1. LEARNING LESSONS FROM DABBAWALAS
SUBMITTED BYDEBASHIS MONDAL (MBA)

2. CONTENTS
 10 things about the Mumbai Dabbawalas
 Discipline and code of conduct
 Achievements
 Marking on dabbas
 Supply chain management
 Management lessons from Dabbawalas
 Conclusion

3. THINGS

4. 1) Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association
(NMTBSA) Started in 1890 & Registered in 1956 as a
Charitable trust
2) Dabbawalas are not employees they all are
entrepreneurs, Standard price for all
(Weight, Distance, Space) each have 35 to 40 clients
3) Each one earns near about 4000 to 5000 per month

5. 4) Member Strength is 5000 &
they cover 60 Kms to 70 Kms
around the Mumbai
5) Number of Tiffin's are 2,00,000
i.e. 4,00,000 transactions takes
Place every day
6) Total Turnover around 50 Crore
Indian Rupees

6. 7) They don’t use any modern technology
8) No strike record as each one a share holder
9) Great at time management average time taken 3 hours
10) Six Sigma Performance
(1 error occurs in 6 Million
transaction)

7. DISCIPLINE & CODE OF CONDUCT
 No Alcohol Drinking during business hours
 Wearing White Cap during business hours
 Carry Identity Cards
 Rs 500 - Drinking on duty & Rs 100 - Smoking on duty
 Rs 25- Not wearing white cap
 Rs 25- Not carrying ID card
 Rs 1000- Leave without intimation, sacked if repeated in
2-3 instances

8. ACHIEVEMENTS
ISO 9001:2000

9. MARKING ON DABBAS

10. CUSTOMER PROFILE
11% students
15%
businessmen
36%
government
sector
38% private
sector
employee

11. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
10:30 -11:15 am at Andheri Stn.
The Dabbawalas load the wooden
crates filled with tiffins onto the
luggage or goods compartment in
the train.

12. 11:15 – 12:15 pm at Church Gate Stn.
unloading takes place at the destination
station & Re-arrangement of tiffins takes
place as per the destination area and
destination building

High volume areas like
Nariman Point, Fort ,
CST have dedicated crates

Each crate 150 dabbas

Pushed by 3-4 Dabbawalas

13. 1:15 – 2:00 pm at destination stn.
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.
2:00 – 2:30 pm at destination stn.
The Dabbawalas meet for the
segregation as per the destination
suburb.

14. 2:48 – 3:30 pm
The return journey by train where
the finally meets up after the day’s
routine of dispatching & collecting
from various destination offices
3:30 – 4:00 pm at the Origin Stn.
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.

15. KEEP OPERATIONAL COST TO MINIMUM
 Use cycles, Hand carts, Local trains
 No big office to maintain
 No IT Budget and No Miscellaneous cost
 No Add budget – word of mouth publicity!
 Use of public space
for sorting

16. JUST SERVE COSTUMER – NOTHING ELSE !!
 Always deliver food on time – even during heavy rains
 Always on time – even without using a watch
 Bothering Costumers with offer may force them to
discontinue even existing services

17. NEVER DEVIATE FROM YOUR CORE
COMPETENCY
 Only business of delivering home made food to clients
 Efforts to sell other products through Dabbawalas system
failed
 Be “Master of one trade rather
than Jack of all”
 Develop products and
services around core
competency, if required

18. COMMITMENT MATTERS –
QUALIFICATION DOESN’T !!
 85% of Dabbawalas are illiterate
 Max. level of literacy – 8th standard failed
 Still able to offer world class service, as they are
committed to offer food to costumer on time

19. KNOW THE IMPLICATIONS OF
FAILURE
 If food is not delivered on time, it angers customers and
work will suffer
 May cause problem between customer and his wife
 A vegetarian gets a non-veg dabba – BIG Problem !!
 “Knowing the implications of
failure makes you more
responsible and serious
towards your work”

20. ABANDON BAD CUSTOMERS
 When dabbawala knocks door, the dabba, should be ready
 If its not for 3 consecutive days, then the service is stopped as it
affects the service to other customers
 “Bad customers affect
operation and profitability
from existing customers”

21. THANK YOU