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Dabbawalla’s: Simply Complex

Executive Summary

The Mumbai Dabbawalla’s operation .is widely recognized as an outstanding

example of excellence in Logistics. It is often quoted as a standard example of six

sigma implementation in the Indian context Because of its popularity Prince Charles

of the United Kingdom paid a visit to the operations site during his official visit to

India in 2003. In this project we study in detail the nature and content of this system,

critically examine its salient features and analyze the possibility of extending the

system to similar or related domains.

The central theme of this project is to present a detailed analysis of Mumbai

Dabbawalla’s Operations from a management perspective. Dabbawalla’s is a home

grown model, conceived, developed and perfected by a group of individuals who

have very little or no formal education in the area of Logistics. Dabbawalla’s is

operated by a group of 5000 individualsorganized in the form of a cooperative,

delivering everyday 150,000 lunch boxes from home to customer locations in

Mumbai with negligible error rate. Dabbawalla’s is recognized as an outstanding

example of excellence in service delivery. Dabbawalla’s is the most talked about

Indian example of excellence in logistics

Several academic institutions routinely invite the Mumbai Dabbawalla

representatives to make formal presentations in their campus to complement and

enhance their academic content of their respective programmes. Often, senior

management meetings find it useful to have a presentation on Dabbawalla’s to

illustrate the applicability of six sigma in Indian context and inspire managers to

adopt and practice world class systems. The popular business press has been

publishing material on Dabbawalla’s from time to

time. The Forbes journal had an article on Dabbawalla’s. Recently the Alliance Air

Official In-flight Magazine had an article on Dabbawalla’s. Top ranking management

schools have documented Dabbawalla’s as case material for teaching purposes.

Prince Charles of United Kingdom, as a mark of appreciation visited the Mumbai

Dabbawalla’s' work location during his visit to Mumbai in 2003

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The purpose of this project is to present the details of Dabbawalla’s and explore the

distinguishing features of it from other world class systems. The secondary purpose

is to conceptualize the broad management principles (in Dabbawalla’s) which may

have universal application.

In this Project, I am trying to provide a detailed analysis of the content, context, and

decisions made by Mumbai Dabbawalla’s' in managing Dabbawalla’s effectively. I

am trying to provide a balanced perspective on Dabbawalla’s features. As a

consequence of this discussion, I hope academicians; managers and students would

not only develop a perspective on Dabbawalla’s, but also see the essentials of the

system and its inherent potential and limitations in its replication to other contexts.

The project is organized in three sections. In the first section, the standard operating

procedures, basic statistics and information on Dabbawalla’s is presented. The first

section details the logic, the distinguishing features of Dabbawalla’s and its growth

options. The second section summarizes some of the best management practices in

Dabbawalla’s and draws some meaningful insights in managing such a large service

model. And the third section provides the annexure and Bibliography

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This is a story of a conventional Indian system of management that is today a

favourite case study among management institutions for a simple reason that it

doesn’t use any technology and yet outperforms most organizations in operating

efficiency. To the extent that bit received a six-sigma rating from Forbes

international. Its history dates back to 1980….

MUMBAI, The city of dreams and ambitions. The city of explorers and wildcatters.

The city that had always been on the fast track. Here, success happens purely on

merit. TheBritish had developed the basic infrastructure of roads, railways and

buildings for Bombay. At that time, the prime business centres were fort and Ballard

pier areas. These were the houses of banks, government departments, insurance

houses, shipping companies and other industrial head offices. Soon, the residential

colonies move away from fort and hence, a lot of Parsis, Christians and Europeans

started finding it difficult to go home for their lunch from work. Carrying lunch boxes

was also not a preferred routine for them since they didn’t like having cold meals.

In 1980, a Parsi banker working in Ballad Pier employed a young man who came

down from Poona district to fetch his lunch everyday. Business picked up through

referrals and soon our pioneer dabba -carrying entrepreneur had to call for more

helping hands from his village. This reinforcement led to the unleashing of an army

that even today, in the 21st century, serves millions of Mumbaites with the same spirit

and competence.

Such was the origin of the dabbawalla. This Tiffin carrier guy picks up the lunch box

in the morning and delivers it on time to the place of work, wherever in Mumbai that

is, and delivers it back to the residence at a very economical price. However trivial

the task may sound nevertheless, it is of vital importance since havoc is caused if

the client has to skip his home cooked food or worse, carry the Tiffin in the ever so

crowded Mumbai local trains and that too during the Rush Hour!

4500 dabbawalla’s across Mumbai coordinate with each other for picking up and

delivering the tiffins for over 1,75,000 mumbaites everyday in a 3 hour period,

through60 kms of public transport. In fact, the modes of transportsimply include the

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local trains, bicycles and hand carts. Of course, It is rare that a Tiffin may miss being

on its owner’s lunch table at the lunch hour

The organization is really a marvel because it achieves a high level of efficiency and

performance without any documentation, without computers and without an

educational work force. Yet they are the ultimate practitioners of logistic

management. They have been practicing hub and spoke system, just-in-time tactics,

no inventory policy and supply chain management principles even before these

terms were even coined! ! ! Leaving thefts apart, these dabbawalla’s make a mistake

only one every two months. I.e. one error in every 8 million deliveries, making it one

of a kind ‘Six Sigma’ supply chainin India. The six sigma principle was devised by

Motorola for rating operational efficiency in terms of the number of errors that occur

in a series of transactions or activities. In case of dabbawalla’s, one error occurs in

every 6 million transactions!! This puts it at par with the likes of Motorola and G.E.

such efficiency is marveled by various organizations and institutions across the

globe. Most organizations and enterprise would only aspire to be at this level of

efficiency that the dabbawalla’s operate on The organization works on a ‘Work is

Worship’ philosophy, which is the traditionalIndian practice. They respect food and

therefore, there is no misuse of food, timely delivery is important because it is an

individual’s basic need for food at that time. The dabbawalla’s have never gone on a

strike since they went into business! Thus, for all of the above reasons, the

community of businessmen, workers, employees and students know the

dabbawalla’s as their fuel suppliers.

As it is popularly said in Mumbai, ‘If the local train is the lifeline of the city then the

dabbawalla’s are the food line’. But there are a lot of aspects that need to be known

about the dabbawalla’s, in order to find out why they are so important as a case

study in management schools and as a unique traditional system of Indian

management which has to be given its due recognition. Therefore, let us now take

upon each of these aspects of this process.

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CHAPTER 2

HISTORY OF THE DABBAWALLA’S

The dabbawalla service had begun informally in Mumbai. According to Raghunath

Medge: A Parsi banker working in Ballad Pier employed a young man who came

down from Poona district to fetch his lunch everyday. Business picked up through

referrals and soon our pioneer dabba-carrying entrepreneur had to call for more

helping hands from his village. Such was the origin of dabbawalla’s.

However trivial the task may sound it is of vital importance since havoc is caused if

the client has to skip his home-cooked meal or worse, carry his on dabba in theever

so crowded Mumbai trains during the rush hour.

By the early 20th century, people from all part of India were migrating to Mumbai in

large numbers. Once they found a source of livelihood and settled down they wanted

home cooked food at their workplace. Home-cooked food had a comfort level for

various reasons. First, the food was cooked in the ambience of a domestic kitchen,

with recipes that were tried and tested, and that resulted in familiar fare. Second,

home-cooked food was comparatively inexpensive. The dabbawalla’s were initially

charging two annas per dabba for their delivery service.

Working independently and in small group for decades, the dabbawalla’s had united

in 1954 to put together a rudimentary co-operative. This umbrella organization

was officially registered in 1956 as a charitable trust under the name Nutan Mumbai

Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust. At that time, some of the dabbawalla’s employed

delivery boys to carry their dabba’s and transport them along the routes on bicycles

and push carts. These dabbawalla’s would collect the fees from their clients and pay

the delivery boys whatever they could negotiate with them. This changed in 1983

when the trust adopted anowner-partner system. Under this new system, the

practice of subcontracting was dispensed with and dabbawalla’s started to receive

equal earnings. The delivery boys system was converting into an apprenticeship

system wherein new recruits were trained for at least two to three years on a fixed

remuneration before they became full time dabbawalla’s. By 2003, more than 5,000

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dabbawalla’s worked under aegis of the trust. Together they delivered about

175,000 lunched daily in Mumbai. They served a total area that covered

approximately Rs 380 million per annum. Given the two way route for each dabba,

the number of deliveries worked out to more than 350,000 per day. Despite the

sheer number of daily deliveries, the failure rate reported by the media numbered

one in two months, or

one in every 15 million deliveries

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CHAPTER 3

THE NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS CHARITY TRUST

The Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is a streamlined 120-year-old

organization with 4,500 semi-literate members providing a quality door-to-door

service to a large and loyal customer base.The Trust was responsible for managing

the overall meal delivery system. it worked in close co-ordination with the Mumbai

Tiffin Box Suppliers Association, a forum that provided opportunities for social

interactions among the dabbawalla’s and the Dakkhan Mavle Sahakari Patpedhi, a

credit union that catered to the financial needs of individual dabbawalla’s

by providing personal loans. Given its charitable trust status, the Trust was also

involved in community initiatives by providing free food and accommodation to low-

income families at some pilgrimages centers.

The Trust had a three-tier structure Executive Committee, Mukadams and

dabbawalla’s. Under this structure, the basic operating unit was the team. Each

team, which comprised between five and eight dabbawalla’s, was headed by a

Mukadam. Having risen from the ranks of the dabbawalla’s, a Mukadam’s primary

daily responsibility involved the sorting of the dabba’s. However as team leader the

Mukadam performed several administrative tasks that included maintaining records

of client payments, arbitrating disputes between dabbawalla’s and customers, and

apprentice training. The Mukadam was also in charge of acquiring new clients for

the team and managing customer satisfaction. New customers purchased their

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dabba’s from the dabbawalla’s when service was commenced. Dabba’s Mwere

typically replaced at cost to the customer once every two years.

Seven to eight Mukadams aggregated their efforts and constituted a profit centre,

eachprofit centre was referred to as a “group.” There were about 120 groups in total.

While each group was managed autonomously, its members stepped in

withouthesitation to help other groups in dealing with emergencies such as

dabbawalla absenteeism. Monthly group maintenance costs totalled Rs.35000/,

covering the maintenance of the bicycles, push carts and wooden boxes the

dabbawalla’s used in their daily deliveries. The 13 members of the Executive

Committee, which was elected by the general body every 5 years, coordinated the

activities of the various work groups. The Committee, which undertook all major

decisions for the trust and worked on the principles specified in the Cooperative

Societies Act, met on the 15th of each month. Operational issues typically dominated

each meetings agenda. Examples of such issues included disputes with the Mumbai

city railways over dabbawalla’s not carrying their monthl passes or the ID issued to

them by the Trust, and with the city police when dabbawalla’s parked their push

carts or bicycles where parking was not permitted. Annually there were few reports

of lost or stolen dabba’s. In such instances clients were reimbursed by the individual

dabbawalla’s or given a free dabba.

\

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CHAPTER 4

WHO IS THE DABBAWALLA?

The dabbawalla’s were a homogenous group in many ways. Its members,

traditionally male, hailed from the same geographical region – known as Mavla –

located east of the Sahyadri near Pune, and they spoke the same language

(Marathi). They shared similar customs and traditions, such as gathering together for

a week every April for a festival in their hometown. They wore the same dress, a

loose white dhoti shirt, cotton pyjamas and their trademark white oval cap

All of these combined to form a distinct local identity for the dabbawalla’s. They were

easily recognized even in the busiest of locations. Pedestrians and commuters

yielded to the dabbawalla’s in order not to interfere with their service delivery.

Seemingly always in a rush the dabbawalla’s were known for their reliability and

work ethic. They ascribed to the traditional Indian belief that “work is workshop”.

Averaging 55 years in age, dabbawalla’s were typically lean, active and physically fit.

While the minimum level of education was Grade 7 most never got past Grade 8

schooling.

Each dabbawalla earned a monthly income between Rs.5000 and 6000. Out of this

income each dabbawalla was responsible for paying:

Rs.120 for monthly railway pass that allowed them unlimited access to

Mumbai’s railways.

Rs.60 for the maintenance of the bicycle or the push cart and

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The compulsory monthly contribution of Rs.15 to the Trust.

“It is a good earning for a semi-literate by Indian standards,” observed Medge.

"Farming earns a pittance, compelling us to move to the city. And the Tiffin service is

a business of repute since we are not working under anyone. It's our own business,

we are partners, it confers a higher status in society," says Sambhaji, another

dabbawala. "We earn more than many padha-likha (educated) graduates," says

Khengle.

Each new recruit would undergo an apprenticeship for 2 years and a fixed

remuneration of Rs.2000 per month. Each apprentice was then required to purchase

a delivery route Mbefore being admitted as a dabbawalla. The price was the route

was fixed as a ratio for the average monthly earnings of the group at 1:7. For

instance, most groups’ monthly earnings were approximately Rs.1, 40,000, so the

apprentice was expected to deposit Rs.20, 000 for a delivery route. This money went

to the Shared Capital of the Trust and would be returned to the dabbawalla upon

retirement. Once admitted, the dabbawalla was guaranteed a monthly income and a

job for life.

INTRODUCTION OF A NEW MEMBER:

The village address and other details are taken and then the

membership to the association and bank is granted.

Two guarantors from the group are required. Usually, they are the senior

members of the group.

The new member is paid a fixed amount of Rs. 2000 for the first 6-7 months

till he is completely trained for handling his own business. (These people

are from thevillages and therefore take considerable time in adjusting to the

city life andsystems).

Lastly, when joining the group, the new comer has to contribute to the

capital of the association in a 1:7 ratio of the group's average monthly

earnings. That means that the new entrant must contribute Rs.5000 as

capital if his group's-average monthly earnings are Rs.35000.

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There is a belief in religious neutrality and therefore, people of all castes are

welcome to join, nevertheless, most of the dabbawalla’s still remain

Maharashtrians and a small proportion is Rajasthanis.

WOMAN IN BUSINESS

Working shoulder to shoulder with the men are the female folk, affectionately called

"Moushi". If woman can work as engine drivers, bus drivers or as senior executives

in the corporate world, there is nothing that can stop them from working in this

profession too.

Although there are just two women compared to male dabbawalla’s numbering

around 4,500 they are for certain. One of these women works with her husband in

this profession and then at the end of the day also carries out the household chores.

With such a hard life for twenty years, she feels pride to own her own house.

The other member carries 18 tiffins everyday!! Her husband had returned to the

village after succumbing to hardships of Mumbai life. But she went on in this city and

is now earning her livelihood owing to this profession. Thus, the dabbawalla

association ensures that woman too get their equal right for contributing to their

family’s or individual incomes.

The quintessential aspect of this organization is that nobody is an employer and

none are employees. Each dabbawalla is a businessman by himself and they all are

‘partners’. The association just facilitates the coordination among these small

groups. This is also acharacteristic of logistical operations where co-ordination

among various factors of production and operation is of prime importance.

The annual turnover of this business is Rs. 50 Crores!!

Woman in business

Mrs. Bhikhubai of Kandivali

Mrs. Anandibai of Borivali

Mrs. Parvatabai of Karale (Ghatkopar)

Mrs. Laxmibai Bagade of Santa Cruz

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CHAPTER 5

ORGANIZATION

In 1890, when the dabbawalla’s actually began their services, there was no umbrella

organization then. The fist attempt to unionize was made by Mahadev bacche in

1930. The carriers started collecting one Anna each per month and the funds were

used to build an inn at Bhumashankar, Maharashtra. A charitable trust was

registered in 1956 under the name of ‘Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust’.

Today every carrier contributes Rs.15 per month towards the Trust. The commercial

arm of this trust was registered later in 1968 as ‘Mumbai Tiffin Box Carriers

Association’. Just like old times, recruitment is essentially done through word of

mouth and from neighbouring towns and villages inwestern Maharashtra including

Junnar, Ambegaon, Khed, Maval, Mulshi, Akola, Rajguru nagar, etc.

The recruitment policy is such that even before a new recruit leaves his hometown

for Mumbai, his area of operation and remuneration are decided. The whole system

operates as a loose cooperative, and with customer satisfaction levels so high,

there’s little need for a rigid operating structure. The essence lies in its simplicity.

The Nutan trust is the apex body representing the dabbawalla’s. It is trim hierarchy

with

three tiers

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

THE DABBAWALLA’S THEMSELVES

THE MUKKADAMS OR TEAM LEADERS

REMAINIG TREE DIAGRAM

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL

The Governing Council is a 13 member body, for which elections are held once

every 5 years. The committee works on the guidelines of the ‘Cooperatives Societies

Act’. With Mr. Raghunath D. Medge as the president, the committee includes the

vice president, General Secretary, Treasurer and 9 Directors.

