This 129-year-old company was featured in a BBC documentary, endorsed by Forbes magazine to receive Six Sigma Quality Certification and attracts a fan club that includes Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Airlines, and Prince Charles. In fact, its president was even invited to the royal wedding! Take a look at their amazing team in action …
The Dabbawalla organization was founded in Mumbai in 1880 when India was under British rule. The Hindi word “dabbawalla” translates into dabba = lunch box, and walla = man or “the lunch box man”. Organized networks of dabbawallas were established meet a demand among Mumbai office workers who preferred to have a home-cooked lunch delivered to them rather than pay for restaurant lunches. A simple concept, perhaps, but with many potential wrinkles in its execution.
A Logistical Maze
Today, 5,000 dabbawallas deliver 200,000 homemade lunches from suburban homes to offices and schools every day in the heart of Mumbai. All deliveries take place within three hours. This is an especially challenging feat when you consider that Mumbai is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with an estimated 19,373 people per km!
Dabbawallas are largely illiterate rural workers who use nothing more that 3-4 crudely painted color coded symbols on their dabbas (lunch boxes) to indicate the lunch source and destination address. The delivery network is a logistical maze fraught with obstacles. But the lunch boxes are delivered at exactly 12:30 pm daily. On an average, every tiffin lunch box changes hands four times and travels 60-70 kilometres in its journey to reach its eventual destination.
Although customers can now SMS (text) their dabbawalla, this is still a pretty low tech operation. They use trains, bicycles and hand carts to move through the congested city. So perhaps is it slightly ironic that Microsoft, one of the most successful high tech companies in the world, partnered with the dabbawalla network to promote its true Windows operating system products to Mumbai urbanites.
Honors, Awards & Certifications
The Six Sigma quality certification was established by the International Quality Federation in 1986, to judge the quality standards of an organisation. According to Forbes magazine, one mistake for every eight million deliveries constitutes Six Sigma quality standards.
So what is the dabbawallas product delivery accuracy rate? An astonishing one error in 16 million transactions! Dabbawallas truly internalize their operational motto, “error is horror!”
The President of the dabbawalla organization, Raghunath Megde, has given lectures at business schools around the world on supply chain management and time management. Other Dabbawalla achievements include:
- World record in Best Time Management
- Named in the Guiness Book of World Records
- Registered with Ripley’s “Believe It or Not”.
Points to Consider
The mission of the dabbawallas is not couched in flowery words like so many other corporate mission statements. Their simple goal is to serve their customers accurately and on time, every time. Customer satisfaction is paramount.
The dabbawallas have a unique, clearly defined value proposition. Sure they compete with fast food chains, but unlike them, the dabbawallas provide fresh home-cooked lunches. Depending on who’s doing the cooking, that’s no contest!
Their delivery prices are very fair. No one can bargain with a rate of about $4 per month! It’s a win-win for both the dabbawallas and their customers.
They run a flat organization structure that does not depend on technology suppliers to operate and shares all profits with their 5,000 strong dabbawalla community. Profit-sharing is a pretty potent way to empower workers while motivating them to work hard and meet their targets!
Dabbawallas have no enforced retirement age. Older workers are allowed to work until they can no longer meet their delivery goals.
Dabbawallas are mainly illiterate but very discipled. They are masters at efficient supply chain logistics, time management and customer relationship management. They provide cost effective, consistent delivery of a service despite incredible odds.
With the plethora of technology, business efficiency and marketing tools at our disposal, how much more can Ontario manufacturers achieve against recessionary odds?
1,995 views
