely literate and barefoot delivery men (there are only a few delivery women) who form links in the extensive delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at all. A simple colour coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and recipient. There are no multiple elaborate layers of management either — just three layers. Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a minimum capital in kind, in the form of two bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white trademark Gandhi cap (topi). The return on capital is ensured by monthly division of the earnings of each unit.

[edit]Uninterrupted services

The service is almost always uninterrupted, even on the days of severe weather such as monsoons. The local dabbawalas and population know each other well, and often form bonds of trust. Dabbawalas are generally well accustomed to the local areas they cater to, and use shortcuts and other low profile routes to deliver their goods on time. Occasionally, people communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the boxes,however, with the rise of instant communication such as SMS and instant messaging, this trend is vanishing.

[edit]Awards and recognition

ISO 9001:2000 certified by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand [8]

[edit]Notes

[edit]External links

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to: Dabbawalas

Mumbai Dabbawala - Document Transcript

1. IILM Institute for Higher Education School of Business PROJECT Business Research Mumbai Dabbawalas Abhishek Tewari IILM Gurgaon (Pgp 2007-2009) Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

2. INTRODUCTION • A dabbawala (one who carries the box), sometimes spelled dabbawalla, tiffinwalla, tiffinwalla 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 (i.e. 99.99% of delivery are made without error, he is at CMMi 6). • Though the work sounds simple, it is actually 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 work place straight from their homes. Nowadays Indian businesses are the main customers for the dabbawalas, and the service often includes cooking as a delivery. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

3. What is NMTBSA N -Nutan M - Mumbai T -Tiffin B -Box S -Suppliers A -Association The origin of the dabbawalas’ lunch delivery services dates back to the year1890. Mahadeo Havaji Bacche, amigrant from Pune district

(North Maharashtra) started this lunch delivery service. At that time, people came from different states and form different communities migrated to Mumbai for work. At working place there were no canteens or fast food centers and they did not bring their lunch from home. Besides, different communities had different food habits, tastes and preferences which could only be satisfied by a home made meal. Recognizing the need, Mahadeo started this lunch delivery service. In his business, Mahadeo recruited young men from the villages neighboring Mumbai (generally Pune district and adjoining areas), who had no formal education or technical efficiency to get work in the city. There were 100 dabbawalas at the Commencement of the service and charged the client Rs. 2 per month. Gradually, the number of dabbawalas increased. In 1950, dabbawalas were delivering 1, 00,000 lunches per day. After the death of Mahadeo they became organized in 1954 and formed Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Charity Trust. The trust had branch offices in different parts of the Mumbai such asChembur, Dadar, Ghatkopar etc. In 2005, 5000 dabbawalas are delivering around 2, 00,000 lunches per day. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

4. Objectives The main objectives are: (i) To examine how the dabbawalas operate; (ii) To study how Operations Management Dabbawalas of Mumbai perform an amazing role in procurement and distribution of tiffins to their clients from which one can learn many critical issues of supply chain, distribution and logistic management. This paper mainly dwells on the examination of their operations and achievement of almost zero-fault performance including their problems and prospects in this changing environment of their business. They work as a team to achieve a common goal with a cent percent accuracy and (iii) To explore

the problems and prospects of the dabbawalas’ services in the light of Changing environment. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

5. Levels of Management: The Trust is a co-operative body having three levels of management, viz. (i) The Governing Council, its President, Secretary - top level: (ii) Mukadams (team leaders or supervisions)–middle level (iii) Dubbawalas – lower level. The Governing Council (also called as Panch Committee) holds meetings on the 15th day of every month. Mukadams and dabbawalas are entitled to attend the meetings. At These meetings, dabbawalas discussed their problems and business policies. The trust Collected Rs. 15 p.m. from each member to maintain a welfare fund. The trust provides various services to its members, including loan facilities for emergencies, educations expenses for children, health care etc. from this welfare fund. The dabbawalas are organized in 15 to 20 members groups. Each group is supervised by 4 mukadams. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

