Lessons for building lasting success based on values

DABAWA AS

WHO IS DABAWALA ?
Dabbawala, sometimes spelled tiffinwalla, 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

 5000 Dabawala 200000 tiffin boxes

daily Error rate-1 in 16 million transaction ISO 2000 certified Most are illerate No strike record Friend of prince charles

If you change just enough,you achieve embracive happiness

Six sigma performance(99.999999%)

Turnover-500 million ruppes

Work as a team Each dabawala is an enterprenure Earnings- 5000 to 6000 per month Technological back up- nil 3000 clients over two decades Run a monopoly business

DISCIPLINE : No Alcohol Drinking during business hours Wearing White Cap during business hours Carry Identity Cards
CODE OF CONDUCT Rs 500- Drinking on duty Rs 100- Smoking on duty Rs 25- Not wearing white cap Rs 25- Not carrying ID card Rs 1000- Leave without intimation,

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 hrs

But how they do it?

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

GENERAL SECRETARY

13 MEMBERS

TREASURER

DIRECTORS(19)

MUKADAM

MEMBERS(5000)

Executive Committee (5 members)

Teams of 20-25 headed by a group leader

Individual Dabbawalla workload = 30 tiffins

Journey

8.30-9.00 am Report for work at Kurla (station of origin). 9.00-10.00 am Pick-up dabbas from homes. 10.00-10.30 am Both groups congregate at Kurla with dabbas and sort based on destination station.

 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.

 11:20 12:30 pm

At this stage, the unloading takes place at the

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

 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!

 1:15 2:00 pm
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.

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 compared to the earlier part of the day, the dabbawalas lighten up the moment with merry making, joking around and singing.

Usually, since it is more of a pleasant journey

 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

Michael Porter's Five Forces Theory at work.

Threat of new entrants

These are as follows:

Current competition Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of sellers Threat of a new substitute product or service

 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: 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

What we learnt
Supply chain logistics and efficient reverse logistics The concept of Multi-level coding Time Management

Customer Relationship Management

Customer Satisfaction

Cost effectiveness

Awards and Felicitation

Forbes Global magazine to award its Six Sigma certification in 2001

ISO and many other certificates

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

Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore.

Documentaries made by BBC ,UTV, MTV, and ZEE TV Dabbawalla services are popular with the Indian IT developer community in Silicon Valley, California, USA

THE ROYAL VISIT:

Recently, the dabbawalas had royal company at Churchgate station. The Prince of Wales himself had visited them when he came down to Mumbai. 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 didnt employ any technology. The prince was presented a small memento, accompanied with a garland, a Gandhi topi and a trophy by the dabbawalas.

Order Dabbawalas services Online

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mydabbawala.com website is developing a software application for on-line booking