MUMBAI DABBAWALAS

RIZVI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES CLASS: PG-B GROUP NO: 06 GROUP MEMBERS: MUDASSAR KHAN MUHAMMAD AKIL ROMA BHATIA RONAK THAKKAR SIDDHESH MARAL SNEHA KARIA 53 54 67 68 73 74

CONTENTS
        Introduction Six sigma Process improvement Operations Management Customer Satisfaction Supply Chain Management HR policy Financials

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 tiffinwallas. 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 a person named Mahadeo Havaji Bachche started the lunch delivery service with about 100 men. Nowadays, Indian businessmen are the main customers for the dabbawalas. The dabbawalla are an entire caste of people whose job is to transport home cooked lunches to their locations at peoples places of work. There are 5000, largely illiterate, dabbawallas who use a complex system of symbols and homegrown business sense to move 200,000 lunches each day. The system is near flawless (one research paper put it as one screw up in 16 million successful deliveries) and has been going for over a century. Almost all of these men hail from a small village a couple of hours outside of Mumbai and because of the small town nature of things, almost all are somehow related. The unique shape of the city and cheap train network make it affordable for this system to work here and only here. And while it s amazing to watch these men scurry about doing their job, what I was interested in is how this amazingly Indian concept has held on as long as it has. While fast food is booming as the only option for office workers in virtually every megacity in the world, in Mumbai it is the norm to have a fresh home cooked meal every day. The system works a bit like this (and while I use gendered terms here the system is becoming less so, again in an interesting way). Man leaves in the morning to go to work at six to accommodate for the two hour commuter train to work. He wants lunch, so his wife would have to get up at four to cook it and send it with him.

SIX SIGMA RATING

The six sigma rating means they have a 99.99% efficiency in delivering the lunch boxes to the right people. In six sigma lies in the extreme certainty and predictability of the operation, coupled with an equally simple design. Repetitive/predictable transactions with high visual content get mastered by human minds rather easily. Practically nothing changes for months in the entire course of operation, except an odd addition/deletion of containers and maybe a few persons. The number of variables (effective defect opportunities) is kept to a minimum. The only processes involved are sorting, loading, and unloading and they don t need any technology or qualified personnel to operate. Although the number of transactions per day is large, each person handles a limited number of transactions at a time. In addition, the dabbawalas typically do not deliver to the exact office of the client. Instead, they deliver it to the floor or the wing of the building and the client identifies his dabba from the lot based on his personal markings on the container, and puts it back in the lot after lunch. This shortens the address and error opportunities. The external container that houses the lunch box inside is of standard shape & size. The containers are placed in a single file in a wooden crate with the lids of the entire lot visible. Also, the dabbawalas never lose custody of the wooden crate throughout the delivery process, although they use two to three modes of transportation. In addition, the contents of this consignment are unique in that they are low-cost, perishable goods and hold no value to thieves. They have got the prestigious achievement of SIX SIGMA RATING because of their percentage of correctness which is just perfect up to 99.999995 i.e. six decimals or more than that. Not many of the topmost companies are even near to it. This is simply incredibel!

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
MTBSA is also the uncontested institution that regulates activities of all the dabbawalas and solves possible conflicts between them or with customers or authorities. It also has the authority to fire bad dabbawalas or give fines to those who commit errors repeatedly. The Governing Council held meetings once a month which were attended by the Mukadams and Dabbawalas. At these meetings, the Dabbawalas discussed their problems and explored possible solutions. They also adjudicated disputes among Dabbawalas using their own system.