6. Mukadams supervise to sorting dabbas (tiffin box), to keep records of payment, to settle disputes, to search new customers and train new dabbawalas. Each group is financially independent but work together in the delivery process. Each group serves its own customers without hampering the interests of other. Now the Dabbawalas are charging customers Rs. 250 to Rs.300 p.m. for their services. Total monthly collection is shared equally among the members of the group. Each dabbawala receives Rs. 5000 to Rs. 6000 p.m. after meeting all expenses like railway monthly ticket, rent for handcarts, crates etc. Newcomers who want to become dabbawala are initially hired on a salary, after evaluating their performance they are offered membership (shareholders) of the trust and assigned to one of the groups. Each dabbawala is guaranteed to

receive a monthly income and employment for life. As there is no retirement age, he may work as long as he is physically fit. To become profit sharing member of the trust, new dabbawala needs to pay a certain amount to the trust. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

7. PORTERS FIVE FORCE THEORY • Competition: Its difficult to replicate their supply chain network • New entrants: Fast food joints as well as office canteens. However, since neither of these serve home food, the dabbawallas' core offering remains unchallenged. • Bargaining power of buyers: Delivery rates are so nominal (about Rs 300 per month) that one simply wouldn't bargain any further. • Bargaining power of sellers: Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

8. Minimum infrastructure and practically no technology is used, hence they are not dependent on suppliers. • Threat of a new substitute 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. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Weaknesses: • Simplicity in • High dependability on organization with local trains Innovative service • Coordination, team • Funds for the spirit, & time association management • Limited Access to • Low operation cost Education • Customer satisfaction • Low Attrition Rate Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

9. Opportunities Threats • Indirect competition is • Wide range publicity being faced from • Operational cost is low caterers like maharaja • Catering community • Indirect threats from fast foods and hotels • Change in timings • Company transport • Ticket restaurant 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 distribution, so that single tiffin could change hands 3 to 4. Times in the course of its daily journey. Flow Logic of Distribution Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

10. This service is available in every working day and whenever the local trains run in Mumbai & Suburban because it is their primary mode of transportation. The mode and the way of transportation are:- • Pick up Dabba from Residence and bring it to Andheri ( between 9.30 am -10.30 am) • Journey by Local train. ( between 10.34 am-11.20) • Unloading and sorting at destination station.( 11.20am-12.30pm) • Lunch time.(12.30pm-1pm) • Collection of empty Dabba and sorting at destination station.( 1.15pm-2.30pm) • Return Journey.(2.48pm-3.30pm) • Sorting and delivery of empty Dabba at residential station. 9.30am-10.30am 10.34am-11.20am 11.20am-12.30pm Andheri Andheri Stn Church Gate Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

11. 2.48pm-3.30pm 1.15pm-2.30pm 12.30pm-1.00pm Return Journey All Destination Station Lunch Time The Color Coding of Dabbas 3.30pm-4pm At all original station The dabbawalas have developed their unique coding system. The codes help each dabbawala to identify and fulfill his responsibility. These codesare understood by the dabbawalas and no one else. The code is painted on the lid of the dabba, which indicates the originating address & station and the destination station & address. Their coding system is very interesting. They use colours and code markings to ensure Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

12. faultless delivery. They use both alphabets and numbers to identify dabbawala, station, building and floor. Six Sigma Certification by Forbes Group • 4 students from Delhi visit Dabbawala office to do project

under Mr. C.K. Prahlad. • For 4 days they travelled with Dabbawala collecting various data. • After few days there was news in Times of India that Mr. C.K Prahlad met President Mr. K. R .Nararyan and Dabbawals got six sigma (error rate is 1 in 16 million Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

13. transactions and six sigma performances is 99.99%) Six Sigma quality rating helps the organization streamline their delivery systems, eliminate errors and achieve a cent percent accuracy. Around 5000 dabbawalas deliver about 200,000 tiffin boxes to factories and offices across Mumbai with high labour intensive and with almost zero technology inputs. But they receive international recognition after 115 years of glorious service. Every year their business grows by 25000 to 30000 tiffin boxes. They lose a few customers too each year but are more than compensated with the additions. Actually they grow annually by about 10%. Till the time people will feel hungry their business will keep growing. They have started advertising on dabbas by putting stickers on them. This brings in extra income. Mumbai dabbawalas deliver mainly during day time. They are not night bird. But India shifts to a 24 hours X 7 days work culture, the tiffin boxes’ network would also work under the moon and stars. Management Learning from Dabbawala 1. Keep Operational costs as low as possible • Dabbawala use cycle, hand cart, local train- all low cost. • No Big Office to maintain. • No IT budget and no miscellaneous expenses. • No Ad budget- word of mouth publicity. • Average monthly service cost Rs.250. 2. Keep Capital investment bare minimum. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

