six sigma case study on mumbai dabbawala

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The Six Sigma Story: Mumbai Dabbawalas in 2024 [Updated]

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Sigma is a Greek letter used in mathematics to represent the standard deviation. Six Sigma definitely sounds Greek to you but the story goes beyond Greece.

Six Sigma is a set of technique and tools to improve the process. It seeks to improve the quality of the process by identifying and removing the causes of defects or expected defects leading to failure in the final outcome. A Six Sigma is process were 99.99966% of all opportunities of producing defects are statistically measured and controlled upon.

Six Sigma Story started at Motorola, a telecommunication company, by an American engineer Bill Smith, to measure and control defects to improve overall quality.

The ultimate objective of implementing  Six Sigma  in any organization is to –

• Increase performance
• Increase profits
• Decrease process deviation
• Minimize defects and errors
• Improve quality of final products or services.

In general, the term Six Sigma quality is measured in bell shaped curve graph. It follows a process limits ±3s from the center line in a control chart, and extends to the requirements or tolerance limits ±6s from the center line. As you may see below is a standards six sigma normal distributed curve indicating mean, standards deviation and defects to indicate the final six sigma quality of the process.

Success of Six Sigma implementation is based upon following principles:

• Focus on customer’s requirements and increase customer ‘s satisfaction
• To do error-less statistical analysis to understand improvement opportunities.
• Efficiently eliminate variation to lower the defects
• Involving manpower to build teamwork.
• Reducing Costs
• Increase Profitability
• Uses well-trained, independent teams to handle well-defined projects
• Uses independent teams and worker participation pioneered by the Japanese with quality circles and the gemba methodology.

What are the main concepts in Six Sigma?

• DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities)
• Critical to Quality:

Critical to quality means the measurable characteristics of a product or service which must be matches the customer requirement of product or service.

The defect is defined as a product or service characteristics which are rejected by customers

• Process Capability:

It means to to deliver or produce a service or product which is meeting the customer demands.

In a Six Sigma story, variation means  mearusing of difference between the final product or service delivered to the customer visa-vis expectation of the customer.

• Stable Operations:

Stable operations means to ensure that the process of business makes consistent efforts to reduce the gap between what customer sees and feels.

Some of the additional features that set Six Sigma story apart from previous quality-improvement initiatives are –

• Focus on maintaining a quantifiable and measurable financial return from a Six Sigma project.
• Emphasis to be increased on strong management leadership and support the cause.
• Most importantly commitment to make decisions on the basis of verifiable data and statistical methods, rather than assumptions and guesswork.

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The Mumbai Dabbawalas

Mumbai never sleeps!! Mumbai never stops!!

Mumbai, an archipelago at one time, is now connected to be the one of the most populous city of India. It is stretched for about 603 square kilometer running on one track from Andheri to Kurla

Along with Mumbai, an army of Mumbai also never stops. An army of around 5000 people dressed in white dhoti or payjama, white kurta and a white Gandhi topi moving all day long on the roads to assist lakhs of people to enjoy fresh and healthy homemade food. This saves there time as well as money.

Yes. You guessed it right . I am talking of the famous Mumbai Dabbawalas !! There is system of providing Tiffin services to lakhs of offices in Mumbai.

This battalion has been serving people of Mumbai since more than 125 years. With an impressive style of work management and dauntless work ethics they supply launch boxes for almost 2 lakhs working professionals in one of the busiest city of India – Mumbai. They pick up launch boxes from the house in morning, drop them to offices and drop the lunch boxes back to the house before evening.

The Golden status of a Mumbai dabbawala at Haji Ali station will make you to stand still and force you to think upon and  re-learn all your management lessons. The journey started way back in 1890 when Shri Mahadu Havaji Bachhe started to pick and drop tiffin box for a parsee banker.He saw the business and service opportunity of tiffin service in the locality. He started the lunch delivery service and from one man, one customer, with one dabba it increased to 100 dabbas.

The history of Mumbai dabbawals go hand in hand with historical and geographical development of Mumbai city.

They are the Maratha of Varkari sect of interior village in Maharashtra. They are ancestors of legendry warrior Chatrapati Shivaji. Staff lives a simple life. They are pure vegetarian and worshiper of lord Vithaldev of Mumbai. They find happiness in simplicity. As a Varkari clan service is in their DNA and they consider work is worship.

How can a semi-literate,  decentralized workforce perform so exemplarily  in constantly changing environment that can be described as unpredictable and challenging?

The concept — “Mumbai Dabbawalas”

The average travel time of working professionals in Mumbai is 3 hours. They leave as early as 8 am in the morning and return never before 8 in the evening. The mornings of a mumbaikers are generally deprived of breakfast. In Mumbai you cannot carry your own tiffin box of over-crowded local trains and the distance to be travelled. This is when the Mumbai dabbawalas come into picture.

They help people enjoy the availability of home cooked food being picked and delivered to offices before launch time. Even with dawn of muddy monsoon, submerging the city to waist level, not even a single dabba gets delayed.

Culture and Ethics

Resilience, strength and ingenious are so symbolic to Mumbai dabbawalas .

Belonging to the warrior ancestral, they believe that being a part of dabbawala they are actually nurturing Marathi culture, a culture of goodwill and oneness. They carry their believe system at work:

* Work is worship * serving people is serving God * time is money * unity is power

Average age of a Mumbai dabbawala ranges from 18 years to 65 years. There is no official retirement age. Most of them have the same culture, language, values, work ethic, diet, and religious beliefs.

The concept of uniformity plays an important part in the sustenance of the organization.

One Mission – One Vision

“Spread Excellence Everywhere and Always Delight the Customer”

Unlike the corporate this organization has a very powerful  and straight forward mission which is well aliened with the goal the organization on the basis of which each worker are measured on daily basis.

The food dabbas that they carry has a shelf life of 4 -5 hours. The total delivery time is 6 hours – 3 hours from house to office and 3 hours from office to house.

Each box shifts hands in transit 6 times and same in return as an empty tiffin. 2.4 million manual movement in transit. Four hundred thousand end customers. On daily basis one worker covers a distance of 60 – 70 km.

Speed and precision handling the boxes, timely delivery to the right owner helps them maintain their service quality.

Dabbawala minus discipline ‘is zero’

All workers must wear their white cap in business hours making them easy to identify, adhere to duty reporting times, respect their customers and must carry their identification cards.

They operate in a group of 20 – 30 people. Each dabbawala is responsible for 30 – 40 tiffin boxes for collection and distribution, all through the three major suburban rail routes.

Their journey starts from morning 9 am. Any leaves are to be prior informed so as back is arranged well in time to not obstruct the system. The workforce has not gone on strike since inception.

Staffs do not spend any extravagant life. They live a simple life. They do not indulge into any bad habits like drinking, smoking and tobacco consumption. They not just monitor their staff discipline but also monitor their customer discipline. If a customer delays in giving the dabba three times, they stop serving them. They abandon bad customer.

Being disciplined, help them to become planned and focused which creates an environment of concentration on work to uplift their productivity. It may look like a chaotic situation but instead discipline is the only factor which helps them synchronize even in tight schedule.

Keep it simple – Management Lesson

There is no chance that a dabbawala would make a mistake. Even in harsh weather conditions or circumstances, we deliver a home-cooked meal on time. They beat out all such practical hindrances like – unpunctual customers, long physical distances, large number of dabbas, Mumbai Traffic, Crowded trains, network co-ordination, multiple hand shifts, scattered pick up and drop off destinations.

It never happens that a Parsi chicken curry gets mixed up with Jain dal-roti.

In this era of wifi and high end technology, the organization till date believe in their simplicity All the tiffins are picked and carried in bicycle, hand cart and local train. Except the local train every step is handled manually and no technology is involved.

They stay true to their purpose and have one point focus which is service to mankind. They promote community living and thus have inbuilt qualities of a good team work.

Full of passion and value they believe in building trust in their customer’s heart. TRUST that travels from one pick up point to destination point. This is the most uncommon and difficult synergy that a manager strives for in this corporate world.

Each and every single step of their process involves some management lessons and still they work on only four basic pillars – organization, management, process and culture. All of them are so perfectly and mutually aligned so as to maximize productivity and creativity.

A Flat Organizational Structure

An employee who gets 10 years of experience as dabbawala is appointed as mukadams – supervisors to the members

They follow a three layer organizational structure – the President, the Mukadams and the Members. Organization follows no complex hierarchy or managerial structure which not only reduces operational costs but also empower-s employees to perform at their best.

The so called “decentralized organizational structure” provides a flexible work environment at all levels.

Logistics is happening for 2,60,000 transaction in six hours a day, six days a week,52 weeks a year; but rarely any mistakes. Supply chain managment,Logistics managemnt, customer satisfaction, hiring new workforce and dispute resolution are all managed by dabbawals themselves.

