tiffin tray
Food is one of the most important aspect of human beings life. And if given a choice, most of us would prefer home made food to restaurant food or junk food. But what does one do if one is working at office? Well then there seems to be no choice then going to the restaurant or ordering a pizza. Also during the peak hours, it is difficult to carry tiffin in the local which most of the people used to commute to office. But hey just dont loose hope. For if you happen to live in Mumbai, then the choice comes in the form of a friendly dabbawala, who will not only pick up the tiffin from your house and deliver it to your office but will also ensure that your food is served hot and is also delivered to you on time without fail.
History
The service originated in 1880 when the British were ruling India. Later, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche, a migrant from Maharashtra, started a lunch delivery service with about 100 men. In 1930, he informally tried to unionize the dabbawallas. Later a charitable trust was registered in 1956 under the name of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust. The commercial arm of this trust was registered in 1968 as Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association (MTBSA). Nowadays, the service often includes cooking of foods in addition to the delivery of foods.
Achievements
Most of the dabbawallas are illiterate. Then what makes them so special you might ask????
Sample this:-
When the Royal Prince came Visiting:- Prince Charles with the Dabbawalas
Six Sigma Rating:- According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 16,000,000 deliveries and the system has registered a Six Sigma performance at 99.999999 rating. And that too without any documentation
ISO 9001:2000:- By the Join Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand” – JASANZ
Lecturing At the Top Business Schools and IIT’s:- Logistics is the new mantra for building competitive advantage, the world over. Mumbai’s dabbawala developed their home grown version long before the term was even coined. Just to understand the complexities involved, many top business schools invite them for lectures.
No Striking Work:- The dabbawallas have a legacy of 116 years. And to date they have never struck work. An acheivement indeed.
Fans from Across the Word:- Wouldn’t it be called an acheivement if Prince Charles makes a change in his schedule just to meet these Dabbawallas?. They also made it to the Royal Wedding in London. Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic, spend an entire day with them.
Delivery at All times:- Be it rain or sun, the dabbawallas deliver the tiffin to their destinations on time and without fail.
Team Work and Timing – The Ingridients to Success
Sir Richard Branson - Chairman Virgin Atlantic with the dabbawallas
A usual day for the dabbawalla begins by collecting the tiffins from their respective homes. They are then taken to the nearest railway station and then sorted out according to the respective destinations. A simple Colour coding system doubles as an Id system which marks the destination and recipients. They are then loaded into the trains. The tiffins are then off loaded at their respective destinations where a new group takes over and then delivers the tiffins to their respective destinations. The entire process goes into reverse mode in the evenings, where the tiffins are collected fromt the offices and delivered back to the homes. The entire process goes on for the entire week. They only have an off when the office is not functioning ie on Sundays and other national holidays. Team Work and Timings are very crucial for successful functioning of the network.
Who are the dabbawallas?
.
Mr. Raghunath Dondhiba Medge - President of MTBSA
They are mostly the descendants of soldiers of the legendary Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and belong to the Malva Caste. Most of them are illiterates except Shri Raghunath Medge, the president, who is a graduate in Arts. Education till seventh standard is a prerequistie. There is no concept of employers or employees in the organisation and each and every dabbawalla is treated as an equal share holder. So like any bussinessman, a dabbawalla has to bring some capital with him. The minimum investment is two bicycles,a wooden crate for tiffins, at least one white cotton kurta pyjama and a gandhi topi.
Competitive Collaboration
Mr. Gangaram Laxman Talekar - General Secretary
MTBSA is a remarkably flat orgainsation with just three tiers:- the governing council (president, vice president, general secretary, trasurer and nine directors), the mukadams and the dabbawallas.
Dabbawallas are divided into sub-groups of 15 to 25, each supervised by four mukadams. Experienced old timers, the mukadams are familiar with the colors and codings used in the complex logistic system. Their key responsibilities include sorting tiffins, maintaining records of receipts and payments, acquiring new customers and triaining new recruits. Each group is financially independent but coordinates with others for deliveries. Earnings by a particular group are divided equally amongst the members
From his earnings of between Rs. 5000 to Rs. 6000, every dabbawalla contributes Rs. 15 per month to the association. This amount is utilised for the community’s upliftment, loans and marriage halls at concessional rates. All issues are usually resolved by association officials whose ruling is binding. Meetings are held in the office on the 15th of every month where particular emphasis is paid to customer service. If a tiffin is lost or stolen an inquiry is intiated and customers are allowed to deduct costs from any dabbawala found guilty of such a charge.
Before looking into the internal disputes, a token amount of Rs. 100 is charged to ensure that the cases handled are geniune and the officials donot waste time discussing petty issues.
What we can learn from them?
Its courage and determination that keeps these people going. The attitude of competitive collaboration is equally unusual. The dabbawallas compete with each other in bringing new customers but there is no competition at the delivery end. Their busienss model is worth replicationg in the digital age.
All images are taken from mydabbawalla.com official website of the dabbawallas with inputs from the wikipedia.
Filed under: Dabbawalas - Small People Great Work, Salaam Mumbai Series , dabbawala, gangaram laxman talekar, manish tripathi, mtbsa, price charles visiti to mumbai, raghunath medge, richard branson
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