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The president of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust and Association

heads the association followed by the Vice President, both of them are responsible

for taking monthly meetings, checking bank accounts and solving problems of the

members. This is followed by the General Secretary who looks into the daily matters

of the Association like drafting letters, Making Vouchers, Collecting Rs. 15 as a fee

of the Trust etc. then the treasurer who looks into the accounts of the Trust. The 9

directors in all help the president in decision-making and also the smooth functioning

of the Trust

. There are no internal disputes that can lead to unrest in the organization. This great

coordination enables great work efficiency and simpler decision making. A simple

reason why the organization can sustain with its trim structure is because each

dabbawalla is an individual businessman.

THE MUKADAM’S

A Mukadam is the team leader for a group of 25-30 group members. Although his

key responsibility is sorting the tiffins, he plays a crucial role in settling disputes,

maintaining records of payments and receipts of members of his group and getting

new clientele. Another Key function of a Mukadam is to ensure consumer

satisfaction. He is generally chosen as the leader on the basis of his experience and

skill.

THE DABBAWALLA’S

Each dabbawala is a businessman himself. Therefore, each one has to find out his

own

way to maximize a sustainable business. The system has adopted the Strategic

Business Units (SBU) concept way before it was even introduced by Peter Drucker.

The entire system is highly decentralized

The dabbawalla’s operate in groups of roughly 15-25 members each

carrying around 30-35 tiffins. However there are dabbawalla’s that operate

individually too. Around 120 groups registered. All groups are independent

of each other as far as money matters are concerned.

Each group is responsible to generate money for all its needs and day to

day functioning. The rationale of developing such a system is to improve

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thecompetitiveness of the system. This system has adopted the Strategic

Business Unit (SBU) concept, way before it was introduced by Peter

Drucker.

In the association’s code or ethics, no dabbawalla is allowed to undercut or

outsmart the other. However groups can coordinate among themselves to

get new clients. This is the uniqueness of this competitive collaboration.

There is unity at the delivery end, which leads to perfect cutting-edge

performance by each dabbawalla.

Some groups also have this understanding that when any one of the

members gets a new Tiffin business, he treats the others on that day. This

is an informal gestureof course and there is no compulsion.

Another remarkable advantage of this group system is that there is a

backup system for absentees. If any member abstains from duty on a

certain day, another member will always be there to collect and deliver the

tiffins on the absentees’ behalf. “We work like a cricket team; if any of the

members gets injured we have a substitute for him. Like any team we have

a substitute player in our group” says Raghunath Medge.

As far as social activities are concerned, each group of the individual

systems contributes Rs. 50 per member for the yearly pooja that is held in

their area.

Each group is financially self-sufficient. Each group pools in the collections,

distributes and equally shares the monthly spoils amounting to Rs. 5000 to

Rs. 6000 per person.

E.g. If there is a group of 10 members with varying individual monthly incomes

that range from 3000 to 7000 adding upto a total of 40000, then the collections

are pooled together and then divided equally among all members. Thus, each

member will eventually get Rs. 4000 per month in that group. Out of these, Rs.

15 per person goes towards the mandal as welfare fund of the trust.

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CHAPTER 6

RULES AND POLICIES

An important feature of the dabbawalla’s service is customer satisfaction. (Also,

the ultimate objective of any logistical operation) Keeping in line with this

objective, all problems are usually resolved by the Association's officials.

Like, in cases of theft or loss of a Tiffin-box, if any carrier is found guilty

then thclient is allowed to deduct the costs from the dabbawalla's

charges for thesubsequent month. If a client receives improper services

by any dabbawalla, for which a complaint has been made to the

association; that particular dabbawala will be directed to end his services

with that client and another dabbawala will be allotted to the client. In this

manner, no future disputes between that client and the dabbawalla will

arise and with the allocation of another dabbawala in his place, the client

will also receive continuous and efficient service. Thus leading to greater

customer satisfaction,

The association also has the responsibility of handling all the internal

disputes. Apart from discouraging undercutting between two

dabbawalla’s, the association has to handle all kinds of disputes arising

between two dabbawalla’s. For this reason, the association charges Rs.

100-200/- before looking into the complaint.

This is done to ensure that the official’s time is not wasted on any petty

disputes. A meeting is convened on the 15th of every month at the Dadar

office where all the committee members assemble and all complaints

and disputes arc heard and resolved. The dabbawalla’s are not

supposed to take any major decisions and are not supposed to claim

any amount arising out of a dispute until the actual dispute matter is

brought forward in front of everyone during the monthly meet.

Each Tiffin carrier has to pay Rs. 15 to the union every month. This

money accumulates and helps as aid in celebrating and funding their

festival at various locations in Maharashtra. This is a social activity of the

association since the dabbawalla’s get proper accommodation whenever

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they go to these places.(Unfortunately, there are a lot of Dabbawalla’s

who don’t pay this contribution at all.)

In the association’s code of ethics, no dabbawala is allowed to undercut

another. As far as possible, coordination among groups is encouraged

so that undercutting doesn’t lead to disputes.

The whole dabbawalla’s union takes a one week break every year in the

month of March when they all go to Ambegaon for their annual village

festival. This is called the ‘Bhairavnath Maharaj Utsav'. This is a

welcome break from the hectic day-to-day routine that the dabbawalla’s

follow. All customers are informed much in advance about this period

when the dabbawalla’s will collectively remain absent from duty. This is

the individual dabbawala's responsibility to communicate with the clients

and in order to authenticate the reason for the leave; the association

also circulates notices for customers along with each carrier. Wearing

the traditional white cap is very important. It is the only integral symbol of

the dabbawala’. If a dabbawala is caught not wearing the cap. He will be

fined Rs.30 when spotted by the officials.

Each dabbawalla is allowed to carry a maximum of 35 Tiffin boxes. If

the number is more than 35, then the excess tiffins need to be carried by

another carrier.

In the long historical relationship with Mumbai city, the dabbawalla’s

have onemajor unattended demand. The union has constantly requested

the Railways to reserve one goods compartment for them during peak

hours but they have not been adhered to. Bu tit is an unwritten rule that

people are not to load the particular goods compartment occupied by

dabbawalla’s for their goods. Meaning between 10:00 and 11:30 am and

15:00 to 16:30 hours commuters are generallyare not supposed to board

the goods compartment occupied by the dabbawalla’s. In fact, until the

1970s, the particular compartment read something like this “Reserved

for Tiffin carriers”. But with growing number of commuters and more and

more demand for better service and space, this reservation has been

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discontinued.

Every dabbawala has to handle his own expenses. Handcart and Bicycle

maintenance. Railway pass, luggage pass and all other contributions

and fees. They can also opt for the loan from the Union at around 5%

p.a. which is lower than market rate of in interest. The union also runs a

small co-operative bank in order to help the dabbawalla’s and the

community as a whole. The dabbawalla’s belong to a large community

and hence, it is a part of the association‘s social commitment to help

achieve the upliftment of the community.

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CHATTER 7

SAFETY AND WELFARE

Risky Affair!!

There is no protection for the dabbawalla’s from the rain and scorching sun.

Even the dabba’s are not under any cover or protection except for what is

actually givenby the customers. Raincoats do not provide adequate protection

when they have to cycle around. Whereas, umbrellas are more of a hassle

to carry around during their hectic activities. Thus, they are vulnerable to any

illnesses during the season. As for the dabba’s, it's not much of a worry

because the rainwater isn't going to get into the food anyway.

There is also a minute risk of the bicycles getting stolen or tiffins getting

stolen or lost but it's extremely rare. Since there is no insurance for anything,

what is lost is a loss incurred by the responsible dabbawala. In case the Tiffin

gets stolen or lost, the respective customers of the dabbawalla’s are free to

deduct the amount from the dabbawalla's salary. In other cases, where the

incident of the loss is due to the fault of another member that leads to a

dispute, that matter is then settled duringthe monthly meetings held at Dadar

where the committee decides who will bear the compensation and who is to

be blamed. Of course, the loss of a Tiffin is one in a million cases that leads

to the achievement of six-sigma distinction. As for the bicycles, the

dabbawalla’s usually have an understanding with the watchman or security

people who take care of these cycles as the dabbawalla’s are away

delivering. In case they do get stolen, nobody is blamed and the dabbawalla

has to bear the loss completely.

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During the mornings the carriage would take around 40-50 tiffins. Now,

eachTiffin is filled with food and the whole carriage weighs on an average 8O

kgs. This is extremely heavy for a head load! But the dabbawalla’s manage

this as their daily routine. So much weight in the scorching heat of the day

may lead to fatigue and therefore is unsafe for them but due to the physical

fitness levels. It is rare for a dabbawalla to fall ill due to fatigue. But there is no

welfare policy in this regard.

The only welfare activity carried out by the union is the social gathering that

the association carries out every year at their village festivals.

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CHAPTER 8

SYSTEM

The dabbawala network operates so efficiently and punctually owing to one simple

reason The Railways. The local trains of Mumbai city cover approximately 60-70

kilometres. This distance is covered by hundreds of trains that operate at a

frequency of a train departing every three minutes. This feature of the local trains

leads to over 90% theCity's population depending upon this mode of transport. A

local train is rarely ever delayed in its journey, thus, it enables millions of commuters

to be punctual in reaching their offices and homes everyday and in all conditions,

and this is the main reason why the dabbawalla’s actually operate in this city and not

any other. In order to deliver over 1,75,000 tiffins everyday, the dabbawalla’s can

rely only on this mode of transport, Aperson can reach from one end of the city (Mira

Road) to the other end (Churchgate) in just under an hour and a half! Thus, it is

rightly said that if the dabbawalla’s are the foodline of the city of Mumbai, then the

loca trains are the lifelines of the city.

The entire dabbawala system works on a military discipline based on a shared

agenda and a common protocol. The workforce is not even basically educated and

there is no paperwork involved

The two essences are the LOCAL TRAIN and INFORMATION, The system is

information rich in nature, the coding system enables all the 'magic' with which all

dabbawalla’s function, Again, it is ‘Centralized planning and decentralized

implementation’.

Now let us look at the main features of the system of the dabbawalla’s

The dabbawala’s are spread over the entire city and hence, all three lines of

the local train are utilized by them, Western, Central and Harbour Lines.

The main stations include Dombivili, Andheri, Dadar, Kurla, Grant Road,

Churchgate and C.S.T. these are also the major sorting areas for the

dabbawalla’s.

Each station may have approximately 4-8 groups depending on the density

20


of population and demand. E.G. there can be 15-20 groups at Churchgate

and just 5-6 groups at stations like Khar and Vile Parle.

The various modes of transport that can be used by the dabbawalla’s in their

whole network will mainly include trains, bicycles, handcarts and of course, on

foot,

Time is the principle factor in this system. If there is any delay of even a few

minutes, the train will be missed by the dabbawalla’s and the system will be

disrupted because of him. Hence, planning for contingency is also very

important on part of the dabbawalla. Punctuality is therefore of prime

Importance. Rarely has it been that the Tiffin doesn't reach the owner's desk

at lunchtime.

The city's geographical pattern helps. Most of Mumbai's Office-goers live in

the suburbs and work downtown and there arc local trains connecting two,

points - which form hubs for hub-and-spoke sub-networks. Each Tiffin is at

least handled by 4-5 different dabbawalla’s in the entire process

Let us just look at the whole system concisely to understand how the dabbawalla’s

manage the whole job.

The 5000 dabbawalla’s are divided into 3 sets of activities. The entire system is

highly decentralized. Between 9-9:30 am , one crew of dabbawalla’s collects freshly

packed tiffins from residences and delivers it to the nearest stations where they are

sorted, at a place designated as ‘Sorted Place’ on the station itself. This sorting is

done as per the destination stations. The train for Churchgate or CST departs

between 10:30 to 11:00 am and stops at all the stations with intermediate stop-over

for the dabbawalla’s like Thane, Kurla, Andheri and Dadar. At these junctions, the

second set of dabbawalla’s exchange and sort tiffins, in a speedy manner involving

“ZERO DOCUMENTATION”. Then the 3rd set is waiting at the respective destination

stations, which sorts out and assemble the respective set of tiffins and load them

onto handcarts, trays, bicycles and then each carrier sets out on the final delivery.

Not to mention, after all these efficiently carried out activities, a Tiffin box rarely

misses the destination stomach at lunchtime.

21


CHAPTER 9

PRICING STRATEGY

The rationale behind the development of a group model in the business is to improve

competitiveness of the system. If there are 5 groups in Andheri then each group will

fight in order to acquire new customers because each group is responsible for

generating its own income. Generally the service charges are between Rs. 150 to

Rs 300 per month depending upon two main factors.

LOCATION

In some populated area such as RBI colonies or apartment complexes such as

Lokhandwala complex in Andheri the charges are lower because there are lot of

clients tin these areas. At one point of time there used to be 2 handcarts full of tiffins

from RBI colony situated at Santacruz. This is very economical for them and hence

the charges are lowers so that more and more customers can opt for the service. In

either cases where the area is less populated or the demand for this service is

minimum e.g. Juhu area the charges will be comparatively higher since the demand

is poor and it uneconomical to travel all the way to Juhu for just one or two dabba’s

which give him the same amount of money. Thus they charge a higher or lower

depending upon the location.

TIME

Sometimes the client may not be able to prepare the dabba at the tine that is

convenient for the dabbawalla to pick up. In such cases the dabbawalla is forced to

make an exception and hence these charges are more because he has put in extra

effort to make it at that tine suitable to the client. Whereas, if the client can prepare

22


the Tiffin at the time convenient for the dabbawalla’s to pick up, his charges will be

lower as it is now convenient for him and he has to put in equal effort without making

any exception. Where as if the Dabbawalla covered 70km to 80km in two-and-a-half

hours by train, on bicycles, dabbawala’s covered much less territory.

Money is collected in the first week of every month and it is remitted to the Mukadam

on the first Sunday. The money thus collected, is divided among all the members of

the group equally.

Let us take an example here as there are 4 groups at Santacruz i.e. Red, Green,

Yellow and blue. Now, if there are 15 members in the red group and the total

number of customers serviced by the group is 375 and the amount thus collected is

Rs. 75,000. Then this total amount would be equally divided among all the members.

Now there are two aspects to this. Two questions that one might ask? If one

dabbawala services 40 customers and another one services just 20 customers, then

why should the first one not get the bigger share of the money?

There are two reasons which were mentioned earlier as the factors of pricing:

location and Time.

Also, one has to consider that the dabbawala collecting 40 tiffins may have

collected all from one area itself (like RBI colony) in 30 minutes. Whereas the other

dabbawala collecting 20- Tiffin’s may have had to travel long distances covering a

large area in order to collect his 20 Tiffin’s in over an hour’s time. Thus it would be

unfair to him if the first dabbawala is paid a higher amount.

Out of the total proceeds earned by each dabbawala, Rs. 60 per crate and Rs. 120

per month per person have to be paid to the railways to obtain the pass.

Nevertheless, each dabbawala earns on an average Rs. 4000-5000. He makes a

contribution of Rs.10 per month to the association for the utilization of bringing

upliftment of their community. Loans are given by the association and also

contributions are made to religious places during festivals such as Mahashivratri at

Bhumashankar.

Considering all these factors, one can say that the monthly charges that the

dabbawala’s take, is not at all expensive. The service delivered with the efficiency

and accuracy is all worth it!

23


Chapter 10

BUILDING A CLIENTELE

The range of customers includes students (both college and school), entrepreneurs

of small businesses, managers, especially bank staff, and mill workers.

They generally tend to be middle-class citizens who, for reasons of economy,

hygiene, caste and dietary restrictions or simply because they prefer whole-some

food from their kitchen, rely on the dabbawala to deliver a home cooked mid-day

meal. Their customers are middle-class citizens, who for reasons of economy,

hygiene, caste and dietary restrictions ñ or simply because they prefer wholesome

foods from their own kitchens ñ rely on the dabbawalla’s to deliver a home-cooked

midday meal.

New customers are generally acquired through referrals. Some are solicited by

dabbawalla’s on railway platforms. Addresses are passed on to the dabbawala

operating in the specific area, who then visits the customer to finalize arrangements.

Today customers can also log onto the website www.webrishi.com to access the

service

.In its clientele, the dabbawalla’s have reached out to students living in hostels

(again a privileged lot being nurtured by middle class parents), working women

(whose maid at home cooks the lunch for the dabba the use of the term working

women in Mumbai is ironically restricted to office-goers and the like and fails to

consider maids as working women) and aged people (living away from the nuclear

family but within the field of responsibility of the nuclear family).