14. • Only investment is the hard work, honesty, promptness and time management. • Low cost offices. • Very cheap hand cart. • Easy to maintain cycles- Fuel

is free air ( God given Fuel) • Use public space for sorting. • No IT or HR department. 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. Customer is not the RAJA – But Maharaja • England King Prince Charles

met Dabbawala on 4th Nov 2003. • He was told to come to church gate station to meet Dabbawalas. • So that the delivery of Dabbas to clients is not affected. • He spent around 20 minutes with Dabbawala. • Virgin

Group chairman, Richard Branson, traveled with Dabbawala and delivered Dabba to his own employee.

5. 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. 6. Do not be over Dependent on Technology • For 116 years, Dabbawalas did not touch technology- yet got six sigma and ISO. • Today mobile

phones are mostly used to communicate- only incoming. • Website & SMS used to get more customer

and give information. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

15. • But logistics is still manual. 7. Co-operation inside- Competition Outside. • There are 2-3 Dabbawala group in each segment. • Dabbawala collection is group wise but transport is shared with other group. Competition is only up to collection. • Profit is shared equally within each group after deducting expenses. • World‘s most democratic organization. 8. Commitment Matters- Qualification Doesn’t • About 85% of

Dabbawalas are illiterate. • 15% are class 8 failed. • Still they are able to offer world class services as they are committed to offer food to customer on time. • If commitment is there, then qualification can be built. 9. Know the implication of Failure • If food is not delivered on time then customer will be angry and work will suffer. • Problem with Boss and wife. • If vegetarian gets non vegetarian Dabba, then Big problem. • Knowing the implication of failure makes you more responsible and serious towards your work. 10. Bulid your services around existing infrastructure. • Dabbaswala use reliable, fast, efficient and cheap existing local train for transportation. • Many food companies in Mumbai use their own infrastructure which is tough to maintain and costly as well. • 3 sigma, out of six sigma that Dabbaswala got, should be given to local trains system. • Building new infrastructure increase cost to server. 11. Abandon Bad customers. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

16. • When Dabbawala knocks the door, the Dabba should be ready. • If not- then for 2-3 days the time is given to adjust. • After that, the services are stopped as it affects the services to other customer. • Bad customers affect the operation and profitability from existing customers. 12. Penalize Employees for non compliance • Dabbawalas are penalized for not wearing Gandhi Topi, not pre- informing leave and misbehaving with customers. • After giving a few warnings, if Dabbawala does not change then he is expelled from the system. • Discipline is one of the main reasons of Dabbawala success. • If Not penalized for non compliance then what are the rules for? 13. Do Not Transfer Your Employees Very often. • 5000 Dabbawalas remember the address of 2 lack customers by heart. • Most have been serving for about 30 years+ on average. • Fully know the needs of their customers.

• So customers trust them. Achievements Documentaries made by : Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

17. • 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 Radio: • German Radio Network, Radio Mirchi, Radio Mid-day, FM – Gold, BBC Radio, Radio City 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 Sony Entertainment Television Invited for marriage of Hon. Prince Charles of England on 9th April, 2005. Problems & Prospects The trust faces the cut-throat competition from the growth of fast food centers like Pizza Hut, Mac Donald’s etc. While there are thousands of die-hard customers, rapid urbanization, increasing personal transportation and availability of different kinds of fast food have drawn a good chunk of the younger generation away from the home made food. But there is an increasing number of people who are health conscious and feel that home cooked food suits their stomach and health. Even some customers now send water along with their tiffins. Knowing this very issue the trust do not bother about the competition. Today, the dabbawala delivers not only homemade food but also Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

18. picks up food from caterers and delivers them to offices. The food from caterers are still small segments of the total operation. Most people want to eat homemade food in the offices without the bother of having to carry a cumbersome tiffin box. 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 Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