Average literacy standards of a traditional dabbawala don’t go beyond grade 8 thither are largely uneducated and probably only 15 % might have attended to senior secondary school. They don’t know what is six sigma, what is the meaning of six sigma and how and why of six sigma.

The question arises how they nailed this Six Sigma Story ?

In an interview the workers said “error is horror” we don’t want to think of it. They added that we don’t work for six sigma, we work for customer satisfaction .

They work with the motto – “ Customer is King”

Dabbawala got Six Sigma Certified, which means, error ratio is 1 in 16 million i.e. 1 mistake in 1,60,00,000 tiffin. In 1998, Forbes Global magazine, conducted quality assurance study on operation of dabbawala and gave a six sigma efficiency rating of 99.999999.

Mumbai Dabbawalas are ISO 9001:2000 certified by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand. They have shown an exemplary performance in servicing customers.

Intelligent coding system and use of bicycle, hand pulled cart as well as local train is what remarks the successful journey of an efficient time management to fall in line with six sigma quality service standards by the Mumbai Dabbawalas.

99.9999% performance and 100 percent customer satisfaction. This means the margin of error in their work is less than 0.1%.

It is so hard to demarcate between the Six Sigma Story and Mumbai Dabbawalas story.

The tour of accuracy and time management starts from the pickup point at 9.30 a.m. form the residence. In next step, they bring the boxes to the nearest common location where the tiffins are shuffled as per travel route and destination station. The wooden crate loaded with tiiffin boxes is then loaded in the goods compartment of the local train preferably the last compartment to avoid chaotic situation. Unloading takes place at the destination station.Re-shuffleing of tiffins again takes place as per the destination area and destination building. For distribution purpose hand pulled wooden cart is used which can carry around 150 tiffins and is driven by 3-4 dabbawals.

Amazingly, all dabbas gets distributed and delivered between 11:00 p.m. to 12:p.m… Which means them delivery tiffin from one corner of Mumbai to another in a time span of just 2 – 3 hours? By virtue of their cultural values, dabbawals never break for launch till all boxes get delivered to destination.

From 01:30 p.m. the collection process begins. Dabbawalas pick the tiffins from the offices where they had delivered an hour before. Each dabba travel through the same route before being returned to the original residence. By 4:00 p.m. the group again meets at the original station where the final sorting and dispatching happens. Finally tiffin boxes reaches to their original owner. Mumbai Dabbawals do this exemplary work without any error.

Cracking the Dabba Code

If you a pick a dabba from the wooden caret of a dabbawala, you can see on the lid of the dabba, there are some alpha-numeric codes written or painted in different colours.

From the days of inception, when the dabbas increased it became difficult to remember all address of offices and houses for all dabbawalas. With the low level of education standards it made it all the more difficult to set the process in place.

They evolved with the colour coding system. Very initially only different colors were used to denote the locations. With increase in business and client base, they introduced the alpha numeric coding system with different colors. They started to use symbols, which were explained to each worker as a part of training. Now a days Mumbai Dabbawalas make code using numbers, alphabets in Hindi, English and Marathi also.

This intelligent coding system helps them to drop and deliver the tiffin boxes at the correct location without even referring a list or maintaining a database with them.

The coding system includes following major definition in code-word:–

• Code for house address for pick up or drop of tiffin
• Code of office address to be delivered, where even the floor of the office is mentioned
• Code of the destination rail route
• Code for the route to which the tiffin will be carried.
• Code for the which dabbawala will carry the transit work
• Symbols and signs are used for identifying station of origin and delivery

This super innovative coding system uses the concept of  re-engineering  and  re-designing  to attain the six sigma mark. They keep transforming the coding system as per the expansion of geographical coverage of client base and also with the increasing number of client which keep adding every day. With the development of city structure and increase in client base supply chain makes necessary changes to expand the dabbawala system. Color coding system is the key contributing factors for Mumbai dabbawalas 99.99 % work efficiency rate.

Stick to basics

The total business runs in an eco friendly mode. They have zero fuel, zero modern technology, zero investment, and zero disputes. Even after lots of suggestions from big corporate they simply turned them done stating they are better off with the basics. They use bicycle and hand-pulled wooden cart. This eases their business in many ways –

• They don’t have to stuck and wait in city’s traffic
• No fuel expenses by using modern vehicle.
• No expenses in training staff to run the vehicle
• Low cost of maintenance

The organization runs with a remarkable approach to mitigate practical problems. They aim at sharpening their most important tool to ensure negligible defects with increased accuracy and efficiency in service.

They use age old strategy of marketing. They do not flash any contact number nor do they adopt any modern or technical means of marketing in order to acquire new customers. Once an organization tried to help in advertisement, dabbawalas tried to follow. But sooner they surrendered and said that it’s a waste of time and if one customer like their work automatically more customers will add on.

No Extraordinary talent for an Extraordinary Performance

The Mumbai Dabbawalas have taught many big corporate that – organization do not need extraordinary talents to achieve extraordinary performance rather they need to reinforce right system. With the flat organizational structure, they have proved that complexity in system will only lead the organization to default in compliance.

With the humanistic approach, they have laid a trend of not hiring highly educated work force and so no high salary structure. Employee satisfaction here is not monetary rather they have strong service commitments.

So for the big brothers around, it’s the commitment that matters and not the qualification.

As is so true in today’s practical world, higher pay package cannot retain employee at least not for long term.

One of the most important decision of the organization was to focus on their core job their core competency and do not let any other kind of activities distract them. The thumb rule of the organization is to minimize the operational cost and maximize their working with minimal capital utilization.

The training strategy of old guys teaching the new entrants and sharing their experience provides a holistic picture to working environment and circumstances.

Since this job is voluntarily chosen by them, the love and dedication for the job never goes missing. When they receive appreciation it becomes their status and pride.

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Punam Sharma is a seasoned banker with specialization in retail banking. She is an MBA with Finance as specialization. She is a certified bank trainer from National Institute of Bank Management, Pune. Punam is a budding blogger and a pen enthusiast.

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Mumbai’s Models of Service Excellence

• Stefan Thomke

What the city’s dabbawalas can teach your company about quality

Reprint: R1211K

Think you need exceptional employees, advanced IT, or rigid controls to build a high-performance organization? The dabbawalas of Mumbai prove otherwise. Six days a week, these 5,000 self-managed, semi-literate workers deliver upwards of 130,000 lunches from customers’ homes to their offices with astonishing precision—negotiating the crowded city by train, bicycle, and handcart, without the aid of any technology or even cell phones. The 100-year-old service is legendary for its reliability: Despite monsoons, floods, riots, and terrorist attacks, mistakes by the dabbawalas are extremely rare.

Thomke, an HBS professor, studied the dabbawalas to find the keys to their success. He uncovered a unique system with four pillars: organization, management, process, and culture. A flat structure, consisting of autonomous units of 25 people each, is well suited to providing low-cost service. The tight schedule of the train lines over which meals are ferried regulates everyone’s work. Buffer capacity is built in to address extremely thin margins of error; each unit has extra workers who fill in wherever they are needed, and members are cross-trained in all activities. Variations that might derail the works are discouraged; the lunchboxes used, for instance, are all a standard size. A simple coding system helps workers quickly sort lunches and get them where they need to go. And democratic decision making and deep emotional bonds among workers promote a high degree of cooperation.

The dabbawalas show that with the right system, even ordinary workers can achieve the extraordinary.

In July 2005, Mumbai was battered by unusually heavy monsoon rains. In just 12 hours, more than 25 inches deluged India’s business capital. That, combined with record high tides, wreaked widespread havoc, bringing the city to a virtual standstill. As the water rose waist-high in many areas, people found themselves stranded at railway stations, in trains, and on roads and sidewalks.

• Stefan Thomke is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is a leading authority on the management of business experimentation and innovation and has worked with many global companies on product, process, and technology development. He is the author of Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments (HBR Press, 2020).

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Home • Knowledge hub • The Genius of Mumbai’s Dabbawalas: A Model of Six Sigma Excellence.

The Genius of Mumbai’s Dabbawalas: A Model of Six Sigma Excellence.

In the bustling heart of Mumbai, a revolutionary, old-world system thrives, mirroring the precision of today’s top technological giants like Uber. Yet, it operates without an ounce of digital intervention. This marvel is the Mumbai Dabbawalas, an intricate network of lunchbox delivery men.

For over 125 years, these dabbawalas have flawlessly delivered home-cooked meals to Mumbai’s office-goers. Daily, they manage around 200,000 lunch deliveries with a near-impossible error rate – an achievement that’s caught global attention, especially those in Six Sigma and management.

The Mumbai Dabbawalas not only showcase an unparalleled service but have also earned their stripes in the global standards of operational efficiency by achieving Six Sigma certification, which translates to an error ratio of just 1 in 16 million – or, put another way, a single mistake in 1,60,00,000 lunch boxes. 

This perfection and reliability were recognized by Forbes Global magazine in 1998, which, after conducting a thorough quality assurance study of their operations, awarded the Dabbawalas a Six Sigma efficiency rating of 99.999999%.

