DABBAWALA- A CASE STUDY

by: Swetha Reddy G.

Anubhaw Kumar Shandilya Khurshid Alam

Introduction:
Mumbai Dabbawala - carrying and delivering freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers. Dabba- box". 125 years old and growth 5-10% annually (NY Times-2007). Highly specialized trade. Represented Maharastra Republicday 2010.

Three point formula:

Discipline. Code of conduct. Hard work.

Supply Chain of Dabbawala

Pick up Dabba from Residence/Caterer and bring it to Andheri Station. *Journey in Local Train* Unloading and Sorting at Destination Station.

Sorting at Destinations station.

Collection of Empty Dabba.

Delivery to respective customers.

SC- analysis:
Returning Dabba to Residence/Caterer.

**Weakest link:Local Train(~50 km).

 Dabbawala goes high-tech:

"The world is moving ahead on technology," said Gangaram Talekar-61, the Hindi-speaking secretary of the Association, "and we have to move with times too. So we decided to take advantage of technology to expand our business."

Economic analysis
Everyone gets paid about two to four thousand

rupees per month. More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunches get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawala. Only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries. 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.

Uninterrupted services
The local dabbawala at the receiving and the

sending ends are known to the customer personally. They are well accustomed to the local areas they cater to. People communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the boxes. Known for time management and accuracy.

In literature
One of the two protagonists in Salman Rushdie's

controversial novel The Satanic Verses.

A Day with Dabbawala plan

One can go along with Dabbawala from morning

to evening. We can travel with them, know about them, and participate in their work throughout the day, till the dabbas return back.

Helping Hands with Dabbawala

Anyone can contribute to their website by writing

Articles and sending interesting information like Experience with Dabbawala, Learning from Dabbawala, Cartoons or images, About Mumbai and local trains, Any suggestions for them to improve their services etc.

Advertise With Dabbawala

Website www.mydabbawala.com

Website attracts more than 1 million visitors

annually. Informative newsletter Send your leaflet, product description also with the Dabba. Fees given for advertising are shared equally among dabbawala and are used for their welfare.

Management learnings from Dabbawala

Keep operational costs as low as possible.

Keep capital investment bare minimum.

Just serve your customer nothing else. Customer is not the Raja but Maharaja. Complexity opposes compliance. Never deviate from your core competency. Do not be over dependent on technology. Flat organization fast decision making Co operation inside competition outside.

Contd/ Keep extras for fault tolerance. Commitment matters, qualification doesnt. Know the implication of failure. Build your services around existing infrastructure. Abandon bad customers. Strike means suicide labor means life.

Penalize employees for non compliance.

Do not transfer your employees very often. Keep your employees emotionally united.

High salary alone cannot retain employees.

Be humble and do not boast your success.

Achievements
Six sigma Certification by Forbes Group. ISO Certificate to Dabbawala. Outstanding Service Organization Award by

NIQR. Marketing through Dabbawala many T.V channels and Newspaper.