Six Sigma in Dabawala

Rajesh.K
Naveen Kumar
Trilok Chandra
Introduction
 Six Sigma is a quality improvement programme that
links output quality to financial performance, provides
tangible measures to help focus the organisation and
outlines processes for managing improvement.
 It calls for a quality level of 3.4 DPM (defects per
million) .
 Human Sigma is a measure that focuses on reducing
variance in key employee and customer outcomes by
improving an organisation’s human performance and
moving it towards excellence.
 Simply put, the human sigma approach shows how to
manage – and maximise – the human difference.
Introduction
 The story is about 115 year old successful business
operation now carried out by 5000 semi literate people.

 Dabawalas wore dusty white shirts ,pyjamas and Gandhi

topies put on like boy scouts ,stand out in contrast to the
colorfully dressed men, women and children in
cosmopolitan in Mumbai.

 The Key Success factors of this business is Team work,

Logistics and Collective Collaboration
Food prepared with affection at
home provides divine contentment
 5000 semi literate Dabawalas daily delivers home made
food to 200000 people with in a radius of 60 km in just
about 3 hours .

 Carrying 200000 Tiffin boxes per day amounts to

400000 transactions every day.

 The error rate is 1 in 16 million transactions; this is un

believable time management.

 Fast food joints and foot path eateries has sprung up all
over .Yet Nutan Mumbai Tiffin box suppliers association
has steadily grown.
Contd..
 The carving for home cooked food most people still
prefer food made at home if it can be transported at a
reasonable cost from residences to offices.

 A Dabawalas charges nearly INR 200 per month per

customer irrespective of distance , weight or space.

 In return ,Dabawalas earn INR 5000-6000 per month

from the 25-30 customers he serve

 Generally lower income groups anywhere prefer home

cook food .

 This desire is so basic that it is almost un changeable

,despite the availability and attraction for out side food.
If you change just enough you
achieve embracive happiness
 The error rate is 1 in 16 million transactions indicating
six sigma performance (99.99%)despite having no
technological back up.

 The turn over is INR 50 cr.

 Every Dabawalas is share holder in Nutan Mumbai Tiffin

box suppliers charity trust.

 All the Dabawalas are self employed under the aegis of

the trust which was firmed for a common cause; neither
is there a employer-employee relationship nor it is a co
operative society.
Contd….
 Dabawalas work as a team and are fully aware that
they are dependent each other .Unless the team work
smoothly they cannot earn their living.
 Code of discipline:
a) No alcohol during work hours.
b) Every one must wear a Gandhi cap during
duty hours and carry identity cards.
c) Punctuality is a necessity.
Dabawalas use cycles , by this way the customer is
satisfied and happy and the business value is efficient
service at bearable cost
Dabawalas move beyond the fear
of new entrants and competition
 Dabawalas have a niche of their own, they don’t see
others as competitors as they prepare food .

 Dabawalas are not in the business of preparing food they

only deliver and are monopoly. They also started
providing delivery to schools and colleges.

 All Dabawalas are share holders and have never gone on

strike despite occasional irritation from police or public.

 Every body earns more less the same i.e., INR 5000-
6000 per month. there is neither any financial incentive
nor disincentive.
Customer Relationship
Management in Business
 The design of delivery system insists every Dabawalas
has to put in equal time and effort.

 Timely delivery courteous behaviour and understanding

the special needs of a customer form the basis of
business durability.

 The harder you hold on to old customers the quicker you

find new ones, more than 3000 clients have stayed with
them for 2 decades.

 In addition the movement in the direction of new

residential complexes and business districts helps them
to find new customers.
Durability provides the wildest of
business opportunities
 The primarily search based on restricted to areas where
the railway network is available and people like
homemade food.

 Secondly from hotels which only serve lunch and dinner

(low calorific diet).
 In delivery supply chain collect dabas from various
customer homes and then transport them on foot-
bicycles, and push crafts to railway station hubs, there
are distributed their according to destinations and the
destination again redistributed according to offices.

 The beauty of the system is one out of Dabawalas

makes a mistake only once in every two months.
Decentralise to empower and
deliver with excellence
 With in increase in number of customers the sorting
process at the hubs was likely to become time
consuming, They decided to decentralise the coding
system at the group level.
 A distinctive color code each group choose it own
color from a spectrum of the seven primary colors.
 Dabawalas work with minute precision to get that
three hour work space for business in the morning.
 They have to manage within the strict timetables of
railways and offices.
 This created a world record in time management.
Savour the old but enjoy the
changing
 No matter how many gizmos or how much automation
you provide ;at the bottom of the hierarchy of human
needs, people require cost effective service.
 Dabawalas business model there are two significant
differences:
 One they are not making the customer want more in
order to create more in order to create