Welcome back Readers I’m Sivakami - A final year MBA student from Amrita School Of Business majoring in Marketing and operations. I have found my space to explore on the various verticals in the area of Logistics and supply chain and of course not limited to theories and empirical studies 😅. So come lets discover on our never ending territory 😇
There is a common belief that an organization which adapts to the latest technological advancements such as automation, artificial intelligence etc., is most likely to stay ahead of competition. Ironically, we have a group of people ‘the dabbawalas’, fulfilling the hunger of 200,000 Mumbaikar with home cooked food, perpetually they have their own competitive edge over other rivalries. We were given the task of analysing the dabbawalas and their organizational culture in organizational behaviour class. But dwelling more about them, I was moved by the concept from the logistics perspective. You might be questioning what logistics have to do with Lunch!
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Dabbawalas - the saviours
Most of the working people don't have the time to cook but most likely to eat home food. For them, these dabbas are essential and mandatory on a daily basis. Be it rain, monsoon, war, communal riots and terrorist attacks since 1890 these dabbawalas were the saviour for these Mumbaikars.
They grabbed the world’s attention with their logistics master piece. Prince charles, Richard Branson have also looked up to the dabbawalas. They were given six sigma by the Harvard school of Business, which means that the error rate is one per 6 million. How could they be so flawless! We have encountered delayed deliveries even in an AI based logistics model. But how could a model carried out by illiterates, without a single computer is now tagged as the best distribution system in the world? How are they able to handle such huge volumes without involving any kind of technology?
Game of pass the parcel
The secret and success of their distribution is mainly driven by how their logistics is organized, managed and processed. They carry out forward and reverse logistics of lunch boxes characterized with passing of the dabbas in the route. Since they make the best use of the suburban railway network which primarily operates on a schedule, time plays an important role in their logistics system. Handling time sensitive deliveries, the dabbawalas have their own schedule with allotted time for each task, thereby adopting just-in -time method. Every dabbawala is synchronised with one another which eliminates the delay and waiting time in the process. Their process flow is made simple with an efficient information flow. They use codes to communicate the origin, route, destination which secures and ensures the flow of information.
Ultimately their aim is to deliver food on time everyday. Their competitive priority lies in on time delivery which helps the dabbawalas gain competitive advantage over others. Adding on to it, they have created a sustainable ground for themselves in food distribution in terms of scale and price. With all the technological advances, the dabbawalas have sustained over a century and also emulated as a logistical example.
Stay tuned to know what happened to the dabbawalas post covid-19! :)
References - The Hindu Business line
Harvard Business Review
Happy reading from Sivakami :)
The dabbawalas is truely a classic example that every operations graduate should get to know. The dabbawala system has been perfected over the years that there is no room for the error. The easy colour coding system is easily readable by the dabbawalals and can be delivered to the end customer. It is interesting to know how the dabbawalas would operate during the covid-19 peiod. Without trains and social distancing in order with lockdown it is a big question about the dabbawala. Will they survive this period ?
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