The Mumbai Dabbawala’s commitment to excellence is evident in their methodology. They’ve devised an intelligent coding system and use a combination of bicycles, hand-pulled carts, and local trains to ensure timely and efficient deliveries. This incredible journey and dedication towards time management align perfectly with the Six Sigma quality service standards. Their track record boasts a performance rate of 99.9999% and complete customer satisfaction, affirming that their margin of error is an almost negligible figure of less than 0.1%.

So, what makes this system so painstakingly accurate? How has a semi-literate, decentralized, grassroots organization like the dabbawalas become a symbol of operational perfection, paralleling the principles of Six Sigma?

How does the Dabbawalla system work?

The Mumbai Dabbawala system is an intricate, century-old network primarily aimed at delivering freshly cooked meals from homes to offices throughout Mumbai. 

Here’s a breakdown of how this fascinating system functions:

Collection: A dabbawala collects the lunchboxes with freshly prepared meals from customers’ homes or lunch places in the morning.

Sorting: These lunchboxes are then taken to a sorting place, where they are sorted based on their destination. Each lunchbox has a distinct code, a combination of alphabets and numbers. This code indicates the destination and the recipient.

Transportation: Once sorted, the lunchboxes are transported using a mix of bicycles, trains, and on foot. Given Mumbai’s complex railway system and dense urban setting, these modes of transport ensure speed and efficiency.

Delivery: After reaching the respective areas, the lunchboxes are again sorted based on the specific building and floor number. Another set of dabbawalas then delivers the lunchboxes to the appropriate individuals.

Return: Post-lunch, the process is reversed. The empty lunchboxes are collected and sent back to the respective households.

A few notable aspects of this system include:

Coding System: One of the most remarkable features of the dabbawala system is its coding method. It’s a mix of colors, numbers, and alphabets that denote various aspects like source and destination, ensuring each tiffin reaches its rightful owner.

Human-powered: The entire process is manually powered. There’s no use of modern technology, apps, or even written addresses, yet it matches and sometimes surpasses the efficiency of contemporary tech-driven delivery systems.

Teamwork: The dabbawalas operate in teams and are stakeholders, ensuring each member’s accountability and commitment to the service.

The success of this system, besides its operational efficiency, is also due to the values the dabbawalas hold dear: trustworthiness, consistency, and a strong sense of community service. Their incredible efficiency, resilience, and dedication have made them the subject of numerous case studies and a model for businesses worldwide.

Six Sigma, Mumbai Dabbawalas, and the Power of Market Research: An In-Depth Look

Understanding customer needs and preferences is crucial for any brand. 

The Six Sigma model, renowned for its meticulous approach to quality management, pairs exceptionally well with market research to pinpoint and fulfill these needs. 

To exemplify this synergy, let’s explore the fascinating world of Mumbai’s dabbawalas, who have virtually mastered the Six Sigma principles in everyday operations.

Breaking Down Six Sigma

The Six Sigma methodology is divided into six key stages for streamlining processes and reducing errors:

• Define: Recognize the problem and understand customer requirements.
• Measure: Collect data on current processes and determine where errors or defects occur.
• Analyze: Scrutinize the data to determine the root causes of errors or defects.
• Improve: Implement changes to eradicate the root causes identified.
• Control: Maintain ongoing oversight to ensure the implemented changes are effective and sustained.
• Verify: Confirm that the refined process aligns with customer needs and is free from defects.

The Mumbai Dabbawallas represent a grassroots approach to Six Sigma principles at work. Here’s how they integrate the Six Sigma principles into their meal delivery service. 

• Define: The dabbawalas clearly understand their task—to deliver home-cooked meals to offices, with the stipulation that the delivery is prompt, the food is at the right temperature, and the content is as ordered.
• Measure: Performance metrics include the total number of lunches successfully delivered versus the number of errors or mix-ups that occur.
• Analyze: When mistakes happen, such as delivering to the wrong person, the dabbawalas carry out a root cause analysis to avoid future occurrences.
• Improve: They are committed to a cycle of continuous improvement to nullify the errors discovered.
• Control : A unique coding system controls the process, ensuring each lunchbox reaches its rightful owner.
• Verify: The dabbawalas meticulously manage delivery times and the freshness of food, covering distances of 60-70 km daily within six hours, thereby confirming the high quality of their service.

How market research can be a catalyst for Six Sigma excellence.

Integrating market research into the Six Sigma model offers a potent combination. Through market research, brands can gain in-depth insights into customer needs and preferences, which, in turn, can refine each of the Six Sigma steps.

For instance, by conducting customer surveys, a company can discern customer preferences for food types, packaging, and delivery times. Such insights can be directly fed into the Six Sigma process for optimization. If a survey reveals a growing preference for vegetarian meals, the dabbawalas could adapt by including more vegetarian options, enhancing customer satisfaction and process efficiency.

Market research isn’t just a standalone tool; when integrated with methodologies like Six Sigma, as evidenced by the dabbawalas of Mumbai, it becomes a powerful lever for business excellence. By deeply understanding customer needs and continually refining processes, companies can achieve a level of service that is nothing short of exceptional.

The Mumbai Dabbawalas’ story, much like the Six Sigma narrative, is one of relentless pursuit of perfection. It’s a testament to human capability, reminding us that with dedication, even a traditional system can achieve global standards of excellence, making it difficult to distinguish between the precision of Six Sigma and the brilliance of the Dabbawalas.

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Six sigma: A Casestudy on Mumbai's Dabawala

The industry of delivering tiffin boxes in Mumbai began in 1890. Mahadeo Bhavaji Bachche was the first dabbawala to deliver tiffin to a British guy who requested it. Demand rose from all directions as a result of this incident. A minimum of 5,000 dabbawalas are currently employed in the industry. They are a part of a well-organized cooperative enterprise that also provides job security to its employees. 

Best MBA colleges in Kolkata , and in other states have taken into consideration their six sigma approach and are teaching their students how to go about it. To understand how Dabbawalas use the six sigma approach, let us understand what it is.

What is six sigma?

The standard deviation is represented by the Greek symbol "sigma" in mathematics. Six Sigma may seem Greek to you, but there's more to the tale than that. Six Sigma is a technique and a collection of tools for improving processes. It aims to raise the process's quality by detecting and eliminating the causes of errors or predicted flaws that lead to failure in the final product. A six-sigma process is one in which 99.99966 percent of all potential flaws are quantitatively measured and managed.

In an Industry-Integrated MBA , it is important to understand the objective behind everything as it gives you a more clear picture. The objective of putting an organization into Six Sigma Approach is to gain the following

• Boost your performance
• Increase profits
• Reduce the variance in the process
• Defects and faults should be kept to a minimum.
• Improve the ultimate product or service quality.

How did dabbawala put the six sigma approach   

The Six Sigma Approach has six concepts, which are followed like a ritual by the Mumbai dabbawalas. 

DPMO-Defects per million opportunities

Six sigma means there are fewer than 3.4 flaws per million chances, which means that out of every million lunch boxes that must be delivered from a million residences to various workplaces in Mumbai, only three will not arrive at the correct desk at the appropriate time.

Critical to quality

The quantifiable features of a product or service that must fulfill the customer's need for the product or service are referred to as critical to quality. In the case of dabbawalas, they follow this approach very swiftly as they deliver the tiffin boxes straight from the homes of the people and deliver it to their workplaces.

Customers reject a product or service if it has a flaw. Mumbai Dabbawalas assist individuals in taking advantage of the availability of home-cooked food that is picked up and brought to offices prior to the start of the launch. Even while the city is submerged to waist level by the filthy monsoon, not a single Dabba is delayed. So there is no defect in their delivery of service.

Process Capability

It refers to providing or producing a service or product that meets the needs of the consumer. Unlike in the corporate world, this organization has a clear and compelling mission that is closely aligned with the business's goals and against which each employee is evaluated on a daily basis. They have a 4-to-5-hour shelf life on the food dabbas they deliver. The entire delivery time is 6 hours, including 3 hours between the house and the office and another 3 hours between the office and the house. During transportation, each box changes hands six times before being returned as an empty tiffin. In transportation, 2.4 million people move manually. A total of 400 000 clients are served. One worker travels 60–70 kilometers every day. They are able to retain their service quality by handling the boxes with speed and precision and delivering them to the correct owner on time.

Variation refers to the difference between the final product or service given to the client and the customer's expectations. As change is necessary for every organization, dabbawalas also have various variations wherever required to boost their organization

Stable Operations

Stable operations refer to the business process's continual efforts to close the gap between what customers see and what they experience. To keep their operations stable, they follow discipline in full force. During business hours, all staff must wear their white caps to be easily identified, stick to duty reporting times, respect their clients, and carry their identity cards. The collecting of things is the first and most critical phase in every supply chain. If someone fails to deliver the dabba on time three times, they are no longer served.