An interesting addition to the clientele of dabbawalla’s is a new set of health-

conscious executives who are on health diets. One such centre uses the

dabbawalla’s to send lunches to as many as 300 people on its diet regimen.

24


Chapter 11

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

DABBAWALLA MEAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

The dabbawalla meal distribution network was

characterized by a combination offer “baton relay

system” in which dabba’s were handed of

between dabbawalla’s at various points in the

delivery process and a “hub and spokes” system

in which the sorting of dabba’s was done at

specificrailway locations form where individual

spokes branched out for distribution. There

was no local historical model on which this

distribution network was designed. All design

decisions were driven by the singular purpose of

delivering as a dabba in time for the customer’s

lunch. The delivery processes had largely

remained unchanged since their inception even though the environments of service

delivery are changed. For example, the delivery system did not relyon the use of

computers. According to Medge: If we were to use computers, we would be out of

business. It is not because we do not know how to use computers, but the system

itself is not amenable to the use of technology in whatever form.

The only major change in the dabbawalla’s delivery model was the fine – tuning of

the coding system in 1966. The number of customers using the delivery service had

continued to grow, , and without some form of common identification that all

dabbawalla’s could follow, the sorting process at the hubs was likely to become

overly time consuming. Medge observed:

We decided to decentralize the coding at a level of groups and each group was free

to develop its own coding system based on simple and easily identifiable numbers

25


and signs. In time, each group gradually developed its own distinctive colour code –

from a spectrum of combinations of the seven primary colours – serving as the first

line of identification for any dabbawalla.

REVERSE CHANNEL/NETWORK DESIGN

TREE DIAGRAM REMAINING

Now, to better understand the sorting process; let’s take the above example that is

shown pictorially. Let’s say at Santacruz station, there are four different groups of

dabbawalla. Each of them has 20 members each and each of these dabbawalla

services an average 20 customers. That makes 1600 tiffins in all. As we already

understood earlier, the task for the dabbawalla’s to collect the Tiffin’s, meet at the

station on the stipulated time for sorting, exchange tiffins with other dabbawalla’s on

the way at various stations, sort them again at the destination station and dispatch

the Tiffin’s in order to deliver them to respective offices.

26


ONWARD JOURNEY – 8:30- 10:34 am

The day for the dabbawalla’s starts at 8:30 am, with collecting the dabba’s from the

various houses. People usually leave the dabba’s outside the door for them. In case

they are late the dabbawalla’s have to urge them to hurry up, else if it gets late they

have to leave if the clients’ Tiffin is not ready in time. He then picks up all the tiffins

and meets the other dabbawalla’s at the station

[The dabbawalla is forced to do so because he is bound by the train time. The

departing train’s time is very crucial and he must consider the time required for the

sorting process. There may, on the other hand, be further delays caused by other

customers too. It is extremely difficult, yet crucial to ensure that the entire pick up of

all tiffins takes place as per schedule. The scheduling has to include cushion time for

uncertainties such as these without which the whole system will, be disrupted]

The dabbawalla picks up the Tiffin from his lot of houses in Santacruz

and meets the other group members at the designated spot at the station. This

particular group of 10 dabbawalla’s takes the 10:34 am Churchgate local train

everyday. Therefore, the dabbawalla’s have to make sure that they reach the

platform for the sorting process at least by 10:15 am in order to ensure a smooth

flow of their networking throughout their daily routine, this peri

od in the morning that includes picking up the Tiffin’s and meeting at the designated

spot on the station is the most crucial part of the system. One bit delay in this aspect

27


will disrupt the whole system and will lead to a chaotic situation. Therefore, the

dabbawalla’s have to collect the tiffins n time and reach the station with enough time

left for the sorting to take place before the train arrives.

SORTING - 10:15 – 10:34 am

The critical phase of the system is sorting. Sorting of all the tiffins according to their

destination station and arranging them into wooden crates takes 20-25 minutes! The

aim of the process is to segregate the tiffins and differentiate them as per the

destination of each of them. The tiffins are then handed to different dabbawalla’s at

the destinationstation and sorting makes it easier to identify each group of tiffins and

less time consuming for the respective dabbawalla. The sorting makes the entire

process error free. The process of sorting is similar to that of a post office where

letters are segregated according to their destinations. Since each Tiffin exchanges

many hands, each of the lids of the tiffins is marked with a colored code indicating

the originating station, destinationand building with the floor number. The coding is

the secret behind the efficient working of the system and that’s why the network is

‘Information rich’. This is a unique feature as it requires no documentation or record

keeping. There is no communication between the 2 groups, but just coordination

among them because the whole blueprint is pre-decided by the dabbawalla’s

themselves

The Mukadam plays a key role here to ensure smooth working and coordination, his

responsibility is to know all the tiffins his group carries. The responsibility of the

Mukadam is to the extent that he has to know all the tiffins that his group carries.

28


Therefore, he must be able to recognize these Tiffin’s even if the codes on them

arebarely visible. Also, if any member of the group abstains from his duty for a

particularday for some reason, then it is the responsibility of the Mukadam to ensure

that all the dabba’s that the absentee was responsible for, are duly picked up and

delivered back on time. Hence, we see that the Mukadam plays a critical role in this

stage of sorting and allocating jobs

The dabba’s are collected, sorted out and sent to their destinations based on a

numerical and alphabetical code. Every station has a numerical code and each

place has an alphabetical code. The Tiffin carries the code of the source and the

destination. The codes help identify Tiffin owners. Very simple system of sorting

exists with this Dabbawala Network. Every Tiffin-carrier has the mark of a circle or a

flower of a specific colour and a digital identity number. Take this Tiffin Mark for

example-K-BO-10-19/A/15. K is the identity letter of the dabbawala. BO means

Borivali i.e. the area from where the Tiffin is to be collected... The figure of 10 refers

to Nariman point area. 19/A/15 refers to the 19th Building and the 15th floor in

Nariman point area where the Tiffin is to be delivered.

These codes have been developed over the years and began with simple coloured

threads. An employee delivers the dabba’s, collected individually from homes at the

railway station nearest to the house. At the station the destinations are sorted out,

based on the codes, and taken by train to respective stations

29


.

JOURNEY TIME – 10:34 to 11:20 am

The time period between 10:34 and 11:20 is the journey time for the dabbawalla’s.

They load the wooden cart filled with tiffins into the luggage or goods compartment

of the train. Generally they try to occupy the last compartment as this helps them to

avoid the rush at the platforms and is easy to be located and conveniently situated

once the trainarrives on the platform. Mostly the commuters don’t get on this

compartment as they are already filled with crates and there is not enough room.

This is a common understanding among daily commuters and dabbawalla’s. In any

case the platform is filled with people and dabbawalla’s have to unload the crates on

the platform, they start a series of loud verbal comments warning everyone to make

way of the unloading. The unloading of this particular group takes place at Dadar,

Lower Parel, Grant road and finally Churchgate etc. finally just six out of total 10

dabbawalla’s get off at Churchgate. There are also others joining into the group from

the station as they have common destination points.

The allocation of manpower at each station depends on the number of tiffins that

have to be delivered in a particular area. E.g. if 150 tiffins are to be delivered in

Grant Road, 4people are assigned to the station. This is done in keeping in the mind

that one person cannot carry more than 35 dabba’s. They will also be assigned

30


specific codes which are written on the top of the Tiffin. This 4 dabbawalla’s can be

from any groups and irrespective of any station. Their job is now to deliver these 150

Tiffin’s irrespective of which group they belong to. If the number of Tiffin’s that are to

be delivered in an areas like Nariman point, is large then the number of people

allocated goes up. Within that area, if one location lets say, Mittal towers, has a huge

number of Tiffin’s have to be delivered then this area number of the location number

remains the same and tiffins are differentiated on basis of colour.

SORTING AT THE DESTINATION STATION AND DELIVERING - 11:20 to 12:30

am

At this stage the unloading takes place at Churchgate and our destination station. In

our example in it will be Churchgate. Here, the rearrangement Of Tiffin’s takes place

as per the destination area and destination building in Churchgate. Dabbawalla’s

have to be dispatched accordingly and the dabba’s are to be delivered in large

quantities at times to areas like Nariman Point, RBI and Stock Exchange. If the

number of Tiffin’s that are to be delivered in an area like Nariman Point (Which is

31


very large considering the density of offices), then the number of dabbawalla’s to be

allotted to the area increases. Now, within that area, if one location, like, Mittal

Towers has a huge number of Tiffin’s to be delivered then this “area of number” or

“location number” remains the same and the dabba’s have to be differentiated

according to the basis of colour. To sum up the delivery process at the destination

centers, each dabbawalla looks for a particular three character code written on right

hand side of the cap of the Tiffin. The dabbawalla concentrates only on the dabba’s

that he has to deliver from Churchgate. He may not have in most cases, picked up

his Tiffin’s from the originating stations; he has been allotted these dabba’s only at

Churchgate. This kind of specialization makes the entire system efficient and error

free.

The entire sorting process takes place outside Churchgate station or in the lanes

around the station. Here, different groups arrange their dabba’s in order of their

destination areasand buildings. The main area around Churchgate includes Nariman

point, RBI, StockExchange, Ballard Pier, and world trade center. There are around

thirty groups itself at Churchgate station dispatching their respective tiffins in the

area. In particular area with high density of customers a special crate is dedicated to

that area. This crate carries 150 Tiffin’s and is driven by 3-4 dabbawalla’s!!

A unique feature of the system is that bigger buildings with large office densities, like

inNariman point, or the stock exchange building itself, an elevator is especially

reserved for the dabbawalla’s during the lunch time. Usually these elevators have

queues throughoutthe day as the offices ar4e extremely busy and hence, in order to

provide convenience and quick delivery without queues. The dabbawalla’s have a

special elevator reserved for themselves onto which others cannot board. In some

cases, they also leave theTiffin’s in the canteen that is common to the whole building

and hence the respective owners cansimply pick up theirs. This is also a feature

seen in schools where the dabbawalla’s deliver.

In other cases, like at Mittal Cambers the dabbawalla’s leave the Tiffin’s outside the

respective offices. The peon comes and gives them to the respective clients in their

offices. Incidentally, even the peons are good at recognizing the Tiffin’s as to whom

they belong to!

32


So, in this process, the dabbawalla’s save a lot of time by cutting short the delivery

process.

Thereafter, the dabbawalla’s take a break and have their own lunch which is usually

their Tiffin’s kept along with the others in the crate with special markings. Different

group’s have their lunch at different locations. It is generally on the footpath or some

benches on the roadside. This break is usually of 45-60 minutes in duration. Till

then, the customers must finish having their lunch and keep the dabba’s outside for

the dabbawalla to collect.

COLLECTION PROCESS - 1:15 to 2:00 pm

Here on begins the collection process where the dabbawalla have to pick up the

Tiffin’s from the offices where they had delivered almost an hour ago. The

dabbawalla’s are the same in this case. The one who delivers it to the office will be

the same one who collects it. Most of the time, the dabbawalla will collect al dabba’s

from all the offices situated on the same floor and will leave them in the corridor.

Then, he goes and collects all dabba’s from various floors and gets them to the base

level. Finally, he loads them onto the crate.

This is actually the only risky point in the entire network system. This is

because there is a risk of theft when the dabbawalla leaves the Tiffin’s outside the

33


corridor. The only solution to this is, to have another dabbawalla securing the

dabba’s while the other one goes and collects the remaining. This is related to a

personal experience and hence amention of this incident is critical in analyzing the

mechanism of the system. By complaints and suggestions from customers, the

dabbawalla’s can actually bring some improvements in the system such as the one

mentioned. A dabbawalla who can secure the procured Tiffin’s can greatly help in

reducing thefts.

RETURN JOURNEY – 2:00 to 2:30 pm

After the collection is over, the dabbawalla’s meet the remaining group members at

a designated spot and the first assortment on the return journey takes place. The

groupmembers meet with their respective crates and the segregation as per the

destinationsuburbs takes place. The group departs for the station and all groups

meet there for a common sorting process. The crates are arranged in a line and

each dabbawalla picks up the tiffins that belong to his group at the destination centre

(the originating centre). This is not the final sorting and therefore, the individual

members of the destination group have to just identify the boxes and put them into

the crates.

One important thing to note is that a particular dabbawalla need not operate in the

34


same group throughout the day. He will, in most cases operate with 2 different

groups. One at the originating station (Santacruz) and one at the destination station

(Churchgate). Thecoordination is equally important in either groups and there is total

unity among them.

After sorting in various crates they depart in their respective train, which again are

pre-decided and is part of their daily routine. This part of the journey is more relaxed

as they are not under the pressure of timely delivery as in the mornings. They lighten

up the moment by joking around and singing, which eases their stress and develops

a strong bond in the group.

TRAIN JOURNEY – 2:48 - 3:30 pm

This again, is the return journey by train where the group finally meets up after the

day’s routine of dispatching and collecting from various destination offices. The

group members from Marine Lines, Grant Road and Dadar board the designated

compartments and finally, they arrive at Santacruz station with the same dabba’s

that they had started off with in the morning.

Usually, since it is more of a pleasant journey compared to the earlier part of the

day, the dabbawalla’s lighten up the moment by merry making, joking around and

singing, whicheases their stress and develops a strong bond among the group. Of

35


course, other passengers also join them in the merry making at times and hence,

these dabbawalla’s have created an impression upon other passengers of being

hard working, dedicated and joyous people.

THE FINAL JOURNEY OF THE DAY – 3:30 to 4:00 pm

This is the stage where the final sorting and dispatch takes place. The group meets

up at Santacruz station and they finally sort out the Tiffin’s as per the destination

area. This is the easiest process because of the limited quantity of tiffins that gets off

the trains with

them; it is simpler to understand which Tiffin belongs to whom. The dabbawalla’s

take out the respective tiffins from the crates and either carry 10-15 of them

physically on themselves or load them onto the crates till they reach their cycles.

Then each of them departs on their way with the same dabba’s that he took in the

morning and delivers them to their respective houses.

This delivery process takes roughly 30-45 minutes depending on the distance that

the dabbawalla will have to cover.

Thus, the entire network system ends with the delivery of the tiffins back to the

customer’s origin point at the precise time everyday. The customer is satisfied with

timely delivery of home food and the dabba back to the origin.

There is still one more important and unique aspect to this system and that is the

individual dabbawalla. This dabbawalla doesn’t operate in any group. He picks up

the dabba himself in the morning and travels himself in the morning and travels to

36


the various destinations himself delivering them to the destination offices, collects

them again and delivers them back to the origination home. This is a rare case but it

is a laudable effort that the dabbawalla puts in just to earn a meagre livelihood. A

real example of this kind of a dabbawalla can be cited here. This particular

dabbawalla travels from Ghatkoper toCuffe parade and back everyday!!! It is simply

unbelievable that a person can do so much everyday and still manage efficiency with

punctuality.

He operates on an 8 am to 8 pm shift. But he doesn’t have an option of taking the

train too at any point because there are always tiffins at various points at various

suburbs en route. For example, there are 4 tiffins from Parel to Churchgate between

which he could’ve easily taken the train by delegating his task of collection to

another dabbawalla. But then, he will lose his customers to that dabbawalla then

because it will be that second dabbawalla who is putting all the efforts and hence, he

cannot afford to lose customers because he would be hurting his own income. He

cannot lose out on his business which is earned with extreme hard work. Therefore,

this system of going individual as a dabbawalla instead of a group is for those who

prefer to put in more hard work just to earn that bit of extra income.

The disadvantages in this system are:

The dabbawalla’s entire scheduling and system will be disrupted if any

customer causes a delay in giving the dabba to him.

And secondly, if the dabbawalla falls ill or takes leave due to any reason,

there won’t be anyone to substitute his place and therefore, no backup. The

customers will be frustrated and will switch over to another dabbawalla if this

one has a habit of abstaining. That would be a great loss to the dabbawalla

and hence, his health also needs to be maintained. Even more than any other

dabbawalla who are working in groups. This is rather difficult considering the

rigorous working and the long hours involved.

As it is apparent enough, there is hardly any contact between the client and the

dabbawalla during each day. The dabbawalla meets the client in his office only on

the first day of delivery to verify the address and to show the spot where the Tiffin

37


will be kept daily. The system has been honed to such perfection that many

dabbawalla’s carry out the entire operation with the help of just the 1st code, which is

absolutely reversed. Evidently, this system is tailor-made specifically for a city like

Mumbai. Such a daily exercise can run successfully only in Mumbai due to following

factors:

Plentiful commuters who go to offices daily.

