ORGANIZATION WHICH HOLDS

WORLD RECORD for BEST TIME

MANAGENENT

MUMBAI’S DABBAWALA

“If commitment is there, Qualification can be built”

Meaning of Dabbawala

A dabbawala in Marathi ,literally means person who carries boxes

Dabbawala is a person in Indian city of Mumbai who is employed in a unique service industry whose primary business is collecting the freshly cooked food in lunch boxes from the residence of office workers & delivering it to their respective work places and returning back the empty boxes by using various modes of transport

Early Life of Dabbawalas The origin of the Dabbawalas'

lunch delivery service dates back to the 1890’s during the British raj.

The concept of dabbawala originated when India was under the rule of British. 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 straight from their homes.

Founder of Dabbawala System

Hon. Mahadeo Havaji Bacche Hon. Dhondiba Medge

Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (NMTBSA)

• History : Started in 1890• Charitable trust : Registered in

1956• Avg. Literacy Rate : 8th Grade

Schooling (85% Illiterate)• Total area coverage : 60 Kms – 70

Kms (Virar – Churchgate , Kalyan / Panvel –CST)

• Employee Strength : 5000• Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin

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

• Time Taken : 3 hours• Total Turnover : 50 Crore INR• Industrial Growth : 5-6% every

year

• Technological Backup : Nil.• Cost of service - Rs. 300 - 350/month ($ 6.00/month)• Standard price for all (Weight, Distance, Space)• “No strike” record as each one a share holder.• Earnings – 5000 to 6000 p.m. per Dabbawala.• Diwali bonus: one month’s salary by customers.• Great at time management even during floods ( A practice Seldom seen in Indian context)• Six Sigma Performance. ( 1 defect in 16 Million Transaction)

PRESIDENT & GENERAL SECRETARY of NMTBSA

Raghunath Medge And Mr. Gangaram Laxman Taleker

TIFFIN BOX SUPPLY ASSOCIATION

HOW DO THEY WORK??

• Organizational Structure

• The Code

• Operations

• War Against Time

Executive Committee(5 members)

Teams of 20-25 headed bya group leader

Individual Dabbawala’ s workload:Collect from home – 40 tiffins Delivery at office – 40 tiffins

Return empty tiffins to home – 40 tiffins

Organizational Structure

13 members

VICE PRESIDENT

GENERAL SECRETARY

TREASURER

MEMBERS ( 5000 )

MUKADAM

DIRECTORS ( 9 )

PRESIDENT

WORKING OF DABBAWALA

9:30 AM TO 10:30 AM 10:34 AM TO 11:20 AM 11:20 AM TO 12:30PM

2:40 PM TO 3:30 PM 1:15 PM TO 2:30 PM 12:30 PM TO 1 PM

3:30 PM TO 5 PM

Pick up Dabba from Residence/Caterer

and bring it to Andheri Station.

*Journey in Local Train*

Unloading and Sorting at

Destination Station.

Delivery to respective customers.

Collection of Empty Dabba.

Sorting at Destinations station.

Returning Dabba to Residence/Caterer.

CODING• Initial Coding System used colored threads

to mark 7 Islands• Then Utilized thrown away cotton waste

from tailors• Now they are using color markers:• E :: Code for Dabbawala Street at residential station• VLP :: Residential Station Ville Parle• 3 :: Code for Destination station. Example :: Church gate• 9 :: Code for Dabbawala at

Destination.• Ex :: Express towers ( Building name)• 12 :: Floor no. in the building.

FLOW LOGIC

Grant Road(12)

Churchgate(1-10)

Lower Parel(14)

2

3

7

4

5

6

DistributionBy Carriersat lunchtimeTo offices

Point of AggregationAnd Sorting

C DB

A E

Collection from home

1

Zones for Destination

SIGMA LEVELSDefects per Million %

Accuracy Opportunities (DPMO)

One Sigma 691,500 30.85%Two Sigma308,500 69.15%Three Sigma 66,810 93.32%Four Sigma 6,210 99.38%Five Sigma 233 99.977%Six Sigma 3.4 99.9997%Seven Sigma 0.020 99.999998%

COMPANIES WHICH IMPLEMENTEND 6 SIGMA IN ONE

WAY OR OTHER• Amazon.com• DHL• General Electrics• HBSC Group• Maple leaf food• LG Group• Motorola• Mumbai’s