A management lesson that we must learn from the dabbawalas is time management and teamwork. Without any technology and with simple things they build such a great team of over 5000 dabbawalas and are working hard every day without any delay. As the Dabbawalas, The Bengal Institute of Business Studies also is ranked as one of the Top 10 MBA colleges in Kolkata , as it also trains its management aspirants to work in an industry-friendly way and work with teamwork and dedication.

Posted on Jan 18, 2022

Categories Industry Integrated

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Six Sigma: A case study on Mumbai Dabbawala

The complete case study on six sigma implemented by Mumbai Dabbawalla : A food chain for delivering packed tiffins

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Sangita Ghodake

In a metropolitan city like Mumbai, a city that moves on wheels, a city that gives pan local and pan global experience, often gives feeling of isolation and alienation to her citizens. The absurdity of fast moving life in a metro often leads to universal question, 'why do we exist?' The answer lies in optimistic attitude of Mumbai Dabbawalas/ Tiffinwalas whose coping mechanism teaches us how to live and enjoy every single moment of life. They flow with the flow of life by maintaining self respect and dignity. The city plays a role of a protagonist who steers us to 'never say die'. The Dabbawala or Tiffinwallas have crossed the boundaries of publicity. Right from Prince Charles of Wales, England to a case study of Harward management students have shown their keen interest in the management skills of the semi-literate and non-technical dabbawalas. The present paper is a humble attempt of describing Mumbai city in brief. Life of Mumbai dabbawalas would be described through socio-cultural and financial aspects. Being a teacher of literature, I would like to describe Mumbai and dabbawalas through a Bollywood movie The Lunch Box that has won accolades in national and international film festivals. The movie is a bittersweet romantic comedy in which Mumbai city life is portrayed with her special attribute 'dabbawala'. The movie depicts a story of two unknown people who get connected through misplacement of tiffin and their romantic letter friendship finally helps them to transcend life in the search of the 'self'. Their journey started from absurdity and boredom of cactus land that gradually turn into lands of roses and finally transcends them to spiritual quest for 'know thyself'. Key Words: Mumbai, alienation and isolation, dabbawalas, the lunch box, spiritual quest, transcendentalism TRANSCENDING LIFE THROUGH ROMANCE: MUMBAI TIFFINWALAS AND THE LUNCH BOX A journey of all rational and sensible human beings starts from ignorance to knowledge. Romanticism and transcendentalism are the steps that one has to come across in his/her life. Transcendentalism is closely associated with an individual's identity, temperament, philosophy and spirituality whereas romanticism was an intellectual and artistic movement of eighteenth century that deals with emotional upheavals. Every individual's journey of life moves from romanticism to transcendentalism. Immanuel Kant's transcendental philosophy shows strong faith in power of divinity and individuality. Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophy of transcendentalism deals with wisdom and self realization. The present paper is a humble attempt to describe a life in metropolitan cities in general and Mumbai city in particular. Mumbai Dabbawalas/ Tiffinwallas are management Gurus (masters) of the hi-tech world of today. The researcher would like to describe socio-cultural aspect of Dabbawalas. The life of Mumbai inhabitants and the Dabbawalas will be described through a Bollywood movie The Lunch Box. The protagonists' romantic association led them to find their real self that

Sara Roncaglia

Abhishek Chakraborty , Akshay Hargude

The dabbawalas (tiffin carriers) of Mumbai are a unique community of around five thousand people who efficiently serve up to 2 lac (0.2 million) customers every day. They have been delivering daily lunches from homes to offices for over a century and any kind of error in their delivery process is almost negligible. They have maintained their heritage working process since the inception of the service and therefore any kind of technology has not been incorporated in their work. They are currently facing numerous business sustainability challenges such as reaching out to new customers and also in maintaining their existing customer base. In 8-10 years, the number of customers a dabbawala serves a day has reduced from 50 to around 20 now. Bachelor employees working for MNCs rarely rely on home cooked food and thus don't employ their services. Through our research we have understood that they might lose their current customer base soon as similar food delivery businesses with faster and better services are continuously emerging. To empower them we introduce Dabbawala — a mobile application that enables partnership between dabbawalas and food services around the city and directly connects them to their combined customer base. This application enables the customers to order lunch from anywhere from the city. Customer registrations and any kind of money transactions are all handled through the application. The application is also

In a metropolitan city like Mumbai, a city that moves on wheels, a city that gives pan local and pan global experience, often gives feeling of isolation and alienation to her citizens. The absurdity of fast moving life in a metro often leads to universal question, 'why do we exist?' The answer lies in optimistic attitude of Mumbai Dabbawalas/ Tiffinwalas whose coping mechanism teaches us how to live and enjoy every single moment of life. They flow with the flow of life by maintaining self respect and dignity. The city plays a role of a protagonist who steers us to 'never say die'. The Dabbawala or Tiffinwallas have crossed the boundaries of publicity. Right from Prince Charles of Wales, England to a case study of Harward management students have shown their keen interest in the management skills of the semi-literate and non-technical dabbawalas. The present paper is a humble attempt of describing Mumbai city in brief. Life of Mumbai dabbawalas would be described through socio-cultural and financial aspects. Being a teacher of literature, I would like to describe Mumbai and dabbawalas through a Bollywood movie The Lunch Box that has won accolades in national and international film festivals. The movie is a bittersweet romantic comedy in which Mumbai city life is portrayed with her special attribute 'dabbawala'. The movie depicts a story of two unknown people who get connected through misplacement of tiffin and their romantic letter friendship finally helps them to transcend life in the search of the 'self'. Their journey started from absurdity and boredom of cactus land that gradually turn into lands of roses and finally transcends them to spiritual quest for 'know thyself'.

Journal of Organisation & Human Behaviour

Dr. Harsh Sharma

International Journal of Value Chain Management

Marie Percot

Tiffin carriers of Mumbai (Dabbawalas) are a well-known figure of the Indian metropolis. So “typical” is their profession that important foreign guests –like recently Prince Charles- are offered to visit them at Victoria Terminus or Churchgate Station where they meet in order to deliver the lunch of their 100.000 customers. The existence of their activity is closely linked to Mumbai geographical specificities, but it is also a result of the multiple differences concerning food habits which exist between Indians. This paper will, in a first part, presents how the Dabbawalas system is an actual answer allowing the respect of the different food habits. The second part is devoted to the explanation of the Dabbawalas system of delivery: sort of a relay race which has been developed by these rural migrants showing a remarkable knowledge of the metropolis.

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The Dabbawala System: On-Time Delivery, Every Time

• Format: Print
• | Language: English
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About The Author

Stefan H. Thomke

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Mumbai Dabbawala: Customer Service Excellence of Six Sigma QualityWithout Technology

Tuesday March 20, 2012 , 13 min Read

Dr. Pawan Agrawal has taken Mumbai’s semi-literate dabbawalas, suburban trains, and packed home food (tiffins) to a global case study on Six Sigma. He is the author of ‘ Dabbawala of Mumbai : Masters of Supply Chain Management’ . He has done a case study on the dabbawala’s logistics and supply chain management efforts and has made more than 200 presentations in India and abroad.

YourStory captures parts of his speech at IIT-Delhi at the E-Summit, 2012. An adapted version of the speech is presented here.

The food is cooked at home. Tiffin is yours. They [dabbawalas] will simply deliver it from your home to your workplace before lunch time and deliver the empty tiffin box back in the evening at your home as well. Why would you want dabbawala to carry your tiffin? There are two reasons. One is that the Mumbai local trains have lines extending 60-70 km and two, they are crowded. If you have to reach office at 9, you must start at 6. But you wouldn’t want to wake your loved ones at 5 and have them prepare the tiffin for you; that’s where Dabbawala can help you. Another reason is that even if you start at 8, you won’t be able to carry your own tiffin because of how crowded the trains are. So, for these two reasons, Dabbawala has been in the business [of carrying your home food to your office] for the last 120 years. Some 9-10 months back, some corporate people sent me an email. What are the takeaways from your session? I said, “What takeaways yaar, I’ll give away whatever you want to take away.” Then I decided, yes, my takeaways are passion, commitment, consistency, 100% execution, accuracy, dedication, time management and customer satisfaction. These qualities are there in every dabbawala, in all 5000 of them. These are in-built qualities that everybody can have. I don’t think the IITs and IIMs can teach these things. I think entrepreneurs must possess these qualities. The belief is that customer may be King but he is also God. There is no alternative to hardwork and importance of human values. If these principles are followed, you will be unbeatable.

There’s a group of people called Varkari Sampradaya in Maharashtra; they are the devotees of Lord Vitthala and there’s a place called Pandharpur, the town of the temple of Vitthala. When they go to that place, they wear a ‘tulasi mala’. And when a person wears this mala, he will never drink or smoke because Lord Vitthala doesn’t like it and the same principle is brought into practice here. Dabbawalas feel that their customer is their Lord Vitthala. These people are poor, they are working in difficult situations, they are not qualified and they don’t use technology, and yet, they possess all these qualities and work with passion and commitment.

