The Wonder of Mumbai Dabbawallas

Inspiration of Management
supported by http://www.mydabbawala.com/
 Introduction
• A dabbawala (one who carries the box, see Etymology), sometimes
spelled dabbawalla or dabbawallah, is a person in the Indian city of
Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food from
home in lunch boxes to office workers. Tiffin is an old-fashioned
English word for a light lunch, and sometimes for the box it is carried
in. Dabbawalas are sometimes called tiffin-wallas. For the efficiency
of their supply chain it has been claimed that this virtually achieves a
Six Sigma performance rating, (i.e. 99.9999% of deliveries are made
without error, he is at CMMi level 6).[1]
• Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized
trade that is over a century old and which has become integral to
Mumbai's culture.
• The dabbawala originated when India was under British rule: many
Indian people who worked in British companies disliked the British
food served by the companies, so a service was set up to bring
lunch to them in their workplace straight from their home. Nowadays,
Indian businessmen are the main customers for the dabbawalas,
and the service often includes cooking as well as delivery.
 What is NMTBSA?
(Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association)

• History : Started in 1880

• Charitable trust : Registered in 1956
• Avg. Literacy Rate : 8th Grade Schooling
• Total area coverage : 60 Kms
• Employee Strength : 5000
• Number of Tiffin's : 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes
i.e 4,00,000 transactions every day.
• Time taken : 3 hrs
• Error Rate : 1 in 16 million transactions

• Six Sigma performance (99.999999)

• Technological Backup : Nil.
• Cost of service - Rs. 200/month ($ 4.00/month)
• Standard price for all (Weight, Distance, Space)
• Rs. 50 Cr. Turnover approx.
[200,000*200=400,000,00 p.m. i.e 48 crore p.a.]
• “No strike” record as each one a share holder
• Earnings -5000 to 6000 p.m.
DABBAWALLAS IN TRAIN COMPARTMENT

The word "Dabbawala" can be translated as "box-carrier" or "lunchpail-

man". In Marathi and Hindi, "dabba" means a box (usually a cylindrical
aluminium container), while "wala" means someone in a trade involving the
object mentioned in the preceding term, e.g.
punkhawala with "pankha" which means a fan and "wala
" mean the person who owns the pankha (The one with the fan).
APPROACH

DISCIPLINE :
• No Alcohol Drinking during business hours
• Wearing White Cap during business hours
• Carry Identity Cards
WOMEN:
• Mrs. Bhikhubai of Borivali(East)
• Mrs. Anandibai of Andheri(East)
LATEST MARKETING STRATEGY:
Marketing message in the “dabba”
Case Study : TBSA
Tiffin Box Suppliers Association

Executive Committee
How do they do it…? (5 members)

• Organizational
structure Teams of 20-25 headed by a
group leader
• Operations

• War against Time (10.30 – 1.00)

• The Code Individual Dabbawalla
workload = 30 tiffins
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The service is uninterrupted even on the days of extreme weather, such as

Mumbai's characteristic monsoons. The local dabbawalas at the receiving and
the sending ends are known to the customers personally, so that there is no
question of lack of trust. Also, they are well accustomed to the local areas they
cater to, which allows them to access any destination with ease. Occasionally,
people communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the
boxes. However, this was usually before the accessibility of
telecommunications
 PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

13 MEMBERS
GENERAL SECRETARY

TREASURER

DIRECTORS(19)

MUKADAM

MEMBERS(5000)
 PRESIDENT & GENERAL SECRETARY
NUTAN MUMBAI TIFFIN BOX SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION
 FINANCIAL DATA OF A
GROUP
1st group –
Rs 125000 Total earnings -20 People
Rs 35000 Maintenance cost
Tiffin luggage basket pass – Rs 180 per person.
Maintenance of cycles – Rs 300 – 2 cycles per
month. Maintenance of wooden boxes –
Rs 100 per person . T.C , police robbery of Tiffin Rs
500 yearly. Organizational fee Rs 15 per head.
Puja held per station Rs 50 per head.
 Awards and Felicitation
 Shri.Varkari Prabhodhan Mahasmati Dindi (palkhi) sohala – 4th march
– 2001.
 Invitation from CII for conference held in Bangalore.
Documentaries made by BBC ,UTV, MTV, and ZEE TV
Dabbawalla services are popular with the Indian IT developer
community in Silicon Valley, California, USA
In literature
One of the two protagonists in Salman Rushdie's controversial novel
The Satanic Verses, Gibreel Farishta, was born as Ismail Najmuddin to a
dabbawallah. In the novel, Farishta joins his father, delivering lunches all over
Bombay (Mumbai) at the age of 10, until he is taken off the streets and becomes
a movie star.
Dabbawalas feature as an alibi in the Inspector Ghote novel Dead on Time.
 Some Achievements
• World record in best time management.

