THE DABBAWALAS

5000 Dabbawalas delivering 130000 Dabbas Daily

124 years old association Semi-literate forceElected representatives

Based in Mumbai

Organized structure

Excellence without technology

Applauded worldwide

Service Record

Gen. Secretary

Treasurer

Director

ORGANIZATION

Operational committee

Gen. Secretary

Treasurer

Director

Charitable Trust

5000 members including635 supervisor

Recruitment

Friends and relatives of

existing members

Hired on probation of

6 months

Commitment Matters, not Qualification

Semi-literate people doing job without questions

MOTIVATIONEMPLOYMENT TO LOW-INCOME MEMBERS OF COMMUNITY

HIGH JOB SATISFACTION

EMOTIONAL UNITY

WORK IS WORSHIP

STICK TO TIME

Our ancestors fought in Shivaji’s army. Today we fight against time.

-Raghunath Medge, President Dabbawala Organization

How it all started

out 125 years back when a Parsi banker wanted to have home cooked food regularly in office and gave this responsibility to the first ever Dabbawala. Other people also liked the idea and the demand for Dabba delivery soared.

Identification of Opportunity by Mahadeo Havaji Bachche.

Conversion of Opportunity into Business.

Utilizing the Railway System for the Business.

Hiring Villagers and Tribal's (Dabbawalas).

INITIAL STEPS. . .

Word of Mouth for acquiring new Customers.

Diversity ( Caste, Tastes and Preferences).

CUSTOMERS

Recognised as delivering Six Sigma level of accuracy in DABBA delivery. That means only 1 mistake in 6 million chances.

HOW THEY DO IT !

UNIQUE CODING SYSTEM

Using color markers:

E :: Code for Dabbawala Street at residential stationVLP :: Residential Station Ville Parle3 :: Code for Destination station.Ex: :: Church gate9 :: Code for Dabbawala at Destination.Ex :: Express towers ( Building name)12 :: Floor no. in the building.

What goes in a dabba (the tiffin box ) ?

The foremost is love and caring of the housewives who make sure their loved ones get the healthy food from home.

And trust! That they have on dabbawala. If the Dabba system is going strong even after 125 years, we must thank the Mumbai housewives.

There is much more then lunch that goes in the dabba.

FOR CORPORATES

ADVERTISE WITH DABBAWALA

Website www.mumbaidabbawala.com Website attracts more than 1 million visitors

annually. Informative newsletter Send your leaflet, product description also

with the Dabba. Fees given for advertising are shared

equally among dabbawala and are used for their welfare.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Increasing complexities

Delay in pickup of a single Dabba may result in the delay in the delivery of thousands of dabbas.

The growing number of vehicles slows down the speed of the Dabbawala.

In the anxiety to ensure on-time delivery many Dabbawalas end up breaking traffic rules.

Honest to their commitment, Dabbawalas don’t stop their services even in extreme weather conditions.

Acknowledgements at International Levels.

Picture 1: Prince Charles Visit to Mumbai Dabbawala's.

Picture 2: Sir Richard Branson’s Visit.

Management learnings from Dabbawala

1. •Keep operational costs as low as possible.

2. •Keep capital investment bare minimum.

3. •Just serve your customer – nothing else.

4. •Customer is not the Raja but Maharaja.

5. •Complexity opposes compliance.

Contd…

6. •Never deviate from your core competency.

7. •Do not be over dependent on technology.

8 •Flat organization – fast decision making

9. •Co operation inside – competition outside

10. •Keep extras for fault tolerance

Contd…

11. •Know the implication of failure.

12. •Build your services around existing infrastructure.

13. •Abandon bad customers.

14. •Strike means suicide – labor means life.

15. •Penalize employees for non compliance.

Contd…

16. •Commitment matters, qualification doesn’t.

17. •Do not transfer your employees very often.

18. •Keep your employees emotionally united.

19. •High salary alone cannot retain employees.

20. •Be humble and do not boast your success.

Dabbawalas in Action.