SCMMasters of Supply Chain Management – by Chandresh Dedhia

Index• Definition• Who are Dabbawala’s?• History• Organization Structure• Process• Coding System• Relay & Hurdle Race• Setbacks

• Certifications• Celebrity & PR• Case Studies & Documentaries• Records• Marketing Ideas• Management Principle• Conclusion

Definition - Wikipedia

• A Dabbawala; also spelled as dabbawalla or dabbawallah;is a person in India, most commonly in Mumbai, who ispart of a delivery system that collects hot food in lunchboxes from the residences of workers in the latemorning, delivers the lunches to the workplace utilizingvarious modes of transport, predominantly bicycles andthe railway trains, and returns the empty boxes to thecustomer's residence that afternoon.

Who are Dabbawala’s

• Varkari Sampradaya/Sect people, sts a Vaishnava religious movement• Geographically associated with the Indian states of Maharashtra and

northern Karnataka• Varkaris worship Vithoba or Vitthal, Deity of Pandarpur, regarded as

form of Lord Krishna• Saints and Guru associated were including Tukaram, Namdev,

Gyaneshwar, Eknath, all of whom were accorded title of SANT• Duty base approach towards life, emphasising on moral behaviour,

and strict avoidance of alcohol and tobacco

Who are Dabbawala's

• Mumbai Dabbawala is one of the most efficient SCM systems in the world

• More than 5000 Dabbawala’s

• More than 200,000 Dabba’s delivered and returned every day

• This works out to 40 Dabba's and approx. 60 kgs each Dabbawala carries.

• That's 120 tons of food Daily

Who are Dabbawala's

• Dabba changes at least 6 hands before being delivered and same while returning from journey

• Dabba collection to delivery it take approx 3 to 4 hours

• Total area covered is approx 70 kms

• Value added services - money, spectacles, keys are sometimes sent through Dabba

• Standard price for all - weight, distance, space , they charge approx Rs.350 per month

Who are Dabbawala's

• Each Dabbawala earns approx Rs.5000 to Rs.6000 per month

• Diwali bonus is extra months salary

• Excluding the Mumbai Train service, all other mode of transport are manual and no technology is used

• They would never tell you the trains were late, they will always deliver your tiffin before the time.

History • Started in 1890 - started with 1 Dabbawala and 1 customer

• Charitable trust - registered in 1956, No Strike record since1890

• Dabbawala business is 124 years old , No Police or court casesince 1890

• Average Literacy rate is 8th grade schooling and 50% areilliterate

• The Dabbawala's are literate to the level of onlyunderstanding alphabets and numbers.

• Average age of Dabbawala is 52 years , there is no retirementage

• Many dabbawalla are 3rd generation inheritors

Organization Structure

• There are 800 Mukkadam’s

• Each Mukkadam has approx 20 Dabbawala's reporting to him.

• The highest age Dabbawala is always the Mukkadam

President

1

Vice President

1

General Secretary

1

Treasurer

1

Directors

9

Mukkadam

800

Members

5000

Process

A day in life of Mumbai Dabbawala

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrKFu9D6h2o

Coding System

Error Rate - 1 mistake in 16 million end deliveries

Relay & Hurdle Race

• Unpunctual customer

• Physical distance

• Large number of Dabba’s

• Mumbai Traffic

• Crowded trains

• Multiple handovers

• Scattered pickup and drop off destinations

Setbacks

• 1969 - Nationalization of Banks

• 1975 - 22 days of Railways strike

• 1982 - textile mill workers strike

• 1993 - serial bomb blast in Mumbai

• 2006 - Mumbai Floods

• 2008 - terrorist attacks in Mumbai

SIX Sigma

Certification

• ISO 9001:2000 certified by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand

Celebrity & PR

Case Studies

• Harvard

• Richard Ivy School

• IFMI

• IIM A

• ICFAI

Documentaries

• BBC, CNN, TV Tokyo

• UTV, MTV, Zee TV, Aaj Tak,

• TV Today, Sahara, CNBC TV 18,

• Sony TV, NDTV, Channel 7 , DD Metro & Doordarshan

Records

• Record with Guinness Book of world record

• Ripley's believe it or not

Marketing Ideas

Partnership – Share my Dabba

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyT_bi-20e4

Management Principle• Keep operational cost as low as possible

• Just serve your customers, nothing else matters

• Customer is not King (Raja), they are king of king (Maharaja)

• Complexity opposes compliance

• Co-operation inside, competition outside

• Commitment matters, Qualification doesn't

• High salary alone cannot retain employees

• Flat organization, fast decision

• Never deviate from your core competency

Conclusion• Zero % Fuel

• Zero % technology

• 99.999999 % performance

• Zero % investments

• Zero% disputes

• 100% Satisfaction

Questions?