19. management, customer service,Just-in-time management, team work and problem solving. People cannot believe that uneducated people can provide such an efficient service. Even people of foreign countries (like U. K., Italy etc.) are amazed that uneducated dabbawalas can carry out such type of business so accurately. Actually the uneducated have an ability to memorize and retain more as opposed to the educated who are used to writing down everything. So they claim that “our head is our computer and Gandhi cap in the computer covers to protect it from the sun or rain.” 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 dabbaswala 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. Prepared By Abhishek Tewari (April 2008)

Industrialists, along with employees of Ludhiana’s dyeing units, supported by various industry associations, went on strike and held a rally outside the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB)

office to protest against the alleged harassment by board’s officials.The PPCB recently served closure notices to around 118 polluting units of Ludhiana. The agitated owners of the dyeing units vented their anger against PPCB Chairman Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa by calling his department “corrupt.”Speaking to Business Standard, T R Mishra, Chairman, Federation of Dyeing Factories Association, said the PPCB has served closure notice to the dyeing units just to harass them.The strike is expected to affect hosiery, dyeing, cycle and spinning industry of the state.Claiming that all the units, summoned by the board, are equipped with treatment plants, he said it is high time the state government takes note of “wrong doings” of the PPCB officials. He further said that of the total industrial discharge, dyeing units contribute only 2 per cent.“The PPCB officials openly ask for money from the owners of the dyeing units. When we refuse to grease their palms, the board officials start harassing us. Even if samples are cleared, they come for several rounds of inspection,” he said.Urging the state government to take action against corrupt officials, Mishra said, “The board officials should not be allowed to arbitrarily take samples from industrial units and harass industrialists. If the government does not put an end to the problem, industrial units would gradually shut down.”In the year 2004, the Punjab Small Industries Export Corporation (PSIEC) set up a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) at Focal Point, Ludhiana for the treatment of effluent discharged from dyeing and electroplating units of the city.However, none of the industrial units is getting its effluents treated here. The CETP was constructed at a total expenditure of Rs 3.68 crore, in a plot measuring 5,000 square yards.Prominent industrialists including V P Chopra, Joginder Kumar, Bhushan Abbi and representatives of several industrial associations, including the United Cycle and Parts

Manufacturers Association, the Chamber of Commercial and Industrial Undertaking, the Focal Point Industrial Shed Association, the Focal Point Welfare Association, the Tajpur Road Dyeing and Factory Association and Ludhiana Electroplaters Association, took part in the protest.Ludhiana is known as the "Manchester of India" because it is the industrial hub of Punjab. There are 8 large integrated knitwear factories, roughly 6,000 small to medium sized knitwear factories , 10 big hosiery yarn mills and 150 small- to medium-sized worsted and woolen yarns.Due to wide expansion of industry Ludhiana is counted in high capita income cities of India.Ludhiana has most Mercedes cars as compare to other cities of India.

Ludhiana is well connected by air and rail as it is on main Delhi-Amritsar route and is an important railway junction with lines going to Jalandhar, Ferozepur, Dhuri and Delhi . The city is very well connected with daily or weekly trains to most places in India including the major cities of Jammu, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mukerian, Pathankot, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. .

living inside the city is done mostly by mini-buses, auto-rickshaws, and pedal rickshaws, loosely licensed by the Municipal Corporation. The government has signed a Memorandum of Understandingwith Delhi for construction of a Ludhiana Metro.

The government is looking at purchasing another 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land to construct the new international airport.[citation

needed]. Ludhiana's status as a large industrial hub is cited as a reason for another international airport in Punjab after Amritsar. Ludhiana is also known as "Merc City"

Jalandhar has numerous hospitals, including Mahajan Eye Hospital, Thind Eye Hospital, Patel Hospital, Tagore Hospital,