Dabbawalas

• Samsung Group• PepsiCo• The McGraw Hill

Companies• Toshiba• US Army, Navy, Air

force• Vodafone• Whirlpool• Wipro n many more

Management lessons from dabbawala

Keep Operational cost to minimum:• Use cycles, Hand carts, Local trains• No big office to maintain• No IT Budget and No Miscellaneous cost• No Add budget – word of mouth publicity!• Very Nominal Monthly service cost – Rs 200/-

Keep Capital Investment bare minimum:• Hard Work, Honesty, Promptness and Time management are the only investment• Low office cost• Cheap Hand carts• Cycles - easy to maintain• Use of public space for sorting

Just serve your costumer – nothing else !!• Always deliver food on time – even during heavy rains• Always on time – even without using a watch• Don’t try to impress or Bother costumers with unsolicited offers• Bothering Costumers with offer may force them to discontinue even existing services

Never deviate from your core competency:• Only business of delivering home made food to

clients• Efforts to sell other products through

dhabbawala system failed• Be “Master of one trade rather than Jack of all”• Develop products and services around core

competency, if required

Commitment matters – qualification doesn’t !!• 85% of dabbawalas are illiterate• Max. level of literacy – 8th standard failed• Still able to offer world class service, as they are committed to offer food to costumer on time• “If commitment is there, Qualification can be built”

Know the implications of failure:• If food is not delivered on time, it angers customers and work will suffer• May cause problem between customer and his wife• A vegetarian gets a non-veg dabba – BIG Problem !!• “Knowing the implications of failure makes you more responsible and serious towards your work”

Build your services around existing infrastructure• Use reliable, fast, efficient and cheap local train services• Many food companies in Mumbai use their own infrastructure – tough to maintain and costly as well• “Building new infrastructure increases the cost of service”

Abandon Bad customers:• When dabbawala knocks door, the dabba, should be ready• If its not for 3 consecutive days, then the sevice is stopped as it affects the service to other customers• “Bad customers affect operation and profitability from existing customers”

Penalize employees for non compliance• Dabbawalas are penalized for not wearing Gandhi Topi, Consuming Alcohol, Smoking Cigarette, not pre informing about leave and misbehaving with customers• After a few warnings, if dabbawala dosen’t improve, he is expelled from system• Discipline is main reason for their success

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths Weakness• Simplicity with

innovative service• Co ordination, team

spirit and time management

• Low operation cost• Customer

satisfaction

• Highly dependability on local trains

• Low funds for association

• Limited access to education

• Caste based

Opportunities Threats

• Wide scale publicity

• Low operational cost

• Catering

• Direct competition from other caterers

• Indirect competition from fast food joints and hotels

• Company canteens

Some achievements World record in Best Time Management Name in “Guiness Book of World Records” Registered with Ripley’s “believe it or not” Six Sigma rating by Forbes Got ISO 9001: 2000 for excellence in

services One among to 50 entrepreneur in India

Awards and Felicitation Invitations for conferences from IIML, Harward, Cambridge, Oxford, IIMA, Lilly, British Telecom, MIT,

MET, Dr. Reddy’s Lab Foundation

Hyderabad, SCMHRD Nashik BITS – Pilani, and many more.

Also, Included in a subject in Graduate School of Journalism University of

California, Berkeley.

Documentaries Television• BBC• MTV• TV TODAY• TV TOKYO• CNN• AAJ TAK• STAR TV n many more

Radio• GERMAN RADIO

NETWORK• RADIO MIRCHI• MADIO MID DAY• FM GOLD• BBC RADIO n many more

VVIP VISITS

England King Prince Charles met dabbawalas on 4th Nov, 2003

He was told to come to church gate station between 1:30 to 2:30 Am, so that the delivery of dabbas to clients is not affected

Virgin Group Chairman, Richard Branson, travelled with Dabbawalas and delivered dabba to his own employee.

US Secretary of CommerceGary Locke

Letter from Prince CharlesAfter floods in Mumbai

“ We don’t understand Six Sigma. We are a bunch of illiterates. But we do know our prime responsibility –

customer satisfaction. And to achieve that, we can put in hard work like no one else”,

- President NMTBSARaghunath Medge

- Harish Belagali