Dabawala was started in 1890 by one Mr. Mahadeo Havaji Bachche. He was once asked by a Parsi working in the Britisher’s rank, “Will you bring my tiffin from my home?” He simply answered “Yes, I will, no problem.” From that day onwards, he started to collect tiffins from homes and delivering them to the respective workplaces. In 1890, there was one dabbawala and one customer, and now, there are 5000 dabbawalas and 200,000 customers, which means, one dabbawala carries approximately 40 tiffins. The maximum weight comes to 65-70kg; carrying that much weight in the crowded local trains is a lot of hard work. Why do they do it then? Work is worship. And, as far as qualification is concerned, you will see that the average literacy rate is 8 th grade schooling; which means the dabbawalas are illiterate and yet they have managed to achieve a Six Sigma quality rating, which means only one wrong service in a 6 million deliveries.

Ownership is a feeling that an employee has to instill in oneself, and unless you get that feeling of ownership you cannot work excellently. In 120 years, it has never happened that a dabbawala has failed to deliver. It’s impossible. They will never tell you that “the trains are late today,” and even if Mumbai trains are late, the tiffins can’t be late. The dabbawala knows that if he’s not going in time, his customer will eat outside food, pay money for it and waste time. The dabbawala knows the consequences of going late. So he always goes on time. The people of Mumbai say with confidence that “our lunch can go wrong but not the Mumbai dabbawalas.” So nobody can stop you from being punctual. In a lot of institutes, I have found that there are a number of teachers, a number of professors, who always come late because, according to me, they decide to go late. Time is very important and it is possible to be punctual if you have a strong structure. Dabbawalas don’t know the meaning of structure. Let me speak about (mukadal) group leaders. A group has 10, 20, or 25 dabbawallas, depending on the density of customers in your area, and their in-charge is the group leader. The responsibility to keep the dabbawalas and the customers happy is on the group leader. Despite the fact that he doesn’t get even a rupee extra for the extra10% that he works, he feels proud to be a group leader. For example, the group leader also takes care of the train passes of the dabbawalas, to check whether they have expired or not; he reminds the dabbawalas in case their passes are about to expire in the next 2-3 days and also buys the pass for the dabbawala if he fails to do so himself in order to ensure that timely delivery doesn’t suffer. I will tell you an instance of how one dabbawala performs duty in one day. He collects 40 tiffins from a particular area and drops them in the Vile Parle railway station because his customer is from Vile Parle. He can’t deliver all of them because he would have to go all over Mumbai, so he leaves these 40 there. That’s his first job. His second job is to collect 35-40 tiffins from his group leader and deliver them to Dadar. His third job is to deliver 30 tiffins to Chavani Road, and in the fourth job from Chavani Road, he delivers 30 tiffins to Churchgate. His fifth job is to go from Church Gate to deliver 30 tiffins to NarimanPoint. Finally, in his sixth job, he delivers 30 tiffins to Express Tower to the customers before lunch time and after lunch, he will reroute back to his original area and deliver the same tiffins from where he had collected them. After all this, Forbes has found 1 erroneous delivery out of 6 million deliveries, but they don’t accept that either. They are unhappy that that one error has occurred.

Twelve years ago, some people from Delhi came to Dabbawala and said they want to do research on Dabbawala; they prepared a project and went back to Delhi.They called after 3 months and informed Dabbawala about Six Sigma. Dabbawalas didn’t know what it meant. They told Dabbawala it was a big honour so Dabbawala asked them to send it across. They were told to go to Delhi and collect it. Sixteen dabbawalas went to Delhi to collect the Six Sigma certification. People work so hard for Three and Four Sigma but dabbawalas got Six Sigma because they didn’t care about the certification and cared only about customer satisfaction. It is a big achievement especially without the use of technology. Even if the dabbawalas use technology in the form of mobile phones, they can’t because both their hands are used in delivering tiffins. Technology is useless for them for delivery. And after all this, they charge only 400 rupees per month for delivery. So, I asked one dabbawala why they charge so less. He said his customers are poor. I asked him how much he earns; he said Rs 6000-7000 or Rs 8000-9000 a month. If they want more income, they work extra. Dabbawala then gave me an example of a teacher, who earns only Rs 5000 per month as a government rule. He said, “Despite the teacher’s double graduation, I earn more than him, so I’m happy.” When students and parents come to our institute, the first question they ask is about placements. And everyone, including me, lie when they say 100% placements. Their second question is about the package. I say 20 lakhs. That’s it. They would have decided based solely on the package. There was a student I met once, who had a package of 11 lakhs, but he didn’t take it up because he was looking for 12 lakhs. I was shocked. I always advise students, when you get a job, commit yourself completely to that organization, that company, and they’ll pay you what you want. Industry people taught me two words: attrition and retention. Dabbawalas have a 0% attrition rate and a 100% retention rate, because they believe that work is worship. For example, some customers refuse to pay bonus, but the dabbawalas don’t disrupt their services. So I asked one of them why, he said, “the customer is my God, he has paid me 12 months’ of salary so it’s ok if he doesn’t pay me one month’s bonus.” Despite the disputes there has never been a police or a court case. Every 15 days they have a meeting. The disputing dabbawalas resolve their disputes and if they can’t, the president takes a call and they follow his judgment without questioning. Dabbawalas feel satisfied. I asked one customer, what he thinks about the dabbawalas. He said, “Excellent. When I get my salary I am afraid of carrying it in the local train because it’s so crowded and I can get robbed so instead, after I have lunch, I put the money in the empty dabba and send to my wife.” Dabbawalas are very honest. If you do services consistently and with discipline, then the customer, at some point of time, will believe that you are God.

In one day, one dabbawala handles 500 tiffins. There is a 79-year-old man who is a dabbawala, nobody’s forcing him, but he still works because he thinks he can still provide service to his customers. The dabbawalas use bicycles. Another thing is the coding system; about 100 years ago, they were using colour codes. Then when Mumbai grew and the number of customers increased, they started using alphabets; A for Andheri, B for Bandra, etc. And today, they write a proper code with details of the source, destination and all the dabbawalas involved in that particular delivery. When this tiffin is coded and then washed, sometimes the coding becomes unclear, so the dabbawala takes colour out of his pocket and overwrites the code. He doesn’t complain about it, he just finishes the job. Due to the overcrowded Mumbai local trains, some people enter the luggage department, and when they do, the tiffins stick to their heads. So they start fighting with the dabbawalas and the dabbawalas also fight with them but only till the station arrives, because after that they’re more interested in the delivery. They use carts for longer distances. In running local trains, they sort the tiffins to save time. Risk is there, but it’s there everywhere. You must work with the situation. For example, they lost some income and customers because of some instances. In 1969, customers stopped taking food. In 1975, there was a railway strike; the dabbawalas lost one month’s income. In 1982, 40,000 meal workers went on strike. Till today they’re on strike. A lot of people lost their lives. Dabbawalas have gone through all this and come out shining. They have been featured on multiple channels and have been awarded multiple awards. These 50 Indians have influenced Mumbai: Tata, Birla, Ambani, Thakarey, Sharukh Khan, Amitabh Bachhan and Mumbai Dabbawala. Somebody took a survey in Mumbai about the likes of people, and Dabbawala was one of them. I am not a Dabbawala. I’m not involved in any of the operations at all. I have done a Ph.D. on this subject and my topic was ‘A study of logistics in supply chain management of Dabbawala in Mumbai.’ It took a lot of years to complete my Ph.D. But, two days into the research, I was taken aback by the passion of these people. I decided to do the research whether or not I complete my Ph.D. Prince Charles came to Mumbai in 2003. Six months before his visit, Mr. Jeetendra Jain, in the British Council of India, contacted dabbawala to arrange a visit. Dabbawala first refused and then, after realizing that Prince Charles is Britain’s royalty in the manner of a king, he agreed, but, with two conditions. First one was that Prince Charles should come at the Dabbawala’s convenience -- between 11 and 11.40 because that’s when they’re free. Second, Prince Charle must go to Dabbawala himself. Where to? The footpath. Prince Charles accepted these conditions. Richard Branson came to Mumbai. He wanted a photo with Dabbawala to put it up in his office in London to send a message to his employees to work like Dabbawalas. That’s the impact of Mumbai Dabbawala. There was an inauguration of a book written by Shobha Bondre. This was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh. The chief minister said that for every program he goes an hour late but for a dabbawala program he came 5 minutes early because he was scared that if he came late the Dabbawalas will go away. I feel very proud to have written a book called Masters of Supply Chain Management on the dabbawalas. In London, I delivered a speech. There were 240 executives from all over the world. Because I was Indian, they displayed saris all over the auditorium to show the impact of Indian culture on them. I was asked one question, suppose my customer was on the moon, how will the Dabbawalas deliver the tiffin? I said if the moon is in Mumbai, they will, because they’re the Mumbai Dabbawalas. When Prince Charles got married, only three Indians were invited, out of which, two were Dabbawalas. When it was the 26 th of July, we were flooded with water. Prince Charles called Dabbawala and said that he and his country are with them. That’s the kind of impact the Dabbawalas have.

