Homework

Vano Benidze
 Class of Operations Management
05-Mar-11
Dabbawalas hit 99.9999% dependability

1. Why does the Dabbawalas’ service offer such amazing dependability?

Dabbawalas simply deliver food packed in boxes. It is a type of delivery company, which only delivers food boxes
to workers on time. Dependability is very vital indicator of the delivery company, because if products are not
delivered on time the company is going to fail. For example, imagine that you sent important documents to your
partner, based in France, by DHL. You for sure think that the pack will be delivered in 4-5 days, regular shipping
time for DHL, and it arrives in France in 25 days. Will you ever use this company, which has very low
dependability rate? Probably, no! That is what Dabbawalas has realized, and having high dependability rate, the
company remains stably successful. I think that there are many reasons for why Dabbawalas’ service offer such an
amazing dependability, which is almost flawless, hitting 99.9999% rate. The reasons for this are the following:

 Innovative service that has very low operational costs

 Simple organizational Structure ( only three levels)
 Very good system of coordination
 Very good system of product identification (special bar codes with colors, that simplifies the sorting
process)
 Team spirit and workers’ dedication to their work
 limited use of technology (they are not depended on other suppliers, that reduces the delivery time)
 Keeping employees as long as possible (company does not fire employees often, but rather it tries to
maintain them as soon as possible. why? The more time the worker spends at the company, the better he
will know the addresses and deliver products more efficiently Source - www.mydabbawala.com)

2. Do you think that they should be using more information technology to help them get even better?

I think overusing of information technology in Dabbawalas will not be a good idea. Delivery of the boxes is done
very efficiently and SIMPLY, so I think that high dependability on technology would make things more
complicates. Using excessive technology will cause the company to be depended on other variables, such as timing
problems associated with technology and etc. Moreover, I think that low dependability on technology and
managing things simply and by hand, is that what helps the Dabbawala to maintain such an amazing rate of
dependability.

3. What do you think are the main threats to this service?

There are several threats that Dabbwala may face in the foreseeable future. They are the following:

• Other company may offer the same type of service

• Indirect competition by local caterers

• Problems associated with train schedules, that may decrease the dependability rate of the company

• Changing in bargaining power of customers