The Hindu Business Line : ISB students get lessons from dabbawalas

Wanting to know more about the dabbawalas' success, students at the Indian School of Business (ISB) invited their leaders to teach them how to build an error-free and well-organised supply chain mechanism.

For starters, dabbawalas in Mumbai have been delivering tiffin boxes to lakhs of customers from their homes since 1890. They carry back the boxes to the homes of customers.

Without any technology back-up, and sans GPS-backed cargo vehicles, dabbawalas make one error in every 1.6 crore transactions. That earned them a Six Sigma performance tag of 99.999999 per cent, the best in that segment.

Impressive effort

With an average age of 52 years, about 5,000 dabbawalas criss-cross the city using the local train network and complete the last mile connectivity using bicycles. Impressively, their success is despite the dabba carrying no `From Address' and each tiffin box changing hands at least five times.

Presenting their model to the ISB students, Mr Gangaram L. Talekar, Secretary of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust, said that the dabbawalas are horrified of making errors.

"Our committed force never resorted to strike as they believe that theirs is a service. Also, each of them is a shareholder," he said, drawing appreciation from the students present.

The Trust has got a strict code for the members. "They are not allowed to take alcohol during business hours. If one is allowed, it spreads like a virus and soon the entire organisation is crippled," he said.

Embracing technology

Though the supply chain doesn't need any technology help, the Trust now feels the importance of information technology in getting new customers and launching marketing activities using the proven delivery model.

They have started using cellular services. People can send SMS to become customers.

The Trust also opened a Web site, allowing people to know more about their activity.

"We however do not take up any activity that will dilute our core activity," he pointed out.