I wanted the Dabbawalas to learn computers and English. They didn’t want to learn, so I got a wooden local train and put PCs inside and now they take classes. Similarly, for English. So friends, make use of your qualifications with an aim of serving, not yourself, but your family and other people.

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Mumbai’s dabbawalas: leaders in last mile logistics

The 133-year-old lunchtime delivery system in Mumbai provides important lessons on how urban supply chains can work more efficiently and sustainably

• Stephen Cousins

16 October 2023

Commercial property

Infrastructure

Infrastructure and services

Residential

Sustainability

Photography by Anindito Mukherjee

Businesses around the world suffered an economic hit when the pandemic took hold, but e-commerce entered a period of unprecedented growth as locked-down consumers turned to the internet to satisfy their grocery and shopping needs.

The pandemic is behind us and stores’ shutters have lifted, but online shopping habits remain and people – many of them still working from home – want the speed and convenience of same-day or overnight delivery.

The push for accelerated delivery has created a supply chain arms race, as retailers and distributors compete to deliver products, parcels and perishables into cities within tight timeframes. 

This is transforming last mile logistics (the final step between the distribution facility and the consumer), creating a need for new assets in and around dense urban areas. It also puts the sector in a dilemma: more deliveries generate more traffic , noise and pollution, threatening net zero carbon targets and causing concern for residents. It makes the very concept of fast delivery problematic and creates more stress for courier companies and their drivers. 

With cities stuck in a bottleneck, some logistics and real estate experts are looking for low carbon solutions. The stripped back approach to urban supply chain management followed by the 133-year old dabbawala service in Mumbai may help inform a leaner and cleaner last mile.

Translated as the ‘ones who carry the box,’ the 5,000-strong cooperative criss-crosses the bustling Indian metropolis delivering hundreds of thousands of home-cooked lunches to workers. Recognised as one of the world’s most efficient logistics systems, having attracted global attention and visits by the likes of King Charles, Richard Branson, and employees of FedEx, the service exploits sustainable transport by foot, bicycle or train. Workers don’t rely on IT and instead use a basic alphanumeric code to ensure deliveries reach the right place at the right time. They are dedicated and highly motivated, thanks in part to their highly valued status in the culture.

Sigma-sational

Many Indian  office workers  still enjoy the comfort of home-cooking and the dabbawalas offer a cheap service (roughly 800 rupees, or less than £10, a month) to pick up pre-prepared meals from customers’ houses and deliver them to their workplace in time for lunch. Its success is in part due to overcrowding on trains during rush hours, making it difficult for citizens to carry their own lunchboxes to work.

App-based food-delivery companies Deliveroo and Uber Eats, and their equivalents in  India  like Swiggy and Runnr, can’t hold a candle to the incredible service record of this industrious troop.

The dabbawalas system was graded ‘Six Sigma’ in a  2010 study  by the Harvard Business School, which means it makes fewer than 3.4 mistakes per million transactions. With almost 200,000 deliveries six days a week, that equates to just over 200 missing or delayed lunchboxes a year.

That’s no mean feat if you consider that the dabbawalas are self-managed, mostly without formal education and must navigate their way through the sixth most populated city on Earth without the use of modern  technology .

According to Harvard Business School, the secret is an organisational system whose basic pillars - organisation, management, process, and culture - are perfectly aligned and mutually reinforcing.

A key enabler is the Mumbai Suburban Railway, one of the most extensive commuter lines in the world, whose layout allows delivery people on foot, with bicycles and handcarts to travel short distances between the stations and customers’ homes and offices.

A tight delivery schedule – lunchboxes must reach the client by 1pm every day and it can take up to three hours to deliver them – synchronises and disciplines workers amid the chaos of the city. For example, dabbawalas have 40 seconds to load crates of lunchboxes onto a train at major stations and just 20 seconds at interim stops.

Each dabbawala has a dedicated collection and delivery area and every morning they tour their neighbourhood on foot or bicycle, collecting an average of 30 lunchboxes. The boxes are taken to a local office or railway station to be sorted for transport to delivery areas by train. Once the meals arrive, they are sorted again on the platform and loaded onto bicycles and handcarts to take to the end customers. The reverse process then begins, delivering empty lunchboxes back to homes.

This complex logistical dance is coordinated using a simple alphanumeric code drawn on the lid of each lunchbox and designed to be easily understood by every worker.

The onset of the pandemic forced the dabbawalas to adjust their business strategy. They evolved the system to diversify into new markets and incorporate new digital tools – after offices were closed delivery routes were added to service  residential areas , and contactless delivery methods were used during the pandemic.

Sanjay Dutt FRICS, MD & CEO of Mumbai-based Tata Realty & Infrastructure, says: “The dabbawalas took up alternative markets such as the delivery of groceries and essentials, which allowed them consistent income and to grow their customer base. Through digital route mapping and order management, they enhanced their efficiency and reduced costs to become more competitive with bigger delivery chains.” 

Cities slicker

The dabbawalas’ enviable track record is interesting to businesses because last mile delivery is the most critical, complicated and expensive stage of the delivery process. Pressures intensified during the pandemic in 2020 when e-commerce revenues added a whopping 19% to sales growth worldwide, according to  figures  from the US International Trade Administration.

Growth has since dipped, but the upward trend remains, says Dan Cliff, director of supply chain and consumer advisory at CBRE: “After a minor downturn following the reopening of the high street and a general slowdown in goods consumption, e-commerce revenues across Europe are increasing again and this is likely to continue through to the end of 2024.”

Before COVID-19, anything faster than four-day delivery was considered fairly quick, but now overnight or same-day delivery options are the norm. Direct-to-consumer models mean a larger portion of goods are delivered in boxes or envelopes than on palettes, adding to logistical complexity.

Traditional truck-based delivery, from warehouses on the outskirts into city centres, is at full capacity in many areas and, according to  figures from The World Economic Forum , an estimated 36% increase in delivery vehicles in cities by 2030 will fuel a 21% increase in traffic congestion with the associated emissions. 

Rémi Goléger, managing partner at urban logistics real estate developer and asset manager Corsalis, says: “Rules concerning last mile delivery traffic in city centres are becoming stricter … citizens want a  quieter living environment , all of which requires modifications to how goods are transported into the centre and circulated, and how supply chains are organised.” 

According to Goléger, final delivery on foot, by pedal-powered cargo bike or electric van, in line with the philosophy of the dabbawalas, is much greener than reliance on trucks. It can also prove faster in crowded streets. To facilitate this, Corsalis is setting up urban logistic hubs in neighbourhoods across city centres in key locations in France and Italy.

“If you have one hub for each quarter of the city you can deliver all day long to the final customer by foot, or by cargo bike, which is also more flexible in terms of delivery hours to match consumer needs,” says Goléger. “The lack of available land for retail real estate has led to a focus on reusing or converting existing assets into hubs,” he adds, which avoids the need for demolition and rebuilding.

The trends for moving distribution space closer to population centres and using more sustainable transport are also noted by CBRE in its  European Logistics Occupier Survey . Cliff says: “Parcel carriers and online-only retailers favour delivery hub networks that enable 30-to-50-minute population catchments.” Parcel carriers are investing heavily in ESG strategies “with some operating out of 100% electric hubs, running zero-emission fleets into cities across the country,” he adds.

“Rules concerning last mile delivery traffic in city centres are becoming stricter … citizens want a quieter living environment” Rémi Goléger, Corsalis

Willing workforce

The dabbawalas’ straightforward organisational system underlines how, in an increasingly tech-powered world, simplicity can be even more efficient if applied in the right way. Low-tech approaches are often more cost-effective, as they require minimal investment in technology and infrastructure, and also bolster sustainability.

“The dabbawalas' localised system, with lunchbox preparation and delivery confined to specific neighbourhoods, minimises the need for extensive long-distance transportation, thereby reducing the environmental impact,” says Dutt. Their minimal use of packaging, largely reliant on reusable lunchboxes, shows how “by adopting more sustainable and eco-friendly packaging practices, supply chains can significantly diminish waste,” he adds.

The dabbawalas remain happy and enthusiastic despite their frenetic schedule. That’s partly down to the decent salary (12,000 rupees a month in 2020) they receive for what is essentially unskilled labour, partly the prestige of being part of a well-known and respected organisation. As a cooperative, all dabbawalas are equal partners and the supervisors, known as  mukadams , are elected from within. In addition, dabbawalas belong exclusively to the Vakari community and worship the Hindu god Vithala, who teaches that donating food is the best form of charity.

Corporate delivery businesses, characterised by overworked employees, many of them on zero-hours contracts, could learn from this positive working culture. Michael Ignatiadis, head of supply chain and logistics solutions for Asia Pacific at JLL says: “The dabbawalas system is a showcase of one aspect of any supply chain that is often overlooked – people. The high turnover of operators within  warehousing  and the highly fragmented transportation sector can make creating an effective working culture a challenge.”

