The Wonder Of Dabbawallas UnfoldedNUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATIONNUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION

Web Site : mumbaidabbawala.orgWeb Site : mumbaidabbawala.org

ABOUT NMTBSAABOUT NMTBSA• History : Started in 1890

• Charitable trust : Registered in 1956

• Employee Strength : 5000

• Avg. Literacy Rate : 8th Grade Schooling

• Total area coverage : 60 Kms to 70 Kms

• Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes

400,000 transactions every day (including return)

i.e. 400,000*25 days*12 months= 120,000,000

(120 million or 12 crore transactions per year)

• Time taken : 8 hrs, war time 3 hrs (9 A.M. to 12 P.M. for the Collection of Dabba and Delivery)

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

GENERAL SECRETARY

TREASURER

DIRECTORS ( 9 )

MEMBERS ( 5000 )

MUKADAMS (800)

13 MEMBERS

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Working of NMTBSA• Error Rate : 1 in 16 million transactions• Six Sigma performance (99.999999)• Technological Backup : Nil.• Cost of service - Rs. 300/- to 350/- month

($6-8 £3-4, €5-6 per month)• Standard price for all (Weight, Distance, Space)• Earnings - Rs. 5000/- to 6000/- per month.

($125, £60, €100) per month• Rs. 72 to 80 Cr. Turnover Per Annum (Apprx). • Diwali Bonus: One month’s extra payment • “No Strike” record since 1890.• “No Police / Court Case” since 1890.

APPROACH

DISCIPLINES• No Alcohol Drinking / Smoking during business hours.• Wearing White Cap during business hours.• Carry Identity Cards. • No Leave without Prior Notice.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, sacked if repeated in 2-3

instances • DABBAWALA AS MARKETING RESOURCE• Marketing pamphlets in the “Dabba”.• Sticker, Tag and Sample Piece of Goods with “Dabba”.

“People study business books and then practice. We practiced first and have now become case studies”

Raghunath Medge (President)“ It’s a model of managerial & organisational simplicity”

C. K. Pralhad

Our Belief WORK IS WORSHIPWORK IS WORSHIPTiffin Basket’s weight:

60-65 kgs.SPECIAL FEATURES OF DABBAWALA’S SERVICESZero % fuel Zero % investmentZero % modern tech. Zero % Disputes99.99% performance 100 % Customers Satisfaction

Coding SystemVLP : Vile Parle (suburb

in Mumbai)

9EX12 : Code for Dabbawalas at Destination

EX : Express Towers (building name)

12 : Floor no.

E : Code for Dabbawala

at residential station

3 : Code for destination Station eg. Churchgate

Station (Nariman Point)

D’souza

• Let us now look at an example of these codes on the tiffins to better understand the system and what it all denotes:

Wartime: Emergency measures being taken to ensure delivery by making proper coding.

The Flow Logic

Grant Road(12)

Churchgate(1-10)

Lower Parel(14)

2

3

7

4

5

6

Zones for destination

DistributionBy Carriersat lunchtimeTo offices

Point of AggregationAnd Sorting

CDB

A E

Collection from home

1

• 10:30 -11:15 am(Andheri Stn.)• 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. Generally, they choose to occupy the last compartment of the train.

12 coach train4,000 commuters8,000 disputesBut no excuses, Duty first

• 70% deliveries at CST & Churchgate• High volume areas like

Nariman Point, Fort , CST have dedicated crates• Each crate 150 dabbas, • Pushed by 3-4 elderly

dabbawallas

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. (Church Gate Station)At this stage, the unloading takes place at the destination stationRe-arrangement of tiffins takes place as per the destination area and destination building

1:15 – 2:00 pm (At All Destination Stations)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 JOURNEY2:00 – 2:30 pm (At Destination Station)The dabbawalla’s meet for the segregation as per the destination suburb.

Low Cost But Reliable – and Always on Time

2:48 – 3:30 pmThe return journey by train where the group finally meets up after the day’s routine of dispatching and collecting from various destination offices

Usually, since it is more of a pleasant journey compared to the earlier part of the day, the dabbawalas lighten up the moment with merry making, joking around and singing.

3:30 – 4:00 pm (The Origin Station)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.

Awards and Felicitation• Shri.Varkari Prabhodhan Mahasamati Dindi Palkhi Sohala – 4th March – 2001.

• Documentaries made by BBC, UTV, MTV, ZEE TV, AAJ TAK, TV TODAY, SAHARA SAMAY, STAR TV, CNBC TV 18, CNN, SONY TV, TV TOKYO, NDTV, Channel 7, DD Metro, Doordarshan.

•CASE STUDY – •Richard Ivey School of Business – Ontarion•IFIM Business School Banglore •IIM Ahmedabad•ICFAI Press Hyderabad•Agrawal Institute of Management, Mumbai

Awards and Felicitation (contd.)

•Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore, IIML, IIMA, CII Cochin, CII Delhi, Dr. Reddy’s Lab Foundation Hyderabad, SCMHRD Pune, Suryadatta Pune, SCMHRD Nasik, MIT Pune, MET Mumbai, IIT & IIM, Harward U.S.A., Cambridge Oxford .

•Included in a subject in University of California, Berkeley.

•Radio – •German Radio Network Radio Mirchi•Radio Mid-day FM – Gold•BBC Radio Radio City

Awards and Felicitation (contd.)

TOP 50 OF INDIATOP 50 OF INDIA

Some Achievements• Six Sigma Performance

• Record With Guinness Book of World Record

• Registered with Ripley's “ believe it or not”.

• Received ISO 9001 : 2000 Certificate

• Fie Foundation Award’s 2007

• One Among Top 50 Indians

• One Among most 10 favourite things in Mumbai

along with “Wada Pav”

Ph.D. on Mumbai Dabbawala By

Principal Pawan G. Agrawal M.Com., B.Ed., LL.B., A.C.S.

Topic : Study of Logistic & Supply Chain Management of Dabbawala in Mumbai.

University : Yashwantrao Chavan Mukta Vidyapeeth, Nashik.

Guide : Dr. Kulkarni, Nashik.

DirectorAGRAWAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Study Centre : TMU, Pune & SMU

DABBAWALASDABBAWALAS

WITHWITH

DIGNITIESDIGNITIES

PRINCE CHARLES’ VISIT TO

THE DABBAWALLAS OF MUMBAI

4 Nov, 2003 – At Church Gate Stn. Time 11.20 a.m. to 11.40 a.m.

THE ROYAL VISIT • Prince Charles honored us by his visit on the 4th of November,

2003.

• He spent 20 minutes with us.

• He took keen interest in our way of functioning, expressed surprise at our efficiency and was struck with awe when he was told that we didn’t employ any technology.

• The prince was presented a small memento, accompanied with a garland, a Gandhi topi and a trophy by the dabbawalas.

• British High Commission official said the idea was to show him something that was unique to Mumbai. "I don't think any other city anywhere in the world or even India has such a system,"

Hon. Shri. Richard Branson Chairman of Virginn Atlantic Airways with Dabbawalas

Hon. Shri. Vilasrao Deshmukh, The Chief Minister of Maharashtra State with Dabbawalas

During the Publication of Book “Mumbaicha Annadata” dated on 15th September 2006

Fie Foundation Award at Ichakaranji

Meeting with

Hon. Governor of

Maharshtra, India

Shri. S. M. Krishna

Honouring Mumbai Mayor

Hon. Shri. Dattaji Dalvi

and Shri. Narayan Rane

The Opening of Film “Mumbaicha Dabbewala” with film actor Bharat Jadhav

With Hon. Dr. Deepak Tilak, Vice Chancellor TMV Pune.

at Agrawal Institute of Management, Mumbai.

At Suryadatta Group of Institutes, Pune

For Wharton University of Pennsylvania,at Taj Presidency

For British Telecommunication & Global Services at LONDON

With the General Secretariats of Belgium

Presentation to Societe Generale's Chief & His Team from Paris

Presentation to ING Group’s Board Executive Members from Netherland, Holland & Germany

Presentation at YPO, Kenya (Nairobi)

With YPO members, Nigeria (Lagos)

Presentation for OPPI, at Taj Land, Mumbai

International Invitations• At Italy for International Food Festival between

October 20 to 23, 2004 and October 26 to 31, 2006.

• For marriage of Hon. Prince Charles of England on 9th April, 2005.

• At YPO Chapters Kenya & Nigeria in April, 2007.

• At London for Opening of Tiffin Bite Hotel in June, 2007

• At London for British Telecom, in April 2008.

• At London for Firstsource Solutions Ltd.,

in April 2008.

Memories ofMemories of Prince Charles Prince Charles

WeddingWedding

Selection of Saree for Queen Camilla Parkar

Sending gift containing

Puneri Pheta, Saree,

Kolhapuri Chappal for

Prince Charles and

Queen Camilla Parkar for

their Wedding.

GREETING TO GREETING TO PRINCE CHARLESPRINCE CHARLES

Letter Letter fromfrom

PRINCE PRINCE CHARLESCHARLES

After Heavy After Heavy Flood in Flood in

Mumbai on Mumbai on 2626thth July July

2005.2005.

At the Promotion of HIV-AIDS Day With Jackie Shroff

Presenting Dabba to C.M. with HIV / AIDS Message

Dabbawalas take an Oath to fight for HIV / AIDS

Working of Mumbai Dabbawalas on HIV / AIDSIn Association with

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) And

Government of Maharashtra

THANK YOU