Presence of an efficient and wide spread railway network.

Large distance between residencies and work places.

An efficient and simple information system like the coding used by the

dabbawalla’s

38


Chapter 12

CODING

The origin of the dabbawalla’s a hundred years odd ago was as a service of Tiffin

carriage for the Parsi population. Soon, more and more people moved into the city

and the dabbawalla’s had to cater to people of various religions. The suburbs kept

going further and the patrons list kept getting longer. More and more carriers were

pressed into service and soon, there was a clash in functioning styles of various

groups. The number of tiffins increased for the dabbawalla’s as the days passed on.

As every Tiffin box had to be carried to and fro mapping each box to its carrier was

crucial or else it would lead to chaos. For this the dabbawalla’s started tying strings

or wires or threads to their boxes. But soon these methods were inadequate as the

number of tiffins grew exceptionally. Thus the need for a new form of coding came

up, which could be understood by the illiterate dabbawalla’s and was inexpensive.

Hence, in the 1970’s a senior member in Raghunath Medge’s family decided to

implement a new system where all the box codes and markings were uniform for the

dabbawalla’s. This system would cater to any number of tiffins no matter the growth

in additions. This was an ingenious creation. It served as a common code for the

dabbawalla’s which was easy to decipher.

That was the most important thing to remember while creating the codes. The

Dabbawalla’s, being illiterate should be able to understand it and explain it with ease

39


to new comers and outsiders.

This coding system eventually stood the test of time and proved extensible. With

coding in place, there was enough scope to factor in new developments like adding

new dabbawalla’s or new office blocks or new sources and destinations.

The new system depends on common protocols, a typical Indian approach to

versatile distribution. Each tiff in containing the food has, number of codes in

alphabets and numbers on its top which identify the following:

The code allotted to each dabbawalla in a group that picks up the Tiffin form

a particular area or suburb.

The code of the origin station, which is usually one of the suburbs on

western, central or harbour lines.

The code for destination, which is Churchgate, CST or any other

commercial area.

The code of the dabbawalla in the destination area who handles the Tiffin

there

The code for the location or office building in the destination area

The floor or the room in that building

Besides these that are displays on the top of the dabba there is also a difference in

the colour of paints or chalk that they use to write the codes. Different groups will

have different colour cod written on the top of the dabba so that the Tiffin belonging

40


to a group remains distinct. This is necessary because there is usually more than

just one group present at each station. The destination codes will be the same for all

groups at the same station. This makes it difficult to distinguish their tiffins, so the

simplest way of bringing the distinctions that is required is by coding with different

colours. This is a simple and easy way of differentiating the codes which is also easy

to understand for the illiterate dabbawalla’s. The maximum number of colour used

in this system is 7.

Incidentally each group of dabbawalla’s must also carry coloured pencils or chalks

so that they can write the codes if they have been erased or are difficult to interpret.

Obviously, each and every dabbawalla must know the coding system very well and

must also know all the dabba’s in his group with respect to the origin and

destination.

Let, us know look at a few examples of these codes on the tiffins to better

understand the system and what it all denotes

:

41


We can now separate each element that is written on the Tiffin cover or top for

understanding what it means. Let us follow the pattern anti-clockwise:-

VP – The first thing on the Tiffin is the code for the originating station. This is the

station from where the dabbawalla picks up the Tiffin in the morning. In this case, VP

denotes Vile Parle. The area under this station will include Juhu and also J.V.P.D

scheme since this is the only station, which is nearest. Even if the dabbawalla goes

to the most interior parts like in Juhu, it will not be mentioned in the coding simply

because the dabbawalla’s are just concerned about the respective railway stations.

E – This is the code for the dabbawalla who is picking up the Tiffin from its origin or

home. In this case, the dabbawalla with the code of ‘E’ will be a part of the group

distinguished by the colour code ‘RED’. In many instances, the code will be the initial

of the name of the dabbawalla. This is one of the elements that can be changed

during the course of time if the dabbawalla for that particular customer changes.

3 – This is the code for the destination area. This may not necessarily be restricted

to astation only. For instance, the Churchgate is allotted number codes from 1-10.

Number 11 is allotted to marine lines, 12 to Charni road and so on. In this example,

the number 3 is allotted to the area between flora fountain and cross Maidan area.

Other prime locations would include Nariman Point, stock exchange, Ballard pier,

RBI etc.

9 – VS – 12

9 – This is the code number for the dabbawalla who delivers the Tiffin to the

destination office from Churchgate station. This is the dabbawalla who is responsible

for delivering it to the respective office and picking it up after the lunch hours. He is a

part of another group from the one he worked with at the originating station. Thus, in

most cases, each dabbawalla will be a part of more than one group for sure, one at

the origin and one at the destination.

VS - This code denotes the exact location or more likely, the building’s initial in the

area that falls under Churchgate station. In this case, it is VSNL building. VS being

the initial for the building is unique and therefore, creates no confusion whatsoever

for the dabbawalla’s. Office buildings around southern Mumbai are very popular and

42


hence, easy to comprehend when given in codes. Other examples would be ‘M’ for

Mittal Towers,‘R’ for RBI, ‘MC’ for Maker Chambers and so on.

12 – finally, the last code among the three codes that form the right side of the top of

the dabba is the floor on the building (VSNL) or the room number in case of

buildings with large number of rooms on each floor. Such an example would be

Stock Exchange, RBI and BMC etc.

Let us take a second example with different locations so we can exactly figure out

how to comprehend the coding system.

GH – This again denotes the originating station code, which in this case is

Ghatkoper that is central line suburb. A dabbawalla will not usually work in two

different groups or switch groups based in central region to Western suburbs. Of

course, a dabbawalla, in all possibility can pick up Tiffin from a central suburb but

deliver it to an office based in the western lines and vice versa. In this case, the

origin is from a central suburb that is Ghatkopar.

D- In this case, the dabbawalla, who picks up the Tiffin from Ghatkopar area and

assembles with this group at the station, has a code ‘D’ as mentioned earlier, this

could be his initial or a random allotment.

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13 – This code is for the destination station and in this case, it represents Grant

Road. This being a smaller station as per the area it encompasses, requires just one

number for its designation. Churchgate and C.S.T are the only ones that have so

many numbers based on locations under them.

2 – P – 9

2 – The first part of the right side codes is the code of the dabbawalla at the

destination station. In this case, it is the dabbawalla with code 2 who is responsible

for delivering it to the respective office and picking it up after the lunch hours.

P - This code denotes the exact location or more likely, the building’s initial in the

area that falls under Grant Road station. ‘P’ stands for the ‘Panchratna’, which is

among the most famous buildings in south Bombay as it is home to one of the

largest diamond makers offices in the country. It is an old building and the

dabbawalla’s have been providing services over here ever since the city became a

diamond exporter and trading hub.

9 – finally, the last code among the three codes that form the right side of the top of

the dabba is the floor on the building (Panchratna) or the room number.

Therefore, we can link the coding system and its function in the entire network

process with fine example by taking the network process of the second example of

the coding system:

The sorting takes place at Ghatkopar station and the tiffins collected from the client’s

residences is kept with boxes that are bound for grant road station. This way it is

easier to offload them and dispatch them to the respective dabbawala who is

responsible for deliveries at grant road.

At grant road station, the carrier whose number is ‘2’, picks up all the boxes that are

marked for him and proceeds

At Panchratna, he leaves the tiffins outside the lifts or outsides the office on the 9 th

floor. During the lunch time, the client fetches the tiffins completes his lunch and puts

the empty tiffins back to the same place so that dabbawala can collect it easily .The

return journey follows the same route back.

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Chapter 13

DABBAWALLAS’ OPERATING ENVIRONMENT

Dabbawalla’s operating environment depends upon the route and the geographical

distance travelled by the dabbawalla’s. According to Medge, for many decades, the

labour-intensive textile mills in Mumbai made the single largest contribution to the

overall pool of dabbawalla customers. While the customer composition had recently

changed to include school children, the basic customer profile had remained

unchanged. The majority of dabbawalla customers comprised the Indian middle

class of fixed income earners. Approximately 4,000 dabbawalla’s daily served

workforce clients. Given the larger geographic spread of these clients from their

homes, dabbawalla’s typically employed bicycles, pushcarts and the Mumbai railway

to make these deliveries. Servicingschool children, on the other hand, did not require

the use of the railway system as most were located close to their residences, despite

the shorter distances for delivery, the dabbawalla’s charged more for these

deliveries since lunch timings and their pick-ups varied.

Dabbawalla’s had three primary lunch competitors’ fast-food chains, restaurants and

roadside vendors. Kamat and Udupi were chains of both fast-food counters and

restaurants located throughout Mumbai, catering to the lunch hour needs of their

customers. These local chains were in direct competition with global chains, such as

McDonalds, which entered the Mumbai market in 1997 Sociality food stalls, sans

frills, serving local favourites provided another lunch option for Mumbai’s workforce.

As did roadside vendors offering fast and efficient service and a varied lunch fare.

Lastly, some Mumbai companies – for tax shelter purposes offered their workers

lunch coupons that were redeemable at select food outlets known as “Ticket

Restaurant.”

Dabbawalla’s have a niche of their own. We do not any of them as competitors.

They prepare food, but we are not in the business of preparing food. We do not

manufacture. We only deliver. There is no other meal delivery service in Mumbai.

We work in a unique operating space where we have a monopoly.

There are several factors that favour the trust. First, people in Mumbai, given a

45


choice, seemed to prefer home-cooked food. Those who were already using the

dabbawalla service were not inclined to switch to other providers as lunch hour

routines were habit forming. Second, and perhaps most important, was the cost of

home-cooked lunches. Home-cooked food delivered by a dabbawalla almost always

cost far less than having lunch at a food counter or a restaurant. For instance, at

Nariman Point, Mumbai’s central downtown location, a vegetarian lunch, served in a

steel plate called a thali, purchased at a restaurant would cost Rs. 120. Further, a

combination of snacks that passed off for lunch at a fast-food counter would cost

about Rs. 30, while similar fare from a roadside vendor would cost Rs. 18. All these

options required that customers leave their workplace to eat food whose quality was

not assured. lunch delivered by a dabbawalla from a catering establishment would

cost an average of Rs. 20 (including Rs. 5 for delivery) Ahome-cooked lunch

delivered by the dabbawalla would cost the home-owner about Rs. 8, with the

majority of that cost paid for the dabbawalla delivery.

Some of the smaller courier firms, known in Mumbai as angadias, were viewed in

thelocal media as potential threats to the dabbawalla’s in terms of their ability to

develop a parallel delivery service. Medge was doubtful about this potential threat as

“an angadias would require an army of couriers to handle the meal delivery

business.” Mobilizing and motivating the requisite workforce would likely prove

challenging for angadias, many of whom were mom-and-pop businesses that lacked

the resources and skills to manage a substantially large business demand.

Larger courier firms operating in Mumbai, such as Blue Dart, DHL and FedEx, were

not interested in pursuing a service similar to that offered by the dabbawalla’s, given

the unique requirements of this type of delivery and their concerns about the inability

to extend this service beyond Mumbai.

The dabbawalla’s, as providers of these spaces and services, become minor

patrons of spirituality in the rural context. This has been acknowledged by the award

to the dabbawalla’s of the Shri Varkari Probhodhan Mahasamati Dindi (Palkhi)

Sohala in March, 2001.

The dabbawalla system has survived both the advent of the Udupi Restaurant a

cheap eating-out option and the closure of the textile mills in Mumbai which provided

46


a major chunk of its clientele.

In its clientele, the dabbawalla’s have reached out to students living in hostels (again

a privileged lot being nurtured by middle class parents), working women (whose

maid at home cooks the lunch for the dabba the use of the term working women in

Mumbai is ironically restricted to office-goers and the like and fails to consider maids

as working women) and aged people (living away from the nuclear family but within

the field of responsibility of the nuclear family).

Suburban railway network: Mumbai’s longitudinal-based geography provided a

great deal of latitude in logistics management because the movement of dabba’s

towards the various north to south destination points remained largely unhindered,

This helped in reducing the amount of food spoilage during delivery. The

dabbawalla’s made extensive use of Mumbai’s suburban railways network. Indeed

one popular saying in Mumbai was “If the local train is the lifeline of the city, then

the dabbawalla’s are the food line.” It was only on days when the suburban

railways grounded to a halt such as once or twice a year that monsoons flooded the

tracks that the dabba’s were not delivered .However,few recipients of the dabba’s

reached their workplaces when the railway system was not working. The railways

provided the most convenient and economical mode of transport for the dabba’s.

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Section II

Chapter 14

SWOT ANALYSIS

A SWOT analysis is very important for a thorough and complete analysis of the

dabbawalla’ssystem. Being over a 100 year old organization, it is bound to have

many strengths that are inherent in the system and it may also have certain

weaknesses arising out of conventional technology. There will be several

opportunities since it s such an open organization and its performance is also always

visible to everyone. Lastly there will surely be certain threats to this system.

Increasing competition from various other means and sources that provide similar or

substitute services to commuters will also have a great impact on the organization.

Let us now look at each aspect of the analysis and hence take a better picture of the

dabbawalla’s system.

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STRENGTHS

Simplicity in organization - The organizational structure is very simple. It is a loose

cooperative with the entire organization divided into Strategic business Units

(SBUs). I.e. groups of 10- 20 individual dabbawalla’s. These groups are responsible

for their own sources of money and have to maintain their own accounts if required.

Therefore, they are financially independent. With relatively medium income levels

and greater levels of customer satisfaction, this Organization does not at all need a

rigid operating structure.

Coordination - The groups although independent as far as money matters are

concerned, work very smoothly and effectively with each other. Not only is the

coordination within the group perfect but also the coordination among different

groups is really remarkable. Agroup responsible for a particular area in Andheri will

effectively coordinate with other groups on the way to Churchgate station and will

gradually. The individuals will merge into other groups for delivery. The effectiveness

of coordination can best be seen during the sorting process. There is no rivalry

whatsoever among different groups and the functioning is smooth and problem free.

Integrated working - A large number of groups coordinate among themselves and

dabbawalla’s change their groups for picking up and dispatching at the origin and

destination Stations, they can practically work with the same efficiency in any group.

This makes the end result extremely efficient and the customer satisfaction is also

high. The basic reason for this is the integrated working pattern. A highly accurate

and efficient coding system along with the efficient system of local trains leads to a

complete integration of the working of all groups at various stations. A single

Dabbawala is never completely devoted to one single group or one single Tiffin box.

Therefore, this integration goes a long way in asserting the success of the system.

Team Spirit - All the dabbawalla’s mostly operate in groups that are actually

functioning as a team does in any sport. They have a daily routing to complete which

is like a mission to accomplish within a stipulated time. External factors such as

weather elements, crowd, disputes with outsiders etc.., are all neglected then it

comes to performing the duty first because of the time constraint. Every dabbawala

knows that he must work effectively in the team in order to complete the job

49


successfully. Another reason for the great team spirit is that most dabbawalla’s are

from the same region and community and therefore, it’s like a huge family that is

working together to earn a livelihood. Disputes are often for a short period only and

they get back to working with everyone in a very friendly way. Cooperation is the key

element here. Apart from the advantages that one drives by working in a group.

People prefer to work in a group simply because it is a team whichpools all the

efforts and gives the most efficient overall output in terms of productivity and

efficiency.

Simple character – The dabbawalla’s are basically a part of a large community that

was the direct descendent of Shivaji Maharaj‘s work force and army. Therefore, their

origins date back to the glory days of the region and hence, their nature is

essentially simple and orthodox. Rather. One can say that they seem to be like

simple, cheerful and humble folk. But this is lighter side of the dabbawalla who is like

a military personnel carrying out the duties with immense hard work and agility. At

work, they perform like a ruthless army with a mission to achieve victory by racing

against time. their daily agenda, if experimented by the common man in practically

will not only exhaust him but will make him have more and more respect for the

great army Tiffin carriers who have such a vigorous daily exercise to perform.

Whenever they have an opportunity or have time inhand, like during lunch or while

sitting in the train during the journeys, the dabbawalla’s show their true nature and

simplicity in character by sharing some light moments. They are cheerful, joyous and

relaxed folk.

Difficult characteristics to believe if one were to simply see the way they work. But by

simply travelling with them for a day, one can make out that they welcome strangers

whoare willing to know more about them and want to talk to them. They are also

very inquisitive about the happening around the world. Be it the technology in new

gadgets, sports, politics and products that have been introduced in the market. They

are quite intelligent as a matter of fact, due to their inquisition. They are very

cooperative and cheerful and when interacted. There is no cunningness or malice for

anyone and are satisfied with whatever they earn out of the hard work. During the

hectic day they will always manage to get a couple of good laughs over matters that

50


would seem ambiguous or childish to us.