Operations management 7am-9am 9am-11am 11am12pm 12.30pm1pm 2pm 6pm Tiffins collected from homes Board trains, sort boxes at intermediary stations according to delivery area (single tiffin can change hands three to four times) Arrive Bombay, fan out to loading points, more sorting and loading on to handcarts, bicycles and persons Deliveries Process moves into reverse Empty tiffins returned to homes

DABBAWALLA S SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The Supply Chain Of Dabbawallas In the dabbawalla s supply chain system, dabba-gatherers pick up the lunches from various households (Customer Source) which are then transported via bicycle to railway stations, where they are bucketed-marked by destination, and placed on the train. When they reach their destination, dabbawallas grab their buckets and get them to the office workers (Customer Destination) who ordered them. After a few hours from delivery, the dabbawallas start the reverse (collection) process, which involves collection of the tiffins from the offices and delivering it back to the place from where they had collected it (Customer Source). What Modern Businesses Can Learn From Dabbawallas SCM Practices 1) Distribution Network Configuration: This is a basic requirement of SCM and determines the success of the entire supply model. The core components being number, suppliers, warehouses and human resource management. In case of dabbawallas, they have a very efficient management of the above core requirements. They divide the human resource available with them as per the workload, which is the same for every worker (around 35 tiffins) and the number of employees increase with the increase in the work- load. Wherein they have a policy that an employee cannot move out without getting a replacement. This prevents hampering of the flow of work. They segregate the source for the collection as per the area and location so that it is easier for the assigned worker to collect them in the least time and then they get the tiffins to the warehouses, which stand to be the source stations for their operation where they are well accumulated and managed. All the tiffins are well marked in a typical manner, which represents all the information right from the source to delivery address, and the warehouse it needs to be assigned to for delivery (the stations). This gives an excellent model for the management of warehouse and inventory. There again, they are accumulated in the second warehouse (the destination station) where the same process is used to segregate the boxes as per the destination station wherein the same codes used in the boxes are used.

This shows the level of management and coding that they employ without any use of external technocratic systems. In today s world of IT, the dabbawallas provide an important lesson to businesses that it is not necessary to have a high end IT system or technical tracking of inventory to build an effective supply chain. After all, without any technology entities in their supply chain the dabbawallas have managed a Six Sigma level. So just because your competitor is investing millions into building an IT system to improve their supply chain, you need not blindly splurge money into the same. While effective use of IT is important, what is more important is having a proper distribution network 2) Distribution Strategy: This is again a vital part in supply chain and in case of dabbawalla s they have a very effective strategy, which needs to be learnt . They have a well-managed segregation system where the boxes are segregated in the destination station as per the location of delivery and then assigned to the particular delivery people. The arrangement is in such a manner that all the workers are comfortably equipped so as to ensure timely delivery which they promise ( three hours). In some regions where the number is more than usual, they use a bigger carrier with multiple workers to transfer them. Hence, this is so well managed that even though the system may have error in allocation but their expertise never lets a single mistake happen. The entire system used by them is manmade and with no further investment as they generally use wooden racks for the entire transport. Bicycles and wooden carts, which do not have any investments, are used in delivery. Thus, the distribution costs are saved. The transport is for longer distances between the source and the destination, which is generally covered in local trains, which has the minimum cost for the transport that can be availed also with the minimum time consumption so here also there is effective saving. Thus, it can be seen that at every step in the supply chain, dabbawallas use the most efficient and effective means of transportation. This is done in such a way that operation costs are kept to a minimum and at the same time the delivery time is not compromised upon. Thus effective management of means of transport and carriage is a major differentiator for any business and would help in obtaining better profits viz a viz competition.

Tradeoffs in logistic activities : The dabbawallas use large wooden specially designed carriage which can accumulate around 80-100 tiffins during transport which saves the extra spacing during transport and also the charges for transport as they are generally carried in the luggage van of the train. The carriage sizes then may vary in the source and destination stations during collection and distribution activities. And also; this reduces the human resource requirement for the transfer. 4) Information Flow: Proper flow of information amongst all the stakeholders in the supply chain is very vital for an effective supply chain. The dabbawallas have meetings every month to keep a close loop of the information system within the organisation. This gives them scope for development if required and helps to manage their transport inventory as required. This complete track of information system helps them maintain the entire process efficiently. 5) Inventory Management: As the dabbawallas, deal on a daily moving product where the product has a smaller life cycle (food product) hence their inventory management is diverted to time management. Wherein with their

proper tracking of inventory and effective segregation using colour codes generated for each box they efficiently, manage the inventory in the entire process to stand to the time committed to their customers. A simple colour code determines not only the destination of the packet but also packet prioritizing as lunch is transferred from train to bicycle to foot.

