Guru's in Supply Chain Mgmt. "MUMBAI DABBAWALA"

1. Mumbai Dabbawala
Official Website : http://mumbaidabbawala.in/
Official E- Mail : info@mumbaidabbawala.in

2. We are Dabbawala’s !!!
 History :- Started in 1890
 Charitable trust :- Registered in 1956 (known as ‘Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box SuppliersAssociation’)
 Average literacy rate :- 85% are Illiterate (Maximum literacy is till 8th Std.)
 Total area coverage :- 60-70 kms
 Employee strength :- 5000
 Number of tiffin boxes :- 2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes (i.e. 4,00,000 transactions every day)
 Time taken :- 3-4 Hrs.
 Total turnover :- Approx. ₹36 Cr.
 Industrial Growth :- Approx. 5-6% per year
 Technological backup :- NIL (Since now they adopted SMS booking)
 Cost of service :- ₹.300-600/Month (charges depends on distance and time taken)
 Earnings of Dabbawala :- ₹.6000-7000/Month (Each person contribute ₹.10/- for Charity on each month)
 Diwali bonus :- One month salary from customers
 Error rate :- 1 in 6 Million transactions, Six Sigma Performance (99.9999)

3. Major Features of
this Systematic
Supply Chain
• Servicing since from last 125 years
• Zero % Fuel
• Zero % Modern technology
• Zero % Investment
• Zero % Disputes
• 99.9999% Performance
• 100% customer satisfaction
• Equal working opportunity i.e.
Women also work as Dabbawala (3
woman are working)
• No strike recorded as each one is a
Shareholder
मुंबईचा
डबेवाला

4. How do they do it?
VLP :- Residential area of customer.
E :- Code for Dabbawala at residential
station (Vile Parle station)
3 :- Code for destination station
6 :- Code for Dabbawala at destination
EX :- Building Name (e.g. express tower)
12 :- Floor number in the building
The Model of Dabbawala system looks like below :-
E
VLP
3
EX

5. Supply Chain of Dabbawala
Pick up Dabba (Tiffin
Box) from Residence
and bring it to nearby
station
(Around 9.30am-10.30am)
Journey in Local train
(This is the only time when
these folks enjoyed
sometime by singing, playing
cards or read newspaper etc.)
(Around 10.30am-11.20am)
Unloading and sorting
at destination station
(They sorted Dabba’s
according to there Coding
system)
(Around 11.20am-12.30pm)
Delivery to respective
customers
(Around 12.30pm-1.00pm)
Collection of Empty
Dabba
(Around 1.30pm-2.30pm)
Sorting Empty
Dabba’s at
Destination station
(Around 2.45pm-3.30pm)
Returning Empty Dabba
to Residence
(Around 3.40pm-
4.45/5.00pm)

6. Key Highlights of Dabbawala
• Customer Relationship Management
• Demand Management
• Order Fulfillment
• Manufacturing Flow Management
• Distribution Strategy

7. Approach of Dabbawala
• No Alcohol, Drinking/Smoking during
business hours.
• Wearing White Cap is must.
• Carry Identity cards.
• No leave without prior notice.
₹ 500 Drinking on duty time.
• ₹ 100 Smoking on duty time.
• ₹ 25 Found without White Cap.
• ₹ 1000 Leave without notification, sacked if
repeated 2-3 times.
Code of Conduct :-Disciplines :-

8. Down side faced by “Mumbai Soldiers”
1969 : Nationalization of Banks
1974 : 20 days of Railway strike
1982 : Textile mill workers strike
1993 : Serial bomb blast in Mumbai
2005 : Heavy flood
2008 : Terrorist attack

9. Awards, Accreditations and Invitations
•Name in “Guinness Book of records” (On 21 March 2011, Mr.
Prakash Baly Bachche carried three Dabbawala tiffin crates on his
head at one time which was entered as a Guinness world record.)
•Registered with Ripley's “Believe it or not”
•In 1998, Forbes global magazine conducted a quality assurance
study on Dabbawala’s operations
•ISO 9001-2000 certificate (by Joint Accreditation System of
Australia and New Zealand)
•Documentaries made by BBC, UTV, Nat Geo, Discovery
channels.
•Represented Maharashtra in Republic day parade.
•Outstanding service organization award by NIQR.
•Invitations for conferences from IIM, Harvard, Cambridge, British
telecom, MIT, MET and many other mgmt. B-School.

10. Service to the Customer Is Service To the God