Low Operation Cost - The costs involved in carrying out the daily routines are very

low if you compare it to any logistical company. The main expenditure is on their

travelling only which too, is by the cheapest and fastest mode of transport in the city.

Besides trains, they operate on bicycles or on foot which is also very cheap. Bicycles

require negligible expenses because they are easy to maintain. The information

system is neither computerized nor does it involve paper work. It is simply done by

marking codes on the top oh the Tiffins with coloured pencils or paint or chalk. The

money matters are handled individually by the groups and therefore the incomes

and common expenses are borne by the groups itself. It is difficult to find any other

organization that operates on such a large scale and yet is so cost efficient.

Conventional working methods - the working methodology of the dabbawalla’s is

totally conventional. It consists of non-technology based techniques and yet is very

efficient. There is absolutely no computerization involved in maintaining client

accounts, the systematic networking of tiffins carriage, in maintaining records of the

number of dabbawalla’s the number of absentees or even complaints. All this is

handled individually by the respective groups. For the number of tiffins allotted, each

dabbawalla is responsible for collecting the money from his clients. And he has to

handle their complaints too. If there are major disputes they have to resolve during

the monthly meetings held at Dadar. That are convened by the association, there is

no paperwork involved as well. All the transport logistics, clients account, Tiffin

allocation etc are handled without any book keeping or by maintaining records. All

the functions are discussed within the group initially and the same is carried out

regularly. There is no change in their working method at all. All principles and

methods have been predefined and have been kept simple enough to avoid any

need of automation or complexity Considering all these factors, it is laudable that the

dabbawalla still manage all the deliveries, client accounts and differences in income

and expenditure so efficiently. Customer satisfaction - The clients of the

dabbawalla’s are an extremely satisfied lot. They have no disputes with the

dabbawalla’s as matters can be resolved face to face and in most cases, the

dabbawalla’s policy makes things simpler. If in a particular case the client’s Tiffin

51


gets misplaced or lost, the dabbawala takes the responsibility irrespective of the fact

that another carrier working in the destination area might have lost the dabba. It was

primarily the responsibility of the dabbawala who is under the respective client’s

contract to ensure the safety of the Tiffin. He has taken his own decision to delegate

the job of delivery to another member and hence, he has to bear the loss for the

misplaced Tiffin - box. Therefore this policy being simple as it is the client is quite

satisfied because there are no disputes and claim issues. In other cases such as

leaves, the dabbawala would usually intimate the group members about his being

unable to attend the duties on a particular day and hence, the backup member

would catty out the duty on his behalf. Therefore, because of the absence of the

usual dabbawalla, the client is not totally deprived of the services, as there is a back

up in the most cases. Other leaves include the week long holiday that all

dabbawalla’s take to attend the annual festival at their village. This information is

provided to the client before hand, and is intimated one week in advance. So that is

not inconvenient at last moment.

WEAKNESSES

Funds for the association - The association has very limited funds for the

organization. Every dabbawalla has to deposit Rs. 15 every month to the

association. With around 4,500 dabbawalla’s working that would amount to Rs.

67,500 for the association per month that translates to over Rs. 8 lakhs. With this

fund, the association has to maintain all the pilgrimage places where it has set tip

dharamshalas. It also has to sponsor certain welfare benefits to the dabbawalla in

terms of medical aid and financial aid to the family members of the dabbawala

involved in an accident. The association can accumulate more funds and allocate

them for programs such as children education, upliftment of communities at village

level and other well benefits. But this shortage of funds hinders these possibilities.

High dependability on local trains - The entire dabbawala network, barring a few

who function independently on bicycles, is totally dependent on the functioning of the

railways. They work only if the train works. Therefore, during the bandh or

railwaystrikes, the dabbawalla’s call off their duties, Of course, the customers do

understand the problem and the case of the dabbawalla’s taking an off due to non -

52


functioning of railways is again, a rare case. The local trains of Mumbai do not stop

in case of heavy monsoons or even during riots. The trains are hence, very efficient

in their daily functionality. This enables thedabbawalla’s to perform their operations

regularly enough. But the underlined fact is that they function only when the trains

function and therefore their over dependence on the railway net work is an

undeniable weakness.

Illiteracy - the majority of the members of’ the dabbawala association can only

manage to sign their names. They are unable to read or write in English. This poses

as a major problem in case the individual leaves the association and has look at an

alternative profession. His inability to write will then pose a problem to his own

survival. The association does not take any up any initiative to educate the

dabbawalla’s. As a part of its welfare and social commitment, education is absent

from the agenda. But the dabbawalla’s do manage to carry out their operations with

their limited ability to read and write. They are able to comprehend the codes

imprinted on the tiffins. If they are totally illiterate, they ale trained to that level but in

most cases, the dabbawalla’s do not require this kind of training because the

association has set a minimum criterion for the applicants who want to join the

association. They must be able to understand the basic alphabets and numbers.

Unfortunately in today’s times it is necessary to acquire proper knowledge and

education to secure one’s future. Not all dabbawalla’s work till they are 65 or 70

years old and therefore they require the knowledge to support themselves. Thus, it is

definitely a weak point.

OPPORTUNITIES

Advertising - the dabbawalla’s have been approached by various companies before

for advertising on the Tiffin’s the most famous and successful campaign to date has

been the ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ advertisement. Star Plus approached the

organisation and offered a meagre amount of Rs.10, 000 for pasting its stickers on

every Tiffin box. This is incidentally the standard rate the association charges from

every company that wishes to advertise. The ‘9 baj gaye kya?‘ campaign was a

great success as all office goers would notice this on their Tiffin boxes everyday and

would hence remember to watch the programme 9 pm every night. It had great recall

53


value at that time. Thus, association has several more opportunities to grab in form

of additional revenue that arises from these ads. It caters to over 1, 50,000 people

everyday and the cost for the advertising is also minute compared to the exposure

that it offers. The contract would be on a weekly basis or a month basis.

Other cities - The dabbawalla network could also work in other cities but in a

smaller scale. Cities like Pune already have a small network of dabbawalla’s who

operate on

bicycles only. There is definitely a source of income in such cities as there is a huge

market. Although, the absence of a efficient railway network that is gifted to Mumbai

city exclusively could pose a problem, it is nevertheless quite possible to operate on

a medium scale compared to Mumbai. Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad,

Ahmedabad etc are few cities where office goers have to commute daily to their

work places also, the dabbawalla’s can cater to the needs of school going children. It

will be a more rigorous exercise if the dabbawalla’s were to travel by bicycle across

the length and breadth of cities but small cities such as Pune can be manageable

and then cities like Delhi now have the Metro Rail as an efficient means of transport.

Thus, these cities are a great opportunity for the dabbawalla’s to expand their

service network.

Catering – considering the increasing competition from restaurants and catering

services, the dabbawalla’s also can, in a small way, start their own catering service

for customers. There are a large number of customers who find it difficult to prepare

the lunch early in the morning. Especially in the case of working women who have to

prepare lunch for their husband and her self and also to manage to reach the office

on time. In such cases, if there could be the convenience of catering as well as

delivery services. It would be an ideal benefit to many customers. The dabbawalla’s

can manage the catering at a central location (e.g. Dadar) and then, a few of the

dabbawalla’s can pick up the tiffins from the catering centre and deliver them to

various offices. In this manner, the customers can get the benefit of warm food at the

lunch hour and without undergoing the pain of preparing lunch early in the morning

while managing other affairs. This in fact, is one of the biggest opportunities for the

dabbawalla’s to tap.

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THREATS

The business of the dabbawalla’s has to withstand major shocks during the last

decade. Textile Industry Shutdown – a major chunk of the clientele was lost with

the closure of the textile mills in Mumbai. These mills constituted a huge labour force

and thus their closure was a severe blow to dabbawalla’s.

Change in Timings – many of the city’s banks changed their timings from 10:30 hrs

to 11:00 hrs. The RBI employees was used to leave for work at 9:00 am previously

and so there were crates of tiffins leaving from colonies but after the change in

timings, they can leave an hour later and take their lunch with them as they have

sufficient time for preparation. Company Transport – the main benefit that the

dabbawalla serve for the most office goers is the convenience of going hands free to

work by trains during the rush hours but now many of the companies has started

pick up and delivery us service for their employees. This again, is a loss of clientele

for the dabbawalla’s

Subsidized Lunch – many of the schools and companies are now of offering

subsidized lunch in their in-house canteens. Hence, the students and employees

Don’t have to carry tiffins anymore.

Catering Services - these services pose the biggest threat to the

dabbawalla’s.Private organizations provide cheap food delivered hot and fresh.

Usually, they charge anything between Rs.20 per Tiffin to Rs.40 per Tiffin. This price

is inclusive of food and delivery!! Predatory pricing one might say but it works

brilliantly with people who are willing to compromise with home cooked food.

Eatery Stalls - while eating trends have changed and so there is a decrease in the

demand for the dabbawala’s service. The number of eating options has increased

drastically. Not only restaurants but cheaper outlets serving a variety of meals are

now a flourishing business. These stalls and outlets prepare huge vessels filled with

a complete meal and sell it for merely Rs. 15 only! Briyanis, fish curry, rice plate,

Chinese food etc are among the variety of’ cuisines offered at really cheap rates.

Almost every lane in downtown Mumbai has some outlet or the other. People get

used to the taste and do not care too much about the quality. In most cases, the

quality is genuinely good in case of meals that are pre - cooked and served. Ticket

55


Restaurant – many offices have started using coupons to their employees which are

valid at particular restaurants they’re known as Ticket Restaurants. Employee

canenjoy restaurant grade food at the company’s expense. Smoking Joes, Shiv

Sagar, Copper chimney etc are some of the ticket restaurants.

Over comings these threats is a great challenge for the dabbawala’s. In most cases,

it is impossible for them to substitute the eatery stalls and subsidized food offered by

companies but the advantage to them still remains that their customers can get

warm home cooked food at the lunch hour.

56


Chapter 15

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

The Dabbawalla’s are known and recognized for its negligible number of

transactional errors. We now discuss in detail what is behind such an outstanding

performance.

Flexible Infrastructure: The back bone of Dabbawalla’s is the higher frequency of

sub-urban train services. There is a train service virtually every minute. The entire

operational area of Dabbawalla’s is serviced by the well developed rail-way

infrastructure. Further, the train services are inexpensively priced.

Customer Co-operation: The members of the co-operative do not wait for lunch

boxes, if they are not ready when they arrive for collection at residences. The

household understands the need to be punctual to support i.e. functioning of

Dabbawalla’s and extend appropriate co-operation.

Appropriate Network Structure : The logistics network of Dabbawalla’s is

acombination of milkman route, hub-hub transfer, and hub and spoke distribution.

There is perfect symmetry in the reverse logistics operation.

Codification system: The codification system is the core to material flow and its

tracking in the system. It is home grown, ad hoc but serves adequately the purpose

for which it is designed. It is a combination of alphabets, symbols and colour. It is

unique to Dabbawalla’s. The codification is a combination of systems approach and

personalized information available to members. It is specific to the extent required.

Topography: The Dabbawalla’s have evolved in the context of Mumbai city. The

operational area topography is linear. At the origination it is dispersed over a large

area. At the destination it is concentrated on a smaller geographical area. The traffic

pattern is characterized by low volume spread over larger area to high volume

spread over small area. Process Capability: The total time required from collection

to delivery is about 3 hours. End to end (conservative) travel time - 1.30 hrs. Travel

time to the nearest railway stationat the origin 30 mts. sorting and material handling

etc. - 30 mts. and final dispatch - 30mts. All this adds up to 3 hours. However, the

57


time available for end-end delivery is at least 4 hours. Thus the Dabbawalla’s

process is inherently capable of meeting customer expectations and specifications.

Further, the delivery of the lunch boxes is consolidated at the floor level at the

consumer location. In a place like Mumbai, this saves significant time, energy and

possible complications. The customers also participate in the last step of the (lunch

box) delivery process. Further, it makes no difference to the customer (on time

dimension) as long as the delivery is made before 1300 hrs.

Transport economics: The public infrastructure (sub-urban rail network) is used to

deliver lunch boxes. This keeps the cost low, and hence affordable price to

consumers. Lower price induces volume and scale economics. Depending on the

need (at the origin and destination locations) the allocation of manpower is dynamic

and flexible. There aremore members to handle large volume at destination. At

collection centers it is more of spread and appropriate volume and member

ownership. Every customer location is identified with a team member. It is his

(members) responsibility to collect lunch boxes and return empty boxes back home.

The codification system incorporates this specific need. Actually the Dabbawalla’s

assign specific collection routes to individual members.

Redundancy: Each route (collection) is assigned to an individual member. Often,

this information on collection route is know11 to every other member in the team.

Should there be a need to substitute a member on collection route it can be done

effortlessly, without affecting the collection process and its accuracy.

Coordination: The responsibility to collect, transport and deliver lunch boxes is at

the individual member level. There are no managers or supervisors in the system.

Every member is motivated, trained, disciplined and empowered to do his job to the

best of his ability.

Structure: The structure is decentralized. The model is scalable (on volume). It is a

three tier structure, co-operative organization. The basic units are individuals, teams

and groups. There are in all 120 business units.

Compensation: Compensation in a group is same to every member irrespective of

work load and responsibility.

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CHAPTER 16

LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THE DABBAWALLA’S

The Dabbawalla’s provide illustrations of several well known world class business

practices. It has all the salient features of a brilliant business strategy. We first

discuss briefly the elegant management practices and then outline the business

strategy.

Structure and Organization: The Dabbawalla’s is organized as a co-operative

structure to symbolize equality and fairness. The three tier structure is readily

scalable based on business opportunity and volume. It eminently suits the attention

needed at specific territories (group level). It ensures attention to detail and

decentralization (at optimal resource deployment) at the team level. The team is

nothing but a confederation of members. Each member is associated with a route. In

this sense, the revenue opportunity is well integrated with the organization structure.

The scale and scope economics are managed respectively by the teams and

groups. The present structure is an optimal way of delivering centralized planning

and decentralized execution of business services.

Codification System : This pragmatic codification system ensures complete

traceability of lunch boxes in the system. It enables material flow and tracking of

individual boxes by detailed information. It is inexpensive, less elegant, yet detailed

enough to support operations. It integrates the knowledge and information of

individual members on route, origin, handling agent, destination address etc. In a

sense it is a variation of an online transaction processing system to identify and track

material in (such) a large system

HR Practices: The Dabbawalla’s is built on (members) pride in work. The members

do not consider themselves as logistics (operation) providers. They consider their

job is to provide food to their customers. This is source of pride for them. It is a great

motivator to improve and sustain their performance. The members belong to a

homogeneous (ethnic) group. There is a well developed apprenticeship program.

Compensation: The compensation is same at the group level. Equal work equal

pay. There is no subsidy since group is a homogeneous and logically a

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differentiating entity.

Redundancy: The team members have slack capacity. Substitutability among

members in a team is easy. Flexible manpower deployment at the destination

ensures operationalaccuracy. More than one team operating in an originating train

station ensures internal competition and operational efficiency.

Fun and Work Mix: After delivery of lunch boxes, the members break away from

work to enjoy their leisure time. There is a one week forced holiday every year to

visit their (member) villages. Mutual respect for individuals and empowerment are

reinforcing features. Members are expected to conduct themselves to earn respect

from public. They were uniform while at work.

Transportation Economics: Dabbawalla’s is an example of a judicious mix of

transportation economics. At the collection point it is a milk man route structure. This

is supported by a hub-hub transfer to handle large volume at reduced operational

cost. At the destination, it is hub to spoke to ensure response time and handle

volume flexibility. The rail infrastructure ensures flexibility and lower cost of

operation. Flexible manpower deployment and codification system guarantee

appropriate response time, smooth flow of information and material tracking in the

system.

Inspite of death the delivery is impeccable: Some months ago, a dabbawalla

waiting on his bicycle at a traffic light was hurled off the road by a lorry gone berserk

and was smashed to death. Yet, even in such an extreme situation, his quota of

dabba’s was delivered. News travels fast on the network. The Mukadam got to hear

of the accident within minutes and contracted the secretary of the Association (who

patrols the city for just this kind of emergency), asked him to look after the police

formalities, collected the dead man's dabba’s, and being familiar with the symbols,

got them to their destination — just 30 minutes late. Bombay's salute to its

dabbawalla's, as you see, is well deserved.