Shared values and teamwork are also aligned with the dabbawalas ability to coordinate as a group and move fluidly through Mumbai’s traffic jams and pedestrians, adapting to any delays they encounter. 

For example, delivery schedules have built-in excess so workers have time to improvise if there are mistakes. Every 15 to 20 dabbawalas have a worker on stand-by in case one of them gets delayed. Such finely tuned coordination and deep local knowledge is also crucial in urban logistics when delivering parcels at a large scale.  

It also points to a symbiosis and harmony with the urban environment, providing further food for thought for businesses looking to reshape the last mile. Goléger says: “We need to mirror their kind of low-profile activity … to deeply integrate logistic activity into the centre of the city using new types of assets, soft logistical processes and forms of transport that avoid negative impacts.” 

Consumer expectations for fast, reliable, and flexible delivery are unlikely to change any time soon. Regulatory bodies, increasingly focused on environmental policies and  emissions from freight transport , pioneering initiatives like this can help logistics businesses stay on top of the last mile rather than risk being left behind.

“The dabbawalas' localised system … minimises the need for extensive long-distance transportation” Sanjay Dutt FRICS, Tata Realty & Infrastructure

Meet the dabbawalas

“Working as a dabbawala means a ‘full body workout’ – I seldom get unwell and it keeps my weight and health in proper check. 

“Most of my customers are office-based working in various areas near my sector, Ghatkopar. I also deliver to teachers in schools. 

“After the pandemic, many people worked from home and our business did dip so we had to reduce the fee. But now it’s the opposite – the number of dabbawalas has reduced and there is more demand, so my work has increased. 

“Swiggy and Zomato [food delivery apps] can’t compete with us as they pick one order at a time whereas we pick multiple orders and also our fee is a fraction of what they charge. Secondly Swiggy and Zomato is only restaurant food but for longer term people prefer home-cooked meals.”  

“What I like about my job is in this work I am independent, there is no boss above me, and I make about INR 15-17k a month. Many of our customers have been customers for generations, their fathers and grandfathers used our services and so does the newer generation.   

“Swiggy and Zomato can’t compete with us because they charge about INR 35-50 per order whereas ours is at times 50 paisa each.” 

“I love my job, I have been doing it for 35 years now, it’s been my family business and we have been doing this for generations. Everyone in my family and extended family are either dabbawalas or make food. We deliver in all weather conditions, come rain or shine. 

“Many people see me delivering and they ask for my contact and then they convert into clients after I explain to them about the job and benefits.  

“We are a very close-knit community, there are no quarrels and we don’t interfere in each other’s regions. We take pride in our uniform – wearing the cap is a must and we have introduced INR 200 fine if someone does not wear in it my region (Dadar).” 

“What I love about my job is it is free of competition; people take pride in it and they feel it’s a nice thing when others in their office know they get food delivered by dabbawalas.  

“Some people leave very early in the morning for their office and they prefer if a home cooked meal can be delivered to them when it is time to have lunch.  

“Swiggy and Zomato can’t compete because we have an edge with economies of scale which they don’t.”   

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Dabbawala Case Study: How Mumbai Thrives On This Model?

Aashita Singh

Updated on: March 22, 2024

Mumbai dabbawala service has made it easy for the people to have and enjoy freshly home cooked meals either at their offices or other working places.

This service has led many people who hail from different parts of the country come to Mumbai to work and live, to have a meal which is home cooked and healthy.

Let’s start with our discussion of the Mumbai Dabbawala Case Study and how Mumbai has been living on this model since decades! 

(A) Mumbai Dabbawala Profile 

Mumbai Dabbawala or the name by which is famously called, “The Dabba Service” started from the late 1800s i.e. 1890, serves freshly cooked meals to people either from their homes or from the dabba service places. 

The Dabbawala service was initially started by Mahadeo Havaji Bachche in 1890 as a small business, and now has become one of the world recognized businesses. 

Apart from being a prominent dabba service in Mumbai, it also offers various services and facilities like, Ted talk in various business schools, seminars, lectures, a day with dabbawala, app service, etc. all the factors which contributes to its key position as the leading player in the dabba service in Mumbai. 

Beyond all this, Mumbai dabbawala has been awarded with various recognition like the Six Sigma.

That narrates the tale of Mumbai Dabbawala of not only showcasing an unparalleled service but have also earned their place in the global standards of operational efficiency by achieving Six Sigma certification, which translates to an error ration of just 1 in 16 million, or simply translated as a single error in 1,60,00,000 lunch boxes.

(B) Dabbawala Business Model 

The business model used by Dabbawala is a blend of simplicity, user-centric approach, efficiency, and dedication. The dabbawalas work on a single aim, i.e. to serve the people and the society with their best services. 

The Mumbai Dabbawala service operates their business mainly on four pillars, i.e. organization, management, process, and culture. 

The above four principles are core elements of the Dabbawala Service, which has been crucial for the business which has been opening for many years now. 

(B.1) How Did the Idea of Dabbawala Originated? 

Around 130 years ago, a Parsi Banker working in Fort Branch only wanted to have his home cooked meal in his office. For that he hired a young man named Mahadeo Havaji Bacche, who would daily get his lunch from his home in the afternoon.

That is how the concept and the first dabbawala emerged. 

With time, with the vision and hard work of Mahadeo Havaji Bacche, the business started growing and thriving in the city and has a large workforce to operate. 

(B.2) How did this business become an exception?

• The dabbawala service delivers over 2,00,000 tiffins on a daily basis from their homes or dabba service to their offices. 
• It delivers all its services and transactions in almost 6 hours, six days a week, before lunch time, without any mistakes.
• All this success has been achieved by Dabbawalas without the intervention of any technological tool at low cost and in an eco-friendly manner.
• Later on, they have made their own app for catering to more people and offering more services. 

• It has been awarded with the title of “ Six Sigma” from the study conducted by the Harvard Business School, which means that the dabbawalas made less than 3.4 errors per million transactions.
• Mumbai Dabbawalas have employed around 5,000 people for delivering its services, and many of them are less educated, or have not appropriate reading knowledge, but they operate efficiently and provide their best services. 
• A force of hardworking people has led them to achieve this success and become a prominent name all over the world. 
• The Mumbai Dabbawalas were also visited by Mr. Richard Branson, a british entrepreneur and adventurer and Prince Charles during his visit to India.

(B.3) Major Events of Mumbai Dabbawalas  

(C) Marketing Mix Strategy 

One of the key factors of Dabbawala case study is the marketing mix which it has been following for years. The dabbawala operates on 6 P’s of marketing mix, which is Product, Place, Price, Promotion, and People. 

(C.1) Product 

The primary service of the Dabbawala is to provide the freshly home cooked meal lunch boxes from the customer’s home and deliver them at their offices. Along with that they also collect their tiffin boxes after lunch and deliver them back to their home. 

With that they also offer advertising facilities with them, workshops, seminars, and more of it. 

(C.2) Place

Mumbai Dabbawala, an Indian business organization, primarily operates its services in Mumbai. The dabbawalas also take their service orders through SMSs. It has a wide distribution network and a workforce of nearly 5,000 workers.

(C.3) Price 

Mumbai Dabbawala has a turnover of around Rs.36 crores annually, and its services cost within a range of Rs.300 to 1,000.  The affordable pricing for its services, the annual subscription model for payments, the uniform pricing strategy, no hidden costs, all contribute to an easy marketing mix. 

(C.4) Promotion  

The organization that has been operating from decades now has been well famous and a prominent name in the city Mumbai. They have mostly adopted the mouth publicity for their business.

They rely on their exceptional service model and quality assurance of operations. Many production houses, companies, promote their messages and movies through dabbawala. 

(C.5) People 

The success and growth of Mumbai Dabbawala largely depends on the people it serves. They are the backbone and the key elements of the entire operation of Dabbawalas. The business has high skilled workers, teamwork, coordination, training, and has good customer relations. 

(D) Unique Coding System 

Instead of putting names for different stations, tiffin deliveries, office place, etc. they have a unique full proof coding system of delivering dabbas. Some of them are- 

Let’s have a look at the other factors constituting the Mumbai Dabbawala case study!

(E) Other Factors Analysis 

Above were some other factors which contributed to its growth and overall success over the years. It’s a mix of its teamwork, coordination, delivery systems, returning facility, coding system. 

Over the years, the Mumbai Dabbawala has kept their services simple and unique. With time they have developed their own app and site which has helped to connect to more customers and make a more simplified process. 

Summing Up: The Dabbawala Case Study

The Mumbai Dabbawala Service , one of the most famous things of Mumbai. The dabbawala service that has been operating and providing its best services to the people since 1890, is one of most anticipated case studies to look at. 

