NITIE, Mumbai | Workshop on Mumbai's Dabbawallas

NITIE, Mumbai Holds Workshop on Mumbai's Dabbawallas
"Mumbai's Dabbawallas - A Complete Management Workshop!"

A Six Sigma quality certification endorsed by the Forbes magazine, a fan club that includes Prince Charles and Richard Branson; this guest lecture was sure going to be unlike any other we have had on campus. The speakers were not the normal pinstripe-suite clad swanky corporate types who are often spotted in B-school auditoriums. Instead, they were two humble, rustic gentlemen dressed in a dhoti and wearing a Gandhi cap.

Mr. Raghunath Munde and Mr. Gangaram Talekar, President and Secretary respectively of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust or the dabbawallas as they are fondly known, held us NITIEns spellbound with their narration of how a motley gang of 5000 ensures the prompt delivery of over 2,00,000 lunch boxes every day in the bustling metropolis of Mumbai.

Here is a clutch of statistics that reveals the task that the dabbawallas are up to: -

History	Started in 1880
Average Literacy Rate	8th Grade Schooling
Average Area Coverage	60 Km per Tiffin Box
Employee Strength	5000
Number of Tiffins	2,00,000 Tiffin Boxes, i.e., 4,00,000 transactions every day
Time Taken	3 hours (9 am - 12 pm delivery of carriers, 2 pm - 5 pm collection of empty carriers)
Cost of Service	Rs. 200/- month
Turnover	Rs. 50 crore per month approximately

As Mr. Raghunath Munde took us through the intricacies of their supply chain, one could not but marvel at the complex organizational dynamics in place. The dabbawallas are a prime example of Porter's five forces theory at work, using which an organization can maintain its leadership position by obliterating the five forces that govern competition.

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Contributed by -
Karthik A J,
PGDIM - 12,
NITIE, Mumbai.

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