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CHAPTER 17

NETWORK MANAGEMENT: LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN

MANAGEMENT

About Logistics

Logistics is happening around the globe, 24 hours of every day seven days a week

during 52 weeks a year. It is difficult to visualize accomplishing any marketing or

manufacturing anything without logistical support.

Logistics has been performed since the beginning of civilization. However,

implementing best practice of logistics has become one of the most exciting and

challenging operational areas of business and public sector management.

Logistics is concerned with getting products and services where they are needed

when they are desired. The operating responsibility of logistics is geographical

positioning of raw materials, work in progress and finished inventories where

required at the lowest cost possible. Logistics involves integration of information,

transportation, and inventory. Warehousing, internal handling, and packaging. All of

these areas of work provide a variety of stimulating jobs the overall goal being to

achieve targeted level of customer service at the lowest possible cost.

Logistical competency is achieved by coordinating the following:

Network Design

Information

Transportation

Inventory

Warehousing, material handling, and packaging.

Two qualifications are important when discussing logistical work from point of single

enterprise. First, all firms require the support co-operation of many other businesses

to compete in the overall logistical process. Second, there are service firms that

perform logistical work on behalf of their customers such as transportation carriers.

Logistics management is a field of management, which primarily deals with the

coordination or resources of in an organization. Logistics management focuses on

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an organization as a whole and not on individual units and departments while

deciding the allocation of resources men, money materials, machines and time.

It is through the logistical process that the materials flow into the vast

manufacturingcapacity of an individual nation and products are distributed through

marketing channels to consumers. The problem of logistics management becomes

increasingly complex as the volume of business increases, and as the distances

between the procurement centre, production centre and market consumption centre

increase.

The overall goal being to achieve targeted level of customer service at the minimum

possible cost. Logistics involves detailed and complex work. Logistics managers are

responsible for planning and administrating this work. Thus logistics management is

defined as under:

Definition of Logistics

The definition of logistics adopted by the Council of Logistics Management is “the

process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and

storage of goods, services, and related information from point of origin to point of

consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements.”

Note that this definition includes inbound, outbound, internal, and external

movements, and return of materials for environmental purposes.

The Logic of Logistics Transportation is vital to logistics and supply chain success.

Yet by defining yourself solely as a freight company, you’re essentially defining

yourself as a commodity service. And with a commodity, the only way to distinguish

one companyfrom another is price. That can be a dangerous, myopic alternative.

As a logistics service provider, you expand what you offer the customer. You may

provide a warehousing service, for example. But it is not a separate, discrete

service. It is integrated in with your transportation. You may integrate with your

customer’s systems towork with him to manage the movement of products to meet

production or customer requirements.

When mulling the pros and cons of a move towards logistics, consider the

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following:

As a commodity service, you’re vulnerable and can be replaced by your

customers. As a logistics provider, you’re integrated into your supplier

Replacing you isn’t so easy.

Many customers issue bid requests and select largely on price. Some

readily drop carriers over rates.

Career advancement in your customers’ logistics departments requires a

rounded experience of responsibilities and promotions. Often the way to

accomplish this is to change companies. This turnover of logistics decision

makers can create adangerous situation for incumbent carriers. The new

executive wants to be asuccess and may bring his own set of preferred

carriers with him.

Logistics departments aren’t staffed as they once were. They’re looking for

service providers who can do more and make their job easier.

Of course, providing a logistics service means more than putting the word “logistics”

in Your company name. It means offering truly integrated services. One that is

tailored to meet the specific needs and requirement of each customer, a customized

service rather than a homogenized service.

Developing that service can be difficult. Intermodal companies aren’t used to

thinking in terms of tailored and integrated service. This is true whether you’re

looking at how to sell it, how to design it or how to implement and operate it. You

may need to call in outside consultants to work with you and your customer. But if

done properly, the effort will be worth it to your bottom line.

One last hint and this applies whether you explore logistics as a separate third-

party company or as opportunities arise with customers: look at the small and

medium-sized businesses. Everyone chases the major corporations, yet small

businesses comprise by far the majority of companies in the U.S. The next time

you’re making your pitch at some corporate HQ, think about all the small businesses

you drove by on the way in.

About Supply Chain Management

A supply chain is the process of moving goods from the customer order through the

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raw materials stage, supply, production, and distribution of products to the customer.

Allorganizations have supply chains of varying degree’s, depending upon the size of

the organization and the type of product manufactured. These networks obtain

supplies and components, change these materials into finished products and then

distribute them to the customer.

Managing the chain of events in this process is what is known as supply chain

management. Effective management must take into account coordinating all the

different pieces of this chain as quickly as possible without losing any of the quality

or customer satisfaction, while still keeping costs down.

The first step is obtaining a customer order, followed by production, storage and

distribution of products and supplies to the customer site. Customer satisfaction is

paramount. Included in this supply chain process are customer orders, order

processing, inventory, scheduling, transportation, storage, and customer service. A

necessity in coordinating all these activities is the information service network.

In addition, key to the success of a supply chain is the speed in which these

activities canbe accomplished and the realization that customer needs and customer

satisfaction are the very reasons for the network. Reduced inventories, lower

operating costs, productavailability and customer satisfaction are all benefits which

grow out of effective supply chain management.

The decisions associated with supply chain management cover both the long-term

and short-term. Strategic decisions deal with corporate policies, and look at overall

design andsupply chain structure. Operational decisions are those dealing with

every day activities and problems of an organization. Therefore, an organization

must structure the supply chain through long-term analysis and at the same time

focus on the day-to-day activities. Furthermore, market demands, customer service,

transport considerations, and pricing constraints all must be understood in order to

structure the supply chain effectively. These are all factors, which change constantly

and sometimes unexpectedly, and an organizationmust realize this fact and be

prepared to structure the supply chain accordingly.

Structuring the supply chain requires an understanding of the demand patterns,

service level requirements, distance considerations, cost elements and other related

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factors. It is easy to see that these factors are highly variable in nature and this

variability needs to be considered during the supply chain analysis process.

Moreover, the interplay of these complex considerations could have a significant

bearing on the outcome of the supply chain analysis process. There are six key

elements to a supply chain:

Production

Supply

Inventory

Location

Transportation, and

Information

The Issues

The supply chain has also been called the value chain and the service chain,

depending on the “fad of the moment”, or sometimes, we think, the weather, or sun

spot activity. Just like anything else, supply chain management is no panacea, nor

should it be embraced as a religion. It is an operational strategy that, if implemented

properly, will provide a new dimension to competing: quickly introducing new

customized high quality products and delivering them with unprecedented lead

times, swift decisions, and manufacturing products with high velocity. Software

companies have jumped on the bandwagon and attempted to claim SCM as their

own. Information transfer is critical to swiftly moving parts through the chain of

processes, but information is only one of six key elements.

Definition of Supply chain Management (SCM)

The definition of supply chain management adopted by the Ohio State University’s

Global SCM Forum is “the integration of business processes from end user through

original suppliers that provide products, services, and information that add value for

customers.”

Integration of Logistics and the Supply-Chain

Logistics is the time-related positioning of resource, or the strategic management of

the total supply-chain.

The supply-chain is a sequence of events intended to satisfy a customer It can

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include procurement, manufacture, distribution, and waste disposal, together with

associated transport, storage and information technology .

The application of logistics is essential to the efficient management of the supply-

chain Transport is an integral part of the supply-chain, not only between the

sequence of events but during the processes.

Transportation, Containerization and Consolidation

Transportation

Many factors contribute to economic and social progress but mobility is especially

important because the ingredients of a satisfactory life, from food and health to

educationand employment, are generally available only if there is adequate means

of moving people, goods FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER PLACE over lands,

rivers, canals, lakes, seas and oceans by using vehicles moving on road, rail, water

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and air. This means “ All biological laws support perishing of human beings with the

first ‘Ice Age’. The mainreason for their survival was development of a healthy habit

of accepting the challenge of nature at each and every step of development. The

discovery of fire no doubt, was an important achievement but it is also right to

mention that all inventions made so far, the wheel is probably the most important

with far reaching efforts, Over 5000 years ago, the wheel was first invented in

Mesopotamia. The new invention soon spread over the world like wild fire. At the

outset, the Middle East and Egypt and later Europe and other of Globe module of

wheel were used for different purposes. In true sense, this new invention npromoted

a new concept of development in which “Speed” could receive and over riding

priority.

A well-managed system of transport acts as a catalyst of economic transformation.

In India or elsewhere the greatest revolution in road transport took place with advent

mechanized road vehicle. Of late, we find transport the de-facto barometer of social,

economic and commercial progress. It has been successful in transporting the entire

unit moved on road through sea and air across the oceans and continents. Transport

is not an end in itself but a means to an end that is enabling goods to get to a place

where they will be of a great value. The primary aim of transport is to add utility of

place. In other words each stage of the process from production to consumption

adds value to the product, adds to its utility of place.

Transport is the lifeline of any country. Development of a country to the large extent

depends on the infrastructure and the feasibility to connect places. To achieve

economy in pricing easier availability of goods and products and easy access to far

flung and to distant, places, land transport plays vital role. The fundamentals of

transport economics rely mainly on reduction and elimination of wastage and making

the process of providing transport cost efficient.

Even after 53 years of independence the country’s infrastructure link connecting

business places is yet to develop fully. Road set-up even on the national highways is

not up to international standards. Rising fuel prices, unsatisfactory condition of

roads, environmental hazards of fuel to fire. Need of the hour therefore is to

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compliment land coordinate the expertise and experience of all modes of transport to

mutual and social benefits ultimately the customer/consumer (industry in this case)

is the king and his satisfaction should be the only measure, but joining hands pooling

resources and identifying the strength of each mode to develop the transport sector

as a whole.

The main operating objective of transport is to move goods from one place to

another. Moving goods from place to place should be undertaken safely,

economically and to the proposed time-table (schedule); this does not mean that the

fastest possible speed by consistent with the price and quality of service is readily on

offer.

Given a facility of network and information capability, transportation is the

operational area of logistics that geographically positions inventory. Because of its

fundamental importance, visible cost transportation has received considerable

managerial attentionover the years. Transportation requirements can be

accomplished in 3 basic ways as follows

Private fleet of equipment.

Arranging a contract with specialist.

Common carriage.

These three forms of transportation are typically referred to as private contract

andcommon carriage. From the logistical viewpoint, three factors fundamental to

transportation performance are cost, speed and consistency.

The cost of transportation is the payments for movements between two

geographical locations and expenses related to administration and maintaining in

transit inventory. Logistical systems should be designed to utilize transportation that

minimizes total system cost. This means that the least expensive transportation

does not always result in the total cost of movement.

We can relate it with the Dabbawalla’s since the cost of transportation in here is

nominal as they travel mostly by trains and while on roads they have their own

bicycles, handcarts etc. Speed of transportation is the time required to complete a

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specific movement. Speed & cost of transportation are related in two ways. Firstly

transportation firms capable of providing faster service, typically charge higher rates

and secondly, the faster thetransportation service, the shorter the time interval

during which inventory is m transit and unavailable Thus, a critical aspect of

selecting the most desirable method of transportation is to work out a best

balance/compromise between speed and cost of service matched with demand of

consumption keeping minimum inventories.

We can relate it with the Dabbawalla’s since they have the maximum speed for

transportation, because it is seen in their efficiency to reach a long route through

minimal amount of time.

Consistency of transportation refers to variations in time required to perform a

specific movement over a number of shipments. Consistency is the reflection of the

dependability of transportation. For years, transportation managers have considered

consistency the most important characteristic of quality transportation. If a given

movement takes 2 days one time and six days the next the unexpected variance can

create serious logistical operational problems. If transportation lacks consistency,

inventory safety stocks will be required to protect against unpredictable service

breakdowns. Transportation consistencyaffects both the seller’s and buyers overall

inventory commitment and risk. With the advent of the new information technology to

control and report shipment status, logistics manger has begun to seek faster

service while maintaining consistency.

We can relate it with the Dabbawalla’s a they have maximum consistency in their

work they do not let the Tiffin’s to pile up at one place for more than 2 hours at one

place as soon as the concerned person receives his own stock of Tiffin’s he

dispatches them accordingly.

Transportation is one of the most visible elements of logistics operation. It noted that

10 - 20 percent of the material cost is transportation cost. The logistician’s view of

transportation services has changed dramatically during the last fifteen years. Prior

tofederal deregulation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, transportation service

offerings were restricted and rates were relatively fixed. In this environment, the

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logistician’s role could be likened to a purchaser of any other commodity such as

coal or grain. There was very little differentiation among suppliers of transportation

terms of either quality or price.

De-regulation allowed more pricing flexibility for carriers and also significantly

reduced restrictions on transportation services and relationships require today’s

logistician to be more proactive in identifying the most desirable combination of

carrier services and pricing structures to meet the firm’s objectives.

A wider range of transportation alternatives exists today for product or raw material

movement than ever before. For example, a firm may consider for hire

transportation, private transportation, or a variety of f contractual arrangements with

different transport specialists.

Transport Functionality

Transportation is one of the most visible logistics operations, as customers we are

accustomed to seeing trucks and trains moving product or parked at distribution

facility. While this experience provides good visual understanding of transportation

elements, it doesn’t allow the necessary depth of knowledge to understand

transportation’s role in logistics operation. In order to establish the foundation

reviewing the functionality provided by transportation and principles of transport

operations is essential.

Transport functionality provides two major functions: product movement and storage.

Product Movement

Whether the product is in the form of materials, components, assemblies, work in

process, or finished goods, transportation is necessary to move it to the next stage

of the manufacturing process or physically closer to the ultimate customer. A primary

transportation function is product movement up and down the value chain. Since

transportation utilizes temporal, financial, and environmental resources, it is

important that items be moved only when it truly enhances product value.

Transportation involves the use of temporal resources because product is

inaccessible during the transportation process. Such product, commonly referred to

as in transit inventory, is becoming a significant consideration as a variety of supply

chain strategies such as just in —time and quick response practices reduce

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manufacturing distribution centre inventories.

Transportation uses financial resources because internal expenditures are

necessary for private fleets or external expenditures are required for commercial or

public transportation. Expenses result from driver labour, vehicle operating cost, and

some allocation for general and administrative costs. In addition, consideration of

other expenses resulting product loss or damage must be made.

Transportation uses environmental resources both directly and indirectly. In direct

terms, it is one of the world’s largest consumers of energy (i.e. fuel & oil); indirectly

transportation creates environmental expense through congestion, air and noise

pollution.

The major objective of transportation is to move product from origin location to

aprescribed destination while minimizing temporal, financial and environmental

resourcecost, loss and damage expenses must also be minimized. At the same

time, the movement must take place in a manner that meets customer demands

regarding deliveryperformance and shipment information availability.

As seen in case of the Dabbawalla’s, they have a unique way of transportation by

the maximum use of Mumbai city’s lifeline the railways and also while on roads the

usage of handcarts, bicycles etc.

Product Storage

A less common transportation function is temporary storage. Vehicles make

otherexpensive storage facilities. However if the in transit product requires storage

but will be moved again shortly, the cost of unloading and reloading the product in a

warehouse mayexceed the per diem (daily) charge of storage in the transportation

vehicle. But the costly product storage cost may be justified from the total cost or

performance perspective when loading or unloading costs, capacity constraints, or

the ability to extend lead times is considered.

In circumstances warehouse space is limited; utilizing transporting vehicle may be of

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viable option. One method involves loading products on the vehicle and the having it

take a circuitous or indirect route to its destination. With a circuitous, transit times is

greater than with a more direct route. This is desirable when the origin or

destinationwarehouse has limited storage capacity. In essence, the transportation

vehicle is being used, as a temporary storage option but is moving rather than sitting

idle.

A second method to achieve temporary product storage is diversion. This occurs

when an original shipment destination is changed while delivery is in transit. For

example, suppose a product is initially scheduled to be shift from Chicago to Los

Angles. However, if during the delivery process it is determined that San Francisco

is in greater need of the product or has available storage capacity, the product could

be diverted to the direct diversion strategies. Today, satellite communication

between enterprise headquarters and vehicle more efficiently handle the task.

As seen in case of the Dabbawalla’s, they normally store the tiffins to be transported

in metal containers, this is temporary storage, then the Tiffin’s are consolidated in a

large wooden box to be transported through railways.

Containerization

The container as the name implies is equipment used to store and carry goods.

Containerization - The Concept of ‘Unit-Load’

Containerization is method of distributing merchandise in a unitized from

therebypermitting an inter model transport system to be evolved providing a possible

combination of rail, road, canal and maritime transport.

With a view to saving time and cost while handling, loading, discharging and

transporting, cargos are consolidated and made as huge a unit as possible (like 5

tons, 40tons etc) so that at every point of handling of the unit time is saved hence

cost is saved. In case of Dabbawalla’s the unit load is maximum 80 Kgs per person.

