by: Swetha Reddy G.Anubhaw Kumar Shandilya

Khurshid Alam

DABBAWALA- A CASE STUDY

Supply Chain of Dabbawala

Dabbawala goes high-tech:"The world is moving ahead on technology,"

said Gangaram Talekar-61, the Hindi-speaking secretary of the Association, "and we have to move with times too. So we decided to take advantage of technology to expand our business."

Economic analysisEveryone gets paid about two to four

thousand rupees per month.More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunches get

moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawala.

Only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries.

The New York Times reported in 2007 that the 125 year old dabbawala industry continues to grow at a rate of 5-10% per year.

Uninterrupted servicesThe local dabbawala at the receiving and

the sending ends are known to the customer personally.

They are well accustomed to the local areas they cater to.

People communicate between home and work by putting messages inside the boxes.

Known for time management and accuracy.

In literatureOne of the two protagonists in Salman

Rushdie's controversial novel “The Satanic Verses”.

“A Day with Dabbawala” planOne can go along with Dabbawala from

morning to evening. We can travel with them, know about them, and participate in their work throughout the day, till the dabbas return back.

Helping Hands with DabbawalaAnyone can contribute to their website by

writing Articles and sending interesting information like

Experience with Dabbawala,Learning from Dabbawala, Cartoons or images, About Mumbai and local trains, Any suggestions for them to improve their

services etc.

Advertise With DabbawalaWebsite www.mydabbawala.comWebsite attracts more than 1 million

visitors annually.Informative newsletterSend your leaflet, product description also

with the Dabba.Fees given for advertising are shared

equally among dabbawala and are used for their welfare.

Management learnings from DabbawalaKeep operational costs as low as possible.Keep capital investment bare minimum.Just serve your customer – nothing else.Customer is not the Raja but Maharaja.Complexity opposes compliance.Never deviate from your core competency.Do not be over dependent on technology.Flat organization – fast decision makingCo operation inside – competition outside.

Contd/-Keep extras for fault tolerance.Commitment matters, qualification doesn’t.Know the implication of failure.Build your services around existing

infrastructure.Abandon bad customers.Strike means suicide – labor means life.Penalize employees for non compliance.Do not transfer your employees very often.Keep your employees emotionally united.High salary alone cannot retain employees. Be humble and do not boast your success.

Achievements

Six sigma Certification by Forbes Group.ISO Certificate to Dabbawala.Outstanding Service Organization Award by

NIQR.Marketing through Dabbawala many T.V

channels and Newspaper.