• Name in “GUINESS BOOK of World Records”.

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

 LOGISTICS
Logistics is happening 24 hrs a day,7 days a week and 52
weeks a year.
Logistical competency is achieved by coordinating the
following:
 Network Design
 Information
 Transportation
 Inventory
 Warehousing
• Coding
VLP : Vile Parle
(Suburb in Mumbai)

9E12 : Code
for Dabbawallas at
Destination

E : Express Towers
(Bldg. Name)

12 : Floor No.

E : Code for
Dabbawallas at
Residential station.

3 : Code for Destination station

(E.g.. Nariman Point)
• Let us now look at an example of
these codes on the tiffins to better
understand the system and what it
all denotes:
MR. RAGHUNATH MEDGE
• 10:34-11:20 am

• This time period is actually the journey

time. The dabbawalas load the wooden
crates filled with tiffins onto the luggage
or goods compartment in the train.
Generally, they choose to occupy the last
compartment of the train.
• 11:20 – 12:30 pm

• At this stage, the unloading takes place at

the destination station
• Re-arrangement of tiffins takes place as
per the destination area and destination
building
• In particular areas with high density of customers, a special crate is dedicated
to the area. This crate carries 150 tiffins and is driven by 3-4 dabbawalas!
• 1:15 – 2:00 pm

• Here on begins the collection process

where the dabbawalas have to pick up
the tiffins from the offices where they
had delivered almost an hour ago.
 RETURN JOURNEY:

• 2:00 – 2:30 pm
• The group members meet for the segregation
as per the destination suburb.
• 2:48 – 3:30 pm

• The return journey by train where the

group finally meets up after the day’s
routine of dispatching and collecting from
various destination offices

• Usually, since it is more of a pleasant

journey compared to the earlier part of
the day, the dabbawalas lighten up the
moment with merry making, joking
around and singing.
• 3:30 – 4:00 pm

• This is the stage where the final

sorting and dispatch takes place. The
group meets up at origin station and
they finally sort out the tiffins as per
the origin area
 THE ROYAL VISIT:

Recently, the dabbawala’s had royal company at Churchgate station. The Prince of Wales himself had visited them when he came down to Mumbai.
•
He took keen interest in their way of functioning, expressed surprise at their efficiency and was struck with awe when he was told that they didn’t employ any technology.
•
The prince was presented a small memento, accompanied with a garland, a Gandhi topi and a trophy by the dabbawalas.
•
RICHARD BRANSON CHAIRMAN VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS MUMBAI

• Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Atlantic Airways,

meeting the Mumbai's famed 'Dabbawalas' at their nodal
point, the Churchgate Railway Station in South Mumbai,
on April 1, 2005.
Order Dabbawalas Products and services Online

MyDabbawalas.com developing a software application through which

the people of Mumbai can order Dabba service online through internet.
The order will be booked online and Dabba will be picked up from your
home and will be delivered to office in time. Please wait , the software
will be soon available. Meanwhile you may send us E-Mail us at
Sales@MyDabbawala.Com with your details ( name, home address ,
office address , home phone , office phone , mobile number , whether
you want dabba on Saturday) and He will contact you to start the
service.
 Order through SMS
Although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot delivery boys
as the prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace technology, and now
allow booking for delivery through SMS. A web site, mydabbawala.com, has also
been added to allow for on-line booking, in order to keep up with the times. An on-line
poll on the web site ensures that customer feedback is given pride of place.

The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management that would
be the envy of a modern manager. Such is the dedication and commitment of the
barely literate and barefoot delivery boys (there are only a few delivery women) who
form links in the extensive delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation at
all. A simple colour coding system doubles as an ID system for the destination and
recipient. There are no elaborate layers of management either — just three layers.

Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a minimum capital in kind, in the shape
of two bicycles, a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the
white trademark Gandhi topi (cap). The return on capital is ensured by monthly
division of the earnings of each unit. - Sales@MyDabbawala.Com
 THANK YOU
http://www.mydabbawala.com/
Presentation : Paavan Solanki
paavans@yahoo.com