This system helps to increase many fold productivity in cargo handling by displaying

labour. Moreover when unit load is bigger manual operation is not possible hence

mechanical methods are introduced involving capital investment.

Containers:

The container as the meaning implies is equipment used to store and carry goods. In

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shipping the term was to refer to any of box used to carry. Presently also a container

is known as ‘box’ or’ van’ in many countries, particularly in U.S.A.

The international organization for standardization (ISO) defined a freight container

as: An article of transport equipment.

Of a permanent character and accordingly strong enough by be suitable for

repeated use:

Specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods by one or more modes

of transport, without intermediate reloading;

Fitted with devices permitting its ready handling particularly its transfer to

another;

So designed as to be easy to fill and empty;

Having an internal volume of 1m3 (35.3cu.ft) or more.

Further the general-purpose freight container is defined as follows:

A freight container is rectangular in shape, weatherproof used for transporting and

storing a number of units loads packages or bulk material it confines and protects

the contents from loss or damage it can be separated from the means of transport,

handled as a unit load and transhipped without rehandling the contents.

This was related to containerization in general. If we relate containerization with the

Dabbawalla’s we get to see small metal containers enough to carry a Tiffin. If

thecomparison is made between the two one can say that generally the containers

are much bigger in size due to the products they carry, it also depends on the area

of operations and the weather conditions and also the costs involved.

What is Consolidation?

Among the various definitions available, perhaps the definition given by Mr. P .K.

Lim (ESCAP-Bangkok) is noteworthy:

“Consolidation or Groupage essentially means assembly of small parcels of cargo

from several consignors at one point of origin, intended for several consignees at the

point of destination and dispatching the consolidated consignment to the forwarder’s

agent for delivery to the respective consignees. The forwarder issues his own Bill of

Lading or receipt to the consignor of each parcel against the production of which

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delivery to the consignee will be affected at the destination. The individual

consignors or consignees do not deal with the carrier direct.”

Sometimes a distinction is made between consolidation and Group age: Group age

is a form of consolidation initiated by the consignee. When a big importer buys from

several traders, he arranges for consolidation of his goods and the benefit solely

goes to the importer and not to the shipper or the consolidator. The consolidator in

this case gets only the service charges. Consolidators do not own vessels or

represent owners of carriers and often they d not own containers or other necessary

equipments. They are known as ‘Non- Vessel Owning / Operating Common Carrier’

(NVOCC) operator. Such operators are numerous in the USA. They are also

referred to as Multimodal Transport Operators (MTOS) when they assume

responsibility for execution of multimodal transport contract, arranging with different

modes of transport to carry thecontainers from the point of origin to the point of

destination.

This was related to consolidation m general If we relate it with the Dabbawalla’s we

can observe that due to the area of operations, size of the products and the costs

involved the consolidation of the Tiffin’s is much smaller in nature.

Marketing Strategy

Create Competitive Advantage with Logistics

Why should your customers do business with you? Why should they want to do

business with you? What makes you special? How do you distinguish yourself from

your competitors? How do you position yourself to be a desired supplier? These are

the types of questions businesses must address as they work to grow.

4P’s of Marketing One of the 4P’s, the marketing mix; of marketing management is

the base for developing a dynamic competitive strategy.

Product: This is very much required. Today’s customers want choices, features, and

options. The days of Henry Ford and a black model A are long gone. These choices

create additional challenges with being able to forecast demands for the various

products and options/features. Then once your product is established, then you have

to look at additional incentives for your customers to want to buy from you. In case of

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Dabbawalla’s the product is the service, which they are offering, which is indeed

successful here in Mumbai.

Promotion: You have to have a way for others to learn of your products, create

awareness. Advertising is one way. Advertising can be expensive and can be

difficult to measure the direct impact and benefit of this. And customers are often

overburdened with sales promotions that yours may be lost in all the promotional

morass what exactly do you promote and why

In case of Dabbawalla’s they do not much need the promotion activity but also can’t

deny the fact that they will never need promotion ever again

Price: This is to establish a value for your product, and for doing business with you.

Price is the way to create revenues and profits. The danger with price is that if it is

emphasized too much, you reduce your product to being a commodity, where price

is the only way to distinguish your product from your competitors. The pricing of the

Dabbawalla’s is very nominal, which is working best for all the people of all income

groups.

Place: This is logistics. Having your goods in the right place at the right time. And

this is the area that has been underutilized in the marketing mix. Logistics

effectiveness can be a way to become a desired supplier, build market recognition,

handle the multiple products and options, create value-added, and set you apart

from your competitors.

In case of Dabbawalla’s the place matters the most as where the Tiffin’s have to be

picked and where to be delivered and also ensure right delivery at the right time.

Reason for Strategy

Make competitive advantage through logistics excellence your strategy. Exploit

logistics service and performance to set you apart from your competitors. It is a

unique approach.

Make it a core competency. Incorporate logistics as a critical element of your

marketing and business strategy to grow your sales. Effective logistics can

significantly contribute to positioning yourself as a Preferred Supplier. Product,

promotion and price have been used for years by companies to develop recognition.

Now it’s time to exploit and incorporatePlace, i.e., Logistics, as the base for a

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marketing and business strategy to grow the business and to gain market share.

Customers would perceive that you provide a competitively superior value and

service. That is a strong foundation for growth.

Logistics presents a way to market yourself to customers. There is only so much that

canbe done with promotion and price. A value-added logistics strategy is a strong

way to be apreferred supplier because your customers are saying you are worth

doing business with it. They say, “We want to do business with you.” You will grow

maybe even into portions of the market you had not reached before.

Looking at it another way, you may have a great product, sound promotion efforts

and a good price. But if you are difficult in doing business with, in fulfilling orders and

timely and completely meeting customer requirements, you may not achieve

maximum growth. You could even lose sales and market share with a poor logistics

service.

A marketing strategy based on logistics, and the customer benefits and service it

brings, works whether your customers are domestic or international. You can be a

market leader, not a follower. Be aggressive; be an innovator, not a reactor. When

you are only reacting, instead of innovating, you have put yourself in the catch-up

mode. As such, you maynever quite sure of what you should be doing and why.

With this strategy, you position yourself as a valued supplier. Price issues, while

always important, can be balanced with the service you provide. This can create

opportunities for enhanced price opportunities. And if you are a preferred supplier,

your customers recognize that. They promote you and what you bring to the table.

With this strategy, you demonstrate to customers how important they are and how

much you value them.

Approach

To develop the strategy, three assessments must be made--your customers and

their requirements, your competitors and they perform, and your own performance. If

you are in different markets with your products, then assess each market. They may

be significant market and customer differences that must be recognized and

understood.

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How do you compare? What are the opportunities to be a leader? How do you

exploit the opportunities? Which customers can you work with to develop your

strategy? With this assessment, you can better analyze and see what must be done

to be a leader in logistics. At the minimum, you will have a better understanding of

how competitive you are at servicing your customers.

Part of this analysis should be a survey. Do not assume you know and understand

what your customers want and need. That is a sure-fire recipe for a failed strategy.

With learning what they want, also learn why they want it done that way. That

presents a solid method to develop a strategy that can meet and exceed their

requirements. It is directly aligned to them.

Make sure that, once you have concluded the assessments, you go back to discuss

your findings and plans with key customers. The object here is meeting their needs;

not what you think are their needs. Review your strategy and action plan with them.

Get their feedback. Is your plan excellent? Will it gain you additional business?

Assess your customer’s requirements: Study any and all written specifications

that customers have already given you. Survey your customers. Meet with select

customers. What do they expect and want from their suppliers? How do they want

their orders, shipments and invoices handled? Why do they want it done that way?

How well do you perform, in their eyes and their measurements? Does the service

your competitors provide gain them business, at your expense? Does their

performance impact key customers, a large number of customers, the potential for

new customers? Are customers strongly satisfied with your performance? If so,

why? If not, why not? Where are you strong and why? Where are you deficient and

why? Are you consistently failing to meet customer needs? How serious are your

failures, as perceived and defined by customers?

Assess your competitors: You have to understand what you are up against in

servicing customers. What do our competitors do? Gather market intelligence. Make

your competitors performance part of your survey. How do your customers view your

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competitors? How do their logistics performances meet the needs of customers?

How do their logistics performances compare with yours? Are there shortcomings in

how well they service customers? If so, what are they? Are these short comings

serious Are therestrengths m how well they service customers? Is so, what are

they? Are these strengths ones which permit customers to overlook other problems

with these competitors?

Assess your internal capabilities: Self-assessment can be very difficult and

awkward Understand what makes a world-class logistics program Look at the

elements needed. Develop an audit checklist then evaluate your operation. Assess

and measure your product flows and information flows across the entire

organization. Look at teamwork, systems, costs, and relationships with suppliers,

carriers, customers and others. The purpose is not negative; the purpose is to know

how well you perform, throughout andacross the organization. It will also help you

determine what investments are needed to upgrade and improve your service to

customers.

It may also be valid to search for best logistics practices, regardless of industry

served. Do not overlook them. Leading-edge practices have basis and application in

any industry. Benchmark your performance, capabilities and limitations. It can be

very useful in understanding your operation and to developing a market leader

strategy.

A marketing strategy based on logistics effectiveness should have two parts. First

you must have a solid logistics program, leading-edge. Then you must be able to

tailor to meet the requirements of individual customers. You cannot offer a vanilla

approach. It is not enough to do logistics well. You must do what each of your

customer’s demands. Standardized approaches to individual requirements are not

satisfactory to customers. It must be based on a sound approach, then customized,

aligned and responsive to thespecific needs of each customer. Through your

success in meeting customer needs, you may opportunities to improve their logistics

operation. This is a very good position for a supplier. In such instances, if

youbecome truly good at your logistics performance, it is not inconceivable that

customers may want you to manage some part of their logistics management. It

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would be like a category management of the customer’s logistics.

Perspective

Recognize that organizations are built from the inside out. They are designed to

handle internal tasks and needs, purchasing, manufacturing, sales, accounting,

logistics, and others. Some organization internal practices may work at cross-

purposes or counter to theneeds of its outside customers. As such, company

departments may feel attacked by customer comments or internal analysis. They

may rationalize what customers say are problems or shortcomings in dealing with

you. You must get past these if you are to progress.

Organizations are not built from the outside in. They were not designed by and for

customers and satisfy their needs. This origin then creates the opportunities to better

service customers by realigning the intent and purpose of the organization, across

functional lines. If this organization genesis is not recognized, then the potential of

this strategy will not be exploited to its fullest.

Remember too, organizations, especially in certain corporate cultures, resist change.

Shifting the focus to the outside, your customers, from inside, internal task, can be a

significant organization change. This must be dealt with in the design and

implementation of a market-leader logistics service capability. Designing the strategy

is not enough. Youmust be able to implement it, put it into action. Everyone in the

organization must participate in and clearly understand the strategy and plans.

Results are the goal here, not just strategy.

A last hint

Position yourself as a preferred supplier. Use logistics as a cornerstone of your

marketing strategy for growth. Understand what customers expect, how well your

competitors perform and how well you operate. Find the ways to develop a strong

logistics program, which meets and exceeds customer requirements.

Reengineering your operation and developing a strong logistics capability is not an

overnight fix. It takes time and commitment. Do not delay and miss the opportunity to

grow customer satisfaction, sales and market share. And once you have begun this

strategy and process, it does not stop Market and customer needs are constantly

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changing. Your ability to change, and lead the change, as a market leader is

ongoing. You must constantly work to improve service, reduce time and reduce

costs, as your customers require.

Network Management in Short

The focus of network management is on cooperation and trust and the recognition

that properly managed ‘whole can be greater than the sum of its parts’.

“The management of upstream and downstream relationship with suppliers and

customers to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a

whole is actually Network Management”.

Thus, the focus of network management is upon the management of relationships in

order to achieve a more profitable outcome for all parties in the chain. This brings

with it some significant challenges since there maybe occasions when the narrow

self-interest of one party has to be subsumed fore the benefit of the chain as a

whole.

To achieve market leadership in the world of network, competition necessitates a

focus on network management as well as upon internal processes.

The various steps in the process of network management include:-

Network strategy – during the phase, a company decides how to structure the

supply chain. Strategic decisions made by the organizations will include location and

capacities of production of service or manufacturing facility, modes of transportation

involved, storage of inventory or giving tangibility to service and type of information

system to be utilized. Network planning – companies define a set of operating

policies that govern short-term operations. The configuration in the strategy phase

establishes constraints within which planning must be done. Thus, planning

establishes parameters within which a network will function over a period of time.

Demand, competition, environment, growth etc are

Some of the factors that have to be given due importance

Network operations – the goal of supply chain operations is to implement operating

policies in the best possible manner. During this phase, firms allocate individual

orders to the entire chain and the order has to be carried out within the specified

time. The objective is to reduce cost and provide superior customer value.

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CHAPTER 18

SIX SIGMA

Six sigma is a highly structured approach to delivering very high levels of customer

satisfaction through disciplined use of data and statistical analysis for maximizing

and sustaining business success. The insistence of six sigma to rely on data rather

than gutfeel for decision making means that counter-intuitive solutions are often

found. The goal of six sigma is to achieve very high levels of (internal and external)

customer satisfaction. Better bottom-line performance, higher market share, and

globally competitive positions result as a side benefit. Six sigma applies to all

processes wherever work gets done, manufacturing or transactional, static or

dynamic, linear or nonlinear, whether the work processes are in a university, in a

Government department, or in the private sector. \

A six sigma process or transaction generates very low defect levels (3.45 per million

opportunities for a single-sided specification). A defect is anything that results in

customer dissatisfaction. Six sigma is, however a journey and not a destination

meaning that defect rates will start coming down soon after embarking on six sigma

although it will take many years to reach the six sigma defect levels. Really, six

sigma is for life and so all must work and live the six sigma way. The six sigma

approach, briefly summarized, is to articulate the problem, validate measurement

systems, measure to determine current performance, determine the vital causes of

variation, work on them to reduce defects, and monitor all variables so that problems

once identified and fixed, stay fixed. This is accomplished in five phases: Scope,

Measure, Analyze, Improve, and control. Six sigma has been embraced by a large

number of corporations in diverse areas including Motorola, General Electric, Du

Pont, CITIBANK, Dow Chemical, Conseco Financial Services, Sony, and many

others. Six Sigma is a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. The Six

Sigma process uses data and rigorous statistical analysis to identify "defects" in a

process or product, reduce variability, and achieve as close to zero defects as

possible.

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These “Angootha chaaps” (illiterate) who deliver 2,00,000 tiffins every day to offices

and schools, make a mistake only about once every two months, That's one error in

every 8 million deliveries, or 16 million if you include the return trip. This is thus a 6

Sigma performance a term used in quality assurance if the percentage of

correctness is 99.999999(6 nines or more) – the performance which has made

companies like Motorola world famous for their quality. It was an unusual

story by Forbes Global. A marked departure from its sought after macro-economic

reviews and corporate analyses. The US-based business magazine recently zeroed

in on Mumbai’s dabbawalla. The lunch logisticians who deliver 1.5 lakh (how much is

that in kilogram?) lunch boxes to hungry office-goers every day have in the past

found mention in the Indian press, but the Forbes story was the first time an

international organization had analyzed them scientifically and rated them as if they

comprised a corporate body. And theconclusions were more than flattering ñ the

dabbawalla’s scored a 6-Sigma performance rating.

We not only launch our own satellites today but those of our foreign customers too,

including Germany and Korea. All this is done for a budget that is just less than 7

per cent of a single company in the US. Shouldn’t we be proud of this feat asked

Dr. Mashelkar? Citing another example to illustrate that illiteracy doesn’t mean that

their innate potential is nil, he asked: What do global giants like General Electric

and Motorola have incommon with a humble Tiffin delivery network comprising

3,500 dabbawalla’s, who deliver 1.5 lakh lunch boxes in Mumbai each day? The

dabbawalla’s have the six-sigma rating or one error in one million transactions.

They are largely illiterate but their business models have become a classroom

study in some management institutes. They necessarily have to innovate to survive

and to succeed he explained

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CHAPTER 19

ELEMENT OF STRATEGY, SUSTAINABILITY AND GROWTH OPTIONS

In this section, a conceptual understanding of competitive strategy of Dabbawalla’s

and its elements is attempted. Based on these observations, the long term

sustainability of Dabbawalla’s is explored. We conclude this section with possible

growth options to Dabbawalla’s and its inherent limitations.