Note: We do have case studies of other famous names like

• Taj Mahal Case Study ,
• Zara Case Study ,
• Starbucks Case Study ,

Be it providing the on time tiffin delivery service, doing seminars, unique coding system of tiffin’s, exceptional service over the years, delivering ted talks, etc. all constitute as the major key elements of the dabbawala case study. 

Mumbai Dabbawala service believes in the simple working techniques which offers high quality in low prices. 

Related Posts:

Apart from being many tiffin services available, this Dabbawala service still remains everyones favourite and on top. Have been using this service from a long time now!

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The Six Sigma Dabbawalas of Mumbai

In this video from Samatvam Academy, we see how the lunchtime food delivery service in Mumbai, India is handled by the renowned dabbawalas.

Mumbai middle class workers travel an average of three hours and spend eight hours or more at work. An on-time lunch at their workplace is important for 200,000 of them every working day. That lunch is provided by dabbawalas.

These lunch meals have a shelf life of four to five hours, so quality of service demands that they be delivered in a timely manner to the correct person.

The average lunch box (a tiffin box) changes hands at least six times before reaching its destination and at least six times in its return. With the 200,000 customers a day, and say 12 changes, there are 2.4 million changes and a total of 400,000 deliveries in the three to four hours before noon and the three to four hours after noon every day. This is all done by 5,000 dabbawalas, and except for use of trains, there is no modern technology involved at all, just bicycles and hand carts.

As stated in the video, the error rate in deliveries is only one in 16 million. That is better than the quoted 3.4 parts per million Six Sigma level. The dabbawalas for the most part are only literate at the 8 th grade level. And this business is over 114 years old with the average age of a dabbawala at 52 years.

Dabbawalas work in autonomous groups of average size 20. A single dabbawala is expected to make 40 deliveries and/or collections a day. The level of service they provide requires exceptional commitment and time management.

You can watch the video here!

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Disruptive Innovation

Pradeep b. deshpande, phd.

President, Six Sigma and Advanced Controls Inc. (SAC), and Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

I look to a model world that combines the best qualities of “efficient America” (Read, six sigma; minimum variance) and “spiritual India”(Read, internal excellence).

Yogananda Paramahansa (Biltmore Hotel, California, March 7, 1952- just before he died) Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust and Six Sigma and Advanced Controls, Inc., have signed an MOU to explain to the world how exemplary performance can be achieved.

Prince Charles visits their operations, invites them to his wedding; Virgin Atlantic Chairman, Richard Branson rides a local train with them; Forbes rates them on par with six sigma; Harvard MBA students study them; Financial Times and CBS News write about them, and on and on. These individuals and organizations are taken by the exemplary performance of Mumbai’s Dabbawalas, but did you know your organization too could achieve such exemplary performance?

That said, I have discovered that in the absence of an adequate level of internal excellence, the best of the best quality initiatives, including six sigma, fail to deliver minimum variance (best possible performance). Therefore, companies would also have to introduce a program to raise the internal excellence/emotional excellence of everyone in their organization, from CEO down to the lowest-cadre employee. More details may be found in my paper, “ The Secret of Exemplary Performance ” from the September/October 2019 issue of BizEd magazine, a publication of AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). AACSB accredits all Business School curricula in America, other than Accounting. If you are in higher education, I strongly suggest you consider introducing a course, Science of External and Internal Excellence. This course is consistent with the “Values Education” requirement of NAAC. More details are available in my paper, Turbocharge General Education Requirements with Science of External and Internal Excellence , ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Conference, June 2017.

Negativity across the world is at an all-time high, costing the world-economy $1 trillion annually according the Gallup. Inadequate level of internal excellence, the root cause of negativity, is the single most important problem facing humanity. Climate change, dirty Ganges, corruption, shoddy performance, societal discord, etc., etc., are mere symptoms. Raise internal excellence and everything will improve.

Internal excellence of Dabbawalas is due to their bhakti (Devotion to God) – They are all Varkaris. Unfortunately, not everyone is fortunate enough to have bhakti. Meditation, or more generally yoga, is another way to enhance internal excellence

Meditation is closely linked to intuition. Intuition is immediate cognition without the benefit of the five senses and the rational mind. Albert Einstein would say, Intuition is a scared gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. Actually, most have, but our seers have preserved the knowhow for millennia.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein both credit intuition for their extraordinary success. The link of intuition, self-awareness, and emotional excellence as a critical component of leadership is now well understood. Yale even has a Center for Emotional Intelligence and UNESCO sent out a communication to 140 Ministries of Education in 2002 urging them to make SEL (social and emotional learning) a curricular requirement in schools.

Mathematical genius, S. Ramanujan possessed a tremendous amount of intuition. Barely a high school graduate, He would write down complex mathematical theorems and their proofs without ever knowing the steps in between. Unfortunately, Ramanujan is no longer with us, but seven-year Bangladeshi-Muslim-American prodigy Soborno Isaac Bari is . At this tender age, he is able to solve PhD level math and physics problems. In 2016, US President Barack Obama sent him a congratulatory letter.

The child has written a small book simply called, “The Love”. Said Soborno in a talk at SP Pune University not long ago, let’s unleash love to create a world without terrorism. He told his mother, “I’m a Muslim and I love my religion. However, I’m also a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Jew, a Christian. I know we love Eid, but we should also love Yom Kippur, Saraswati Puja and Christmas”. Remarkable display of internal excellence for child!

Soborno’s intuition and that of Ramanujan is a gift, but as with Dabbawalas, it is possible to obtain some of their capabilities. Yogic processes can enhance intuition if the training is given at a young age. See this five-minute video clip but do not try any blind-fold experiments that may cause injury. For the rest of us, meditation is the way.

Chicago Cubs and Seattle Seahawks both credit their victories to meditation and yoga. After a drought of 108 years, The Cubs won the World Series Championship in 2016 and the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2014.

The work of Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn and others has definitively shown that meditation lengthens telomeres, reducing the effects of aging. Yoga is also a pathway for a more peaceful world.

Dabbawalas have shown what exemplary performance looks like and my work has shown how others can replicate such performance. So, what are you waiting for?

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The Legend Of �Management Guru

The real story of the organization which really shake all the masters of business administration experts

WHO IS DABBAWALA?

• 5000 Dabbawala
• 2,00,000 Dabbas
• Six sigma certified
• ISO 2000 certified
• Most are illiterate
• Lecture MBA’s
• No strike for 116 years
• Prince Charles friend
• Pride of Marathas
• Icon of hard work

How The Dabbawala System Started

• It was the time when English were ruling the India.
• New Government offices, Post offices, Bridges, etc. were being constructed.
• No Mc ’Donald or Pizza hut.
• A Parsi Banker employed a person to bring home made food to site.
• His Colleagues too liked his idea and started availing this service.
• Slowly this evolved into the present 5000 strong Dabbawala System.

Founder Of Dabbawala System

Mahadu Havaji Bacche

• Educated only upto class 2
• Started the Dabbawala system with the handful of 35 Dabbawala in 1890

Dhondiba Medge

• Educated only upto class 4
• Framed the rules and regulations of Dabbawala.

Beliefs Of Dabbawala

• Work is worship
• Serving people is serving god
• Annadan is mahadan
• The decedents of the dabbawalas were thewariors in the army of Chatrapati Shivaji mahraj
• Time is money
• Unity is power

What Is Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association

• History – started in 1890
• Charitable trust – registered in 1956
• Education – 85% illiterate
• Total area coverage – 60 kms/70 kms
• Employee strength – 5000
• Mukhadhams – 635
• No. of dabbas – 2,00,000 dabbas i.e, 4,00,000 transactions every day
• Time taken – 3 hours.

Q Factors of Dabbawala

• Error rate – 1 in 6 billion transactions
• Six sigma performance (99.9999)
• Technological backup- nil
• Cost of service-Rs 250-300 per month
• Standard price for all (space, distance and weight)
• Rs. 30 crore approximately annual turnover
• “ No strike “ as reach one a share holder
• Earnings – Rs. 4000 to 5000 pm

Major Features Of Supply Chain

• 0% modern technology
• 0% investment
• 99.9999 performance
• 100% customer satisfaction
• Food is taken from home and delivered to office
• Wearing white cap during business hours
• Reporting to duty on time
• Behave properly and respect the customer
• Carry identity cards

Coding System

• Initial coding system used colored threads to mark 7 islands
• Then utilized thrown away cotton waste from tailor.
• Now using color markers
• E:: code for dabbawala street at residential station
• VLP:: residential station Ville Parle
• 3:: code for destination station
• E.G :- Church Gate
• 9:: Code for dabbawala at destination

Some Examples Of Coding System

Six Sigma Certification By Forbes Group

• Dabbawalas got six sigma
• Dabbawalas were invited to collect the six sigma certificate they did not know of what it made gold or bronze
• The certificate is lying in the cupboard eating dust
• Dabbawalas got ISO 9000 – 2001 for excellence in service.The only think that *the error is horror*
• Dabbawalas work with great efficiency without caring for any certificates