Oxford Hospital, Pruthi Hospital, Guru Nanak Mission Hospital, Ruby Hospital, and Ghai Hospital. Although each hospital has its own identity, Mahajan Eye Hospital and Thind Eye Hospital are on the world map for their Lasik treatments. Jalandhar is also the world's biggest manufacturer of leather tool pouches and aprons; major American and European customers buy from factories in Jalandhar. It is the biggest supplier of sports material in the country. Jalandhar was a hub of the Gandhi government's green revolution of India in the early 1960s. Dr. Dilbag Singh Athwal, a renowned scientist in plant breeding, developed India's first high-yield wheat, Kalyan. The wheat he named after his native village Kalyanpur, 6 miles (9.7 km) southwest of Jalandhar. Later, Dr. Athwal headed the International Rice Research Institute and the International Agricultural Development Service. Dr. Athwal took early retirement from his position as senior vice presidentRockefeller Institute. The village Kalyanpur (now part of Jalandhar) has produced prominent scientists including Dr. Raghbir Singh, Dr. Rajbir Kaur, and Dr.Iqbal Singh Athwal. Jalandhar also has an electrical goods industry. Manufacturers like Hazel India, Standard Switchgears and Apex Electricals are located in Jalandhar. An international sports market is situated in Jalandhar. Major sports brands such as BAS Vampire, Bhaseen's Baspo, JJ Jonex, and Syndicate Sports come from this part of the world. Jalandhar is also known for thrust bearings and ball bearings; brands such as BKE, IBI and KKK belong to the city.features :Our products are a new generation of the disposable tableware,which are made of maize starch;pollution-free;harmless to human body;biodegradable within 3 months;suitable for microwave and freezer;prevents from infiltrating for at least 10 days.Brand new to the worldwide market.

Company Name: KHYATI ENTERPRISES  

Business Type: Manufacturer, Trading Company, Agent

Product/Service(We Sell):

disposables,Plastic Goods,Injection moulded,vaccum formed,Paper Products,Lab Equipments,Engineering hardware,BOPP Pouches,Jewellery,fashion accessories,garments,tiffin boxes,lunch boxes,plastic items,dust bin,toilet cleaner,gift items,soap case,crystal glasses,yoga mats

Registered Address:

F-171/F-2, Dilshad Colony,, New Delhi, Delhi, India Zip: 110095   

Brands: KYHYATI

Number of Employees:

11 - 50 People

Company Website URL:

http://www.khyatiplast.in

We all got assembled in the Sindhi Community hall for the much hyped Session on Mumbai Dabbawalas. Mr. Manish Tripati entered the scene with the Tiffin Dabba showing it to the audience as some Trophy.  There was some concern regarding the sound system while the introduction was being delivered. But he was loud enough to be audible.He asked why we have assembled here?  To see what’s in the Dabba. Is it not?Mr Tripathi was from the Mumbai Dabbawala Association famous for delivering  Afternoon lunch boxes from home to offices. He was here to lecture on the intricacies of their operation and how their principles and practices can be applied to our businesses.

The Mumbai DabbawalaNow This whole Dabbawala service started because some person loved his wife! Do you believe it? we see many  businesses starting because love exhausted between wife and husband.  But this one, Lets check.That was the time when Bombay was growing and new government offices were coming up. A Parsi banker who was working in one of the offices loved his wife. So he wanted  to love her even in the office, so he hired a person who could deliver the lunch,  off course prepared by his wife, from home to office. Now here’s the opportunity.   Those office going men who loved their wives increased.That’s how started the Dabbawala service is 1890.Started with 35 people by Mahadu Havaji Bache, now it is an organization with 5000 workers serving over 2 lakh costumers.Some of the traits and facts of Dabbawalas and their Organization.

1. The whole Dabbawala thing started due to sheer need of the people (  love for  their wives, voluntary or cumpulsive)

2. They are punctual. Feel work is worship.3. They use no fuel. Use bicycles and local trains as  mode of transport.4. Wear white Gandhi cap while at work and no boozing while at work.5. 85% of them are illiterate. (always thumbs up)6. No HR department. That’s the reason why they are so successful!7. All belong to one Varkari Sect (Maratha community) previously in Shivaji

Maharaj’s Army.8. They collect a meager 250-300 per month for the services irrespective of

how far they have to carry wife’s love.9. Earn 4000 to 5000 a month.10. A worker is penalized for reporting late to work or not wearing Gandhi

Topi.11. There are groups of 20-25 people headed by a leader. They share the

profits among themselves. That is their income!12. They are Zero% fuel, Zero% Technology and Zero% investment

company.

13. They give housewives or house husbands  5 seconds to handing over the Dabba. After  5 late hand overs, service is terminated. Thus housewives fear the Dabbawalas more than their husbands.

Their high profile visitors include Prince Charles ( Prince, waiting to become king!) , Richard Benson of Virgin Airlines, US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke,  Mandira Bedi.