The Dabbawalla’s competitive strategy elements include identification of a long

lasting customer segment or need, effective use of public infrastructure,

standardized operating procedures, partnership with customer, motivated and

empowered employees and an appropriate material flow tracking system. A brief

detail of these elements follow.

Perpetual Need: Dabbawalla’s caters to the basic yet perpetual demand of (serving)

delivering home prepared (ethnic) food to Indian middle income executives working

in Mumbai. The need is more acute because of long commuting time, congested

traffic conditions and long travel distances. This market segment would exist for long

time to come. The only erosion to this market size or need is from changing food

habits of Indian middle income group executives. While this is a reality, the change

is surely expected to be slow Therefore, in the immediate future, Dabbawalla’s is

assured of its business so long as it can meet customer expectations on delivery

and price (service charges).

Value Pricing: The core to Dabbawalla’s operational efficiency is the well managed

Mumbai metro rail network. On any scale of comparison, for its wider reach and

frequency of operations, the members of Dabbawalla’s use the rail network for a

nominal price. The 5000 members are paid a reasonable compensation. The entire

sets of operations (Dabbawalla’s) are manual. All these contribute to lower

operational cost and hence a reasonable price (or value pricing) to the consumers.

Complemented by a large customer base, satisfied customers and an ever

increasing working class population at Mumbai, this business model is a passport to

perpetual growth.

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Standard Operating Procedures: Dabbawalla’s over a period of time has evolved

as an outstanding example of standard operating procedure. There is no uncertainty

in the delivery model at any stage. The individual member's role is clearly

articulated. The information flow to track material (codification system) is perfect.

Members are empowered in task execution. There is an element of internal

competition: multiple teams in the same geographical location are operational to

generate additional business volume. Fair business practices (equal compensation)

and joy of work, pride in activity, fun mixed with work break the monotonicity in the

standard operating procedure in Dabbawalla’s.

Partnership with stakeholders: There are three important stakeholders groups

with whom Dabbawalla’s enjoys an excellent relationship. The first set is its primary

customers. They support Dabbawalla’s in meeting no delay in delivering lunch boxes

and accepting delivery at the floor level in the destination locations. The members

are delighted to work for Dabbawalla’s (supported by empowerment, compensation

and an economic activity for livelihood). The commuting public at large is tolerant to

the inconveniences caused to them by Dabbawalla’s in the already over crowded,

over stretched urban transport system. Over a period of time, Dabbawalla’s has

become an essential element of modern Mumbai.

Operational excellence: Dabbawalla’s has a remarkable and enviable quality

record. This is a combination of flexible infrastructure, adequate buffer in material

handling, reasonable and achievable service level specifications, elaborate and

efficient codificationsystem, self motivated and empowered employees, dynamic and

flexible deployment of members to execute a given task, adopting a variety and mix

of transportation models, and commitment to work ethics.

Structure: Dabbawalla’s operating structure is elegant, appropriate and enhances

its operational excellence based business model. As discussed earlier the 3 tier

structureensures operational details are delegated to the most appropriate level. The

structureprovides for redundancy in team members and hence volume flexibility on

lunch boxes handled by the system. The business integration happens at the group

level. Broadly eachgroup is self sufficient and has to manage its own operational

income, volume and hence profitability. Any other centralized structure to supervise

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operations would have made the process inherently ineffective (expensive) and less

responsive to customer needs.

Performance measures: Dabbawalla’s performance measures are real time

transactions based. As a matter of fact every transaction is monitored in terms of its

collection, transportation, and delivery. Revenue collection is periodic and

systematic. Employee (member) productivity is volume based. Compensation is

equal; group based and is a function of revenue generated. Given internal

competition at the group level this model is self corrective. Broadly there are no fixed

assets. Therefore assets productivity is irrelevant in Dabbawalla’s. The performance

of Dabbawalla’s is closely linked to the near automation (standardization) of the

process. There are inherent buffers to manage and accommodate unanticipated

risks in the system.

Customer focus: Dabbawalla’s is a service organization focused on customer

expectation management. The service is priced low to attract and retain relevant

customer segment and base. The process is capable enough in the context of

assurances made to customers. The Dabbawalla’s has elevated the purpose of their

business to an opportunity to provide food (higher order objective than transport

logistics support to deliver lunch boxes). The discipline, empowerment, commitment

to work of members are all consequences of this higher order objective in meeting

customer expectations.

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CHAPTER 20

What is unique about Dabbawalla’s?

There are several complimentary aspects of Dabbawalla’s which render it as unique

and hence protects it from competition. The first and most critical is a business

proposition based on inexpensive and reliable public infrastructure. This coupled

with a formidable volume (of business) Dabbawalla’s has built up over a period of

time, provides an unparalleled advantage to Dabbawalla’s. The topography of

Mumbai (and client locations) and need for home based food (preference) are

important contextual uniqueness.

The Dabbawalla’s model is scalable. The logistics activities are member driven. The

day to day operations are managed at the member level which provides harmony,

synergy and symphony. The tracking mechanism is an innovative (and inexpensive)

variation of online tracking system. Because of its innovation the tracking cost is

negligible The Dabbawalla’s annual revenue is Rs. 360 million. The sheer size,

scalable nature of operations, modular structure, customer service and negligible

errors has kept thecompetition away from this attractive business proposition.

Dabbawalla’s is essentially a homogeneous product flow system in a linear

topography. The present model may not be effective if any of the above conditions

are not valid. There is a tolerance and sympathy shown by (Mumbai rail) commuting

public to Dabbawalla’s which may not be feasible in anotl1er context. The simple

codification system which tracks the lunch boxes would be a serious constraint to

handle multiple products in more than one direction. There is an attempt to use the

Dabbawalla’s infrastructure to do market research etc. This is at best a temptation.

Dabbawalla’s caters to a specific market and customer segment. Therefore any

market research activity based on this would inherently have less universal

applicability. Also, for the members of Dabbawalla’s (because of their limited

educational background) such activities may be a stretch. Therefore in our view, the

growth for Dabbawalla’s would be volume based and is constrained to either

Mumbai alone or cities which are very similar to Mumbai, in terms of infrastructure

and traffic patte.

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CHAPTER 21

CONCLUSION

Medge was scheduled to address the faculty and students of the Indian Institute of

Management in Lucknow in early January 2004 on how the dabbawalla meal

distribution network worked. HE was aware that this audience would be interested in

the learning that the dabbawalla’s could provide to improve supply chain – and

service-design and execution. He was aware that it was likely that most of the

audience would have concerns about the future of the dabbawalla’s. Since he

anticipated being asked about that concern, Medge already knew what he was going

to say in response:

The dabbawalla is a Mumbai institution that has survived for over a century now. It

will survive for the next century and beyond. There will of course be a churning of

customers. But children will continue to go to school, people will continue to go to

work, everyone feels hungry at lunch hour and, if given a choice, everyone wants to

have home-cooked food delivered personally to them. Dabbawalla’s facilitate that

choice. We will continue to be there as Long as people exercise that choice. We will

continue to be there because no one can provide the kind of error-free service that

we provide.

We have described in detail the Dabbawalla’s. We review the business model,

factors behind such outstanding practices, elements of the business strategy,

opportunities and limitations for its growth.

Dabbawalla’s creates a sense of pride and a source of inspiration to managers and

academicians (world class).

Dabbawalla’s has perfected its systems and procedures to handle large

volume of operations with negligible errors (six sigma).

Dabbawalla’s operations are modular; they are scalable and flexible enough

to handle volume (Flexible business strategy).

Dabbawalla’s operations are customer centric, employee driven, and value

based.

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Dabbawalla’s is an example where flexibility in operational procedure takes

precedence over precision (prioritized objectives).

The output accuracy (the number of transactions delivered on time) is

supported by flexible infrastructure and time buffers in the delivery system

(Strategy enablers).

The management practices at Dabbawalla’s are intuition based (codification

system, homogeneous employee background, innovative Human Resource

practices etc.).

Several contextual factors are combined to develop an excellent business

model (inexpensive manpower availability, need for home food, urban

transport infrastructure, unique traffic flow pattern etc.).

Dabbawalla’s has no unique scientific and or technological breakthroughs or

competences. It is an excellent business model based on an innovative

approach to satisfy a real (and unique) customer need (Innovation based

strategy).

The Forbes article on the dabbawalla has generated international interest and

added to the visibility of the dabbawalla’s. This article has been translated in

the regional Marathi press and, as conversations with dabbawalla’s reveal,

they have been read by a large number of dabbawalla’s themselves, adding

to their self-esteem. This recognition from the West is perhaps deflecting their

attention away from the threats posed by globalisation. This is, perhaps, also

the explanation for the upbeat mood of people like Talekar of the Mumbai

Tiffin Suppliers Association. This is an excerpt from a speech by R.A.

Mashelkar, Director-General, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,

India at the 80th Convocation of the Delhi University. It reveals how the

dabbawalla system is becoming an icon of national pride in certain circles.

Faculty member in the Department of Industrial Administration at the

Carnegie Mellon University, Paul Goodman along with Denise Rousseau has

made a film on the dabbawalla system that has become a tool at

management schools.

The dabbawalla as an icon of national pride and achievement comes out

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most strikingly in the fact that the dabbawalla system was listed in India

Today as being among the 55 things that make India proud. (India Today)

Dabbawalla.com is the website of an Indian lunch service in Manhattan. The

website incorporates the six-sigma rating that the dabbawalla system has

been accredited with along with the picture of a dabbawalla in Mumbai. While

the picture lends authenticity to the Manhattan dabbawalla services, it is

legitimized through the six-sigma rating by Forbes Global. Secondly, the

simple meal of the middle/working class client of the dabbawalla gets

exoticised in the more elaborate menu of the Manhattan lunch service, Inspite

of being a cheap $5.00 takeaway.

This quote from Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses sees the dabbawalla’s

humble task of delivering the lunch-box as a metaphor for the Archangels

purpose of delivering the word of God. If the Satan of globalisation i.e. the

McDonaldisationin this case does decide to interject verses into the Mumbai

dabbawalla’s head thereby affecting their 6-sigma rating, then will it be the

transformative potential of the Varkaris that will come to their rescue.

In a dabbawalla’s tray, a Brahmins rice jostles along with a low-caste chapatti;

a Hindus vegetable curry with a Muslims mutton korma and thus, in a way,

the dabba system dissolves the barriers of caste, class and community which

haven’t been entirely demolished from Indian society.

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CHAPTER 22

LIST OF ANNEXURES

QUESTIONNAIRE

Siddharth College ofSiddharth College of

Commerce and Economics

Anand bhavan, Dr. Dadabhai Navroji road,

Fort, Mumbai - 400 023.

Questionnaire prepared for the study of DABBAWALLA’S at Nutan Mumbai

Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust and Association and their MANAGEMENT

PRACTICES. Project by: Mrs. PRIYANKA.S.N.RAI, as part of the FIFTH

Semester Project work, 2008 — 2009 of the University of Mumbai, under the

guidance of Prof. (Mrs.) DEVIKA.S.SURYAWANSHI

This project study is purely of an academic nature. The information provided

herewith will be used for research purposes.

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Information

Name:………………………………………………………………………………………

Place:………………………………………………………………………………………

Designation:………………………………………………………………………………...

1. Who are the dabbawalla’s?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

2. What is the type of service provided by the dabbawalla’s?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

3 What is the history of the dabbawalla’s?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

4. What is the name of the association of the dabbawalla’s?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………….

5. What is the organizational structure?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

6. What are the rules and policies of the dabbawalla’s?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

7. What is the function of the organization?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

8. What is the pricing of this service?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

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9. Who are the clients?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

10. What is the number of clients?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

11. What is the rate of error?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

12. What happens if the Tiffin gets lost?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

13. What is the distribution network process?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

14. How do you identify the destination and origin of the Dabba’s?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

15. Does the organization provide any benefits to its members?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

16. What do you do if someone remains absent?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

17. What is the total number of members?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

18. What are the vehicles used to transport the dabba’s?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

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19. What if the railways are not working?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

20. What is the remuneration system?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

21. What are the problems faced by the dabbawalla’s nowadays?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

22. What are the awards and felicitations given to the dabbawalla’s?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………

23. What is the effect of all the recognition the dabbawalla’s have received?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………

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ACHIEVEMENTS, AWARDS AND FELICITATION

Shri Varkari Probhodhan 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.

CASE STUDY –

ICFAI Press Hyderabad

Richard Ivey School of Business – Ontario

Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore, IIML, IIMA,

CIICochin, CII Delhi, Dr. Reddy’s Lab Foundation Hyderabad, SCMHRD

Pune, SCMHRD Nasik, Sadahana – Pune.

Included in a subject in Graduate School of Journalism University of

California, Berkeley

Radio –

German Radio Network

Radio Mirchi

Radio Mid-day

FM- Gold

BBC Radio

Was invited for the Terra Madre World meeting of food communities

between October 20-23, 2004.

We were part of the “Community of Cooked Food distributors from

Mumbai”.

Invited to marriage of Hon. Price Charles of England on 9, April 2005.

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

94


WORKING COMMITTEES

Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Suppliers Charity Trust

Reg. No. - A842. P. N

Working Committee — 2005 — 2009

1 Raghunath D. Medge President

2 Sambhaji G. Medge Vice President

3 Gangaram L. Talekar General Secretary

4 Damodar M. Pingle Treasurer

5 Jaysingh S. Phapale Member

6 Laxman R. Kadam “

7 Daval B. Tambe “

8 Babanrao M. Bacche “

9 Maruti K. Sawant “

10 Jayram B. Inpure\ “

11 Arjun S. Thakur “

12 Shankarrao D. Kalhatkar “

13 Babanrao D. Jaachak “

Mumbai Jeevan Dabba Vahatuk Mandal

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Reg. No.126.68 Regd under Act XXXI of 1860 G.B.C.S.D — F 1940

Association — 2005 — 2009

1 Supanrao L.More President

2 Ramchandra B. Sathe Vice President

3 Babanrao B. Valunj Treasurer

4 Balasaheb .B. Khengale Secretary

5 Eknath M. Margaj Member

6 Chiman N. Gole “

7 Dynaeshwar G. Padir “

8 Dhondiba K. Choudhary “

9 Sudamrao M. Sakore “

10 Laxman P. Takave “

11 Yamanaji S. Ghule “

12 Baban J. Talekar “

13 Arjun S. Kumbhar “

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Mumbai Jeevan Dabba Vahatuk Mandal

Lavaad (Panch) Committee — 2005— 2009

1 Dattatrya R. Bacche Chief Panch

2 Dattatrya L. Kathatkar “

Chiman N. Gole “

3 Baban N. Kadam “

4 Namdev T. Medge “

5 Dashrath M. Paradhi “

6 Sonu D.Aawari “

7 Subhash K. Jachak “

8 Ramu D. Shinde “

9 Narayan V. Jon “

10 Vithalrao G. Dide “

11 Sudam G.Vir “

12 Somnath M. Shirke “

13 Suresh G. Shivekar ‘”

14 Bhagaji S. Yadav “

15 Devram B. Kalhatkar “

16 Govind B. Mandekar Secretary

ROYAL VISIT

97


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 dabbawalla’s.

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,"

BIBLOGRAPHY

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Raghunath Medge enabled me to understand the Dabbawalla’s operations. This

project would not have been possible but for the support and co-operation extended

by him. This is gratefully acknowledged.

BOOKS

1. Logistics and Supply Chain Management – ‘Strategies for reducing Cost and

Improving Service’ by Martin Christopher.

2. ‘Supply Chain Management’ by Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl.

MAGAZINES AND ARTICLES

1. World Class Logistics Operations: The case of Bombay dabbawallahs by N.

Ravichandran

2. ‘The Charioteers of Meals’ by Maria Shamai, ‘JetWings’ dated June 2003

3. ‘Food Chain Dynamics’ by Dipayan Baishy, ‘Business Today’ dated 19th

January 2003

4. ‘The Wonder of Tiffin’- Patiwala Network Management in Mumbai by

Devanshu Desai and Mr. Ajit Popat, ‘Chitralekha’ dated 30th April 2001.

5. Pizzazz for the Prince, a royal banquet by the bay’, ’The Economic Times’

dated 4th November, 2003.

6. ‘Delivering the Goods’ by Sandeep Unithan, ‘India Today’ dated 4th June

2001.

7. ‘Midday’ dated 4th November 2003

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WEBSITES

http://www.sixsigmaquality.com

http://web.mid-day.com

http://www.ciionline.org

http://www.hindu.com

http://www.rediff.com

http://www.bschool.nus.edu.sg

www.linny.org/forum

www.managementparadise.com

SEARCH ENGINES

www.google.com

www.yahoo.com www.askjeeves.com

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