CASE STUDY ON SCM OF

DABAWALLAS
PRESENTED BY:
• SAMITA RATHOD ROLL 55

• UMA DALVI ROLL 28

•JANARDHAN BIRADAR ROLL 58

•DILIP BHAGALE

• SUMEET GURNANI ROLL 97

•SURYABHAN PANDEY

•SANJAY POOJARI
 INTRODUCTION
• A dabbawala 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.

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.

• 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.
 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”

 LEADING WITHOUT
SUITS AND TIES
• Talks on Best Practices at IIMs, IITs, companies
Regularly sought by print media and electronic
media
• Common queries
– How do they recruit?
– Working of incentive system with “equal pay for all”?
– Do they know their clients?
– Robustness of distribution channel?
– Dealing with growth?
– Competitors?
– World is changing! Not dabbawalas?
 FACTS
• 2003: 5000 recruits, 175, 000 clients
• 350,000 deliveries
• 75 kms of public transport
• Failure: once in two months, one in 15
million
• Rs 380 million per annum
 STRUCTURE
• Three tier structure:
– Executive committee
– Mukadams
– Dabbawallas.
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
• Role of Groups (a profit centre with 8
mukadams)

• Culture similarity of the staff

• Distinct local entity of dabbawalas

– Known for reliability and work ethic
– Helped by commuters
HIERARCHY OF STRUCTURE
PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT 13 MEMBERS

GENERAL SECRETARY

TREASURER

DIRECTORS(9)

MUKADAM

MEMBERS(5000)
 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
REAL PICTURE OF ANDHERI
 LOADING OF TIFFINS.
• 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
 UNINTRUPTED SERVICE
• 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
 FINANCIAL DATA
• 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

Organizational fee Rs 15 per head.

Puja held per station Rs 50 per head.

 DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

• Hub and spoke arrangement

• No historical, theoretical legacy in the design
• No use of computer technology
• Coding system
– Decentralized at the group level
• Workday schedule
• 30-35 deliveries (manageable)
• Sorting, loading and unloading at peak rush hours
• 4 handlings of a dabba in a day- coding essential
 DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
• K-BO-10-19/A/15
• Clients name is not even existing
• Easy coding scheme as the level of
literacy is not very high
 SIX SIGMA EFFICIENCY.
• 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.
 OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
• Competitors: Fast Food chains,
restaurants and road-side vendors, Udipi
chain etc.
• Competition is different:
– NO MANUFACTURING, ONLY
DISTRIBUTION
 SUCCESS FACTORS
• Low cost delivery
– Rs. 150 -200
• Delivery reliability
– Entrepreneurs, not employees
– No strikes
– Flat structure
– Referrals from friends and relatives
– No dilution of service culture
 SUCCESS FACTORS
• Decentralization
• Perceived equality
– Effort different, same remuneration
• Suburban Railway Network
– Foodline of the city
 FUTURE
• Key concerns
– Shrinking customer base and loyalty
• Loss of textile mill workers in 80s and 90s
• Each group authorized to target new customers (school
children etc.)
– Lifestyle changes
• Not a major damage for the business
– Workforce management
• Next generations do not seem to be greatly interested
• Not many incentives for good workers
• Not many disincentives wither (no firing)
 AWARDS AND FELICITATION
• Shri.Varkari Prabhodhan Mahasmati Dindi (palkhi) sohala – 4th march –
2001.

• Ø 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”.

 SOME MORE
ACHIEVEMENTS
 ORDERING THROUGH
• SMS

• A web site, mydabbawala.com.

• The return on capital is ensured by

monthly division of the earnings of each
unit. - Sales@MyDabbawala.Com
 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.
THANK YOU…..