Prince Charles with Mumbai Dabbawalas

Virgin Atlantic chief Richard Branson with the Dabba 

Gary Locke with Dabbawala, Courtesy: The Hindu

They are famous for their on-time delivery with almost no errors. They are certified by ISO 9001 and rated with 6 Sigma   for less than 1 error in 6 million deliveries made. This has brought them into limelight and a subject of study for many a management students. How are they able to do it?1. They are carrying wife’s love to husbands!2. Everyone is a share holder in the company. All the members work. No

Work No Pay!3. They have a very fool proof coding system for identifying the pickup and

destination of the Dabbas.

The Coding system

4. 85% of the members are illiterate! Thus best suited for the job.5. No HR6. There are single DNA company, all the workers are Marthi speaking and 

from Varkari Sect.7. Differences, if any, are sorted out in the frequent meetings.This  consistent success of beating all odds to satisfy the customer is unmatched and worth to stop and and notice.

Let’s see what are the management learning and  if we can apply their principles and practices to the present day IT and other companies.

1. KEEP OPERATIONAL COSTS TO MINIMUM: The Dabbawalas use cycles and handcarts. They  have no posh officesNow this we can do by plying the employees in buses and encouraging them to use public transportation.

2. MINIMUM CAPITAL INVESTMENT: Now this is difficult, with the companies need to boast surplus capital or skilled workers to get new projects and expansion.

3. SERVE ONLY THE CUSTOMERS – NOT THE MANAGER: Present day Organizations should do something to make the employees identify with the goals of the organization. One important thing in this is transparency in appraisals.

4. COMPLEXITY OPPOSES COMPLIANCE: The procedures have to be kept simple. Employees don’t follow rules which are not practical. This depends on the commitment of the employees and managers.  Build foolproof procedures which can be followed by all.  The effect of  human elements like emotions, mental status, physical health should be minimal on the work. This does not mean automation, but we need to have  simple procedures, so that it is easy to follow in all conditions.

5. NEVER DEVIATE FROM YOUR CORE COMPETENCY: Dabbawalas trying to market FMCG failed. If ever we need to diversify and expand our operations, divide the operations so that management becomes simple. For instance the Tatas: Tata motors, Tata Power, Tata Tea etc.,

6. DO NOT BE OVERDEPENDENT ON TECHNOLOGY: Some companies have been wiped out with the data losses. Contingency plans and data backup should be in place in case of calamities.

7. FLAT ORGANIZATION: Everyone should work and everyone should be a manager. This brings a sense of responsibility in the employees. Don’t know how far this can be applied in a profit motive businesses.

8. CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE EMPLOYEES: This is crucial  as competition among employees can be destructive. Bonding helps.

9. KEEP EXTRAS FOR FAULT TOLERANCE: Extra resources should be kept in case of any emergency so that the work will not be effected and other resources are not overstretched.

10. COMMITMENT MATTERS NOT QUALIFICATION: Its crucial that we find the right people for the job. commitment to do the job precedes the qualification.

11. BUILD AROUND THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE: Use the existing resource rather bringing in new.

12. ABANDON THE BAD CUSTOMERS: Bad customers , how reputed they may be should be parted with. This effects the other customers.

13. PENALIZE EMPLOYEES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE: Same rules for all. This will bring uniformity among the operations and shows the seriousness of the organization towards its goals.

14. HIGH SALARY ALONE CANNOT RETAIN EMPLOYEES: The employees need to be emotionally united and need respect, ownership and no fear factor.

15. BE HUMBLE: Never boast off too much , the customers may be affected.

16. EMPLOYEES TO BE SHAREHOLDERS: This is very difficult to be applied in all the organizations. At least performance based incentives should be given to the employees.

With all the companies battling the deadlines and quality issues, its crucial to put up a system in place which is practical and employees can become part of it despite different cultural and geographical backgrounds.

CERTIFICATIONS:   Certifications like ISO 9001, 2000 and 6-Sigma  are given for the operational compliance of the company’s policies and quality maintenance. The prime focus should not be for getting this certificate. They happen once we have a good system in place. If a person or organization gets 6-Sigma certified for a particular project, it implies that person or organization maintains the same level of competence and commitment in all other operations. Just doing a project for the certification won’t help. Boasting something which can’t me achieved will only damage the organization.