Passage
3. DABBAWALLAS: MUMBAI’S BEST
MANAGED BUSINESS
1.
Dabbavallas are recognised by the world
as best Managers. They got this fame when BBC has done a documentary film on
them in late Seventies. In 1990, the management system has become a part of
their life and now they are synonymous with Mumbai’s fast life.
2.
The codes and the colours indicate the
place from where a dabba is collected, the station at which it must be unloaded
and the office to which it is delivered. English letters are used to mark out stations
such as A for Andheri, B for Borivali etc.
3.
The two secrets of Dabbavallas unity are
they are not employees but they are shareholders in the Trust and share their
earnings. Secondly, they all hail from the same region, Pune district in
Maharashtra.
4.
Six sigma rating is a rating given by
famous magazine of the world, Forbes. It means that per million transactions
there is just error of one. Dabbavallas got the highest rating of 6 here.
5.
The business of Dabbavallas started in
1890, when Mumbai was a much smaller city. That time, migration of the workers
to the city had just started and they wanted homemade food at their work
places. So the service began as a result of the growing need of people.
6.
The first step of this system is to collect cooked food from the houses or
caterers by dabbawallahs and to take
them to the nearest railway stations.
7.
The Forbes magazine appreciated Dabbawallah’s service by giving them Sigma 6
ratting because in their million transactions there is possibility of error in only one.
8.
Dabbawallahs give credit to Mumbai’s
Unique geography for their success. Mumbai is a longish city where residences
are in the north and offices in the South . This makes their work simple.
9.
They could not succeed in Delhi because Delhi is a circular city so logistics
there were difficult.
10.
This service is in full process today as everyday they deliver 175,000 to
200,000 lunch boxes.
11.
Dabbawallhs belong to the same region- Pune district in Maharashtra. They all
come from region east of the Sahyadri and everyone who joins them is known to
them. They share similar customs and traditions and worship the same God.
SHORT NOTE
The process begins
early in the morning. Cooked food is picked up from the houses and caterers by
Dabbavallas and taken to the nearest railway station. There the different
Tiffin boxes are sorted out for specific destination stations and laoded on to
large, rectangular trays accordingly. Each tray can hold upto 40 boxes. These boxes then travel in local trains down
to various stations. At each station, there are another set of Dabbavallas who
quickly take the dabbas meant to be distributed in that area and push in dabbas
meant for other stations. A Mubai local holts at a station for about 20 seconds
or less and thus the Dabbavallas have to work with precision and speed. During
rush hours, it is a really difficult task. At ach station, the boxes are once
more sorted for localities and offices and taken there by handcarts or
sometimes by individuals. The boxes are placed in the offices by1230 pm and
picked up from the same spot by the deliverer after a couple of hours. The
whole process then starts in reverse. The boxes are picked up from offices,
taken to the nearest station and sorted for their journey back home.
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