Venue: PHD Chamber , New Delhi

Speakers: Mr Subhash Talekar & Mr Arvind Talekar

Attended by : Our Student

The Mumbai Dabbawaala’s are a common sight in Mumbai as they cater to more than 2 lakhs people all over Mumbai delivering  lunch box to their offices from their home. The average education of these Dabbawaala’s is just 8^th Class and it’s amazing that these people were awarded the prestigious “Six Sigma” certificate.

The Dabbawaalas go back to 100 years when they started delivering lunch to all the babus & English men at that point of time. The legacy has been continued till now.

•      Strength of Dabbawaala’s: 4500-5000 people.
• Customers: 2 Lakhs daily
•       Area Coverage: 70-80 kms in 3 hours.
•       Turnover: Over USD 10 million/ year
•       Error: 1 in a million transactions
• Average income: 12-14K

Ask them what they do in their spare time, they will tell you that they lecture MBA students & give interviews to media. Harvard Business School have studied their case and they are also recorded in Guinness Books of World Records.

Discipline & hard work are their prime values of Dabbawaala’s and over the period of 100 years, not a single compliant has been registered against the Dabbawaala’s. After the terror attacks in Mumbai, they have begun to carry an ID card which is again a very effective line of thought.

How they work:

1. Fixed time is given to the household for tiffin pickup. The dabbawaala arrives at the locality & picks up the tiffin. The dabbawaala, after collecting all the tiffins, goes to the nearest local station . All the tiffin has certain colour and codes indicating the station name, office name & locality and floor number of the office.
2. At the railway station, they travel in their fixed local and deliver it to the station.
3. The dabbas are dispatched according to the colour coding from various station to the delivery point station.
4. From the delivery point station, another dabbawaala carries it to the Office & delivers it to the responsible person before noon.
5. The empty tiffin is picked up from the office at 2 pm and deliver the same to the house before 5 p.m.

Many celebrities have come to visit the dabbawaalas like Richard Branson, Price Charles of Britain and many other celebs. Also, many documentaries and movies have been created by BBC and other TV channels appreciating their supply chain management and time management skills.

Successes of the Dabbawaala’s are a result of hard work, commitment, dignity & time management.

rities have come to visit the dabbawaalas like Richard Branson, Price Charles of Britain and many other celebs. Also, many documentaries and movies have been created by BBC and other TV channels appreciating their supply chain management and time management skills.