Fig 3 : Description of the coding techniques used for inventory management and distribution. 6) Cash Flow: Dabbawallas generally have a monthly system of collection of payments from their customers hence it is well managed and the charge is so nominal that even customers willingly pay for the effective service. Any additional expenses like the bonus for employees are derived from the customers so there is a very efficient management of funds within the supply chain. As the process adapted by them requires the least daily cash requirement so the management is quite easy and effective. 7) Discipline: The dabbawallas emphasise a great deal on discipline among its work force during work hours. They are well aware that their job is a fight against time. Each one of them is committed to make the dabba reach to its end customer between 12.30 pm and 1.00 pm. Dabbawallas have a set of rules such as reporting on time, no alcohol consumption during work hours, they must wear their white caps, carry their identification cards, etc. They have

also been disciplined to have their own lunch only after they provide the lunch to their customer. Non-adherence to the discipline framework attracts monetary penalties. To set a framework for discipline among the workers who ultimately manage the Supply Chain of your organisation is of utmost important. Organisations should focus on being customer centric and layout a clear set of rules that workers must adhere to, in order to build an effective supply chain system. However, at the same time discipline cannot be maintained only by force, organisations should ensure that their employees are committed towards customer satisfaction in order to drive the efficiency of their supply chain.

HR PRACTICES :
Flat Organization: The president, Vice president, General Secretary, Treasurer & 9 no. of Directors formed 13 members of board under which Mukadam & other Dabbawalas work. So due to such Flat kind of organization structure decisions are taken on the spot. Even the president & other higher categories members also work. No Hire & Fire Rule: Everyone is shareholder of the association. Whatever profits they can equally distributed within itself. It is democratic type of organization HR Practices. Community Based Recritment: Those who have capacity to job they can apply for the Dabbawala post. There is no any kind of basis happens related to recruitment process. Sharing Common Beliefs, Values & Ethics: All the Dabbawalas are from poor background, the aim of the organization is mutual benefit to all members so they follow certain values, belief & ethics to run business effectively. Following Of Strict Dress Codes: All Dabbawalas must wear white cap which is called as Gandhian cap on duty. Also wear white sadara & pyjama (shirts & pants). All Dabbawals must carry their Identity card on duty. All these rules are binding on all cadres of the Dabbawala. Loyalty & Trust Is Their Monopoly: All Dabbawalas are layal & hard working in nature. They follow their norms & promise which they made their customers. Training Provided To New Employees: After recruitment they provide complete process training to new joiner under the observation of Mukadam or any senior member. When they feel that new employees are capable to work, that time training will completed.

 Owner + Employee Is The Designation Of All: Everyone is the shareholder of the Association. All disciplinary rules & other ethics follow by all members. So there is no any employee & employer relationship between each other. All are owners of the business. Quarterly Meeting To Discuss Issues: Every quarter all Dabbawalas meet & discuss issues related to service, salary & future goal. They discuss balance sheet & distrbute profits among them. If any critical issue arises that time they call immediate meeting. Also conduct daily meeting to handle day to day problem. All Dabbwalas can participate in meeting & can contribute his suggestion.

FINANCIALS
5,000 dabbawalas make about 400,000 transactions per day for a cost of Rs.300 per month, per dabba. Cost of service -Rs. 300/month Earnings - 5000 to 6000 p.m. Diwali bonus: one month s from customers. Zero % fuel Zero % investment Zero % modern technology

SOURCES:  Case Folio July 2004 edition- Case study on Mumbai Dabbawalas- An
entrepreneurial success story  The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time by Stefan Thomke, Mona Sinha Source: Harvard Business School Publication date: Feb 08, 2010  Ebsco- THE CULT OF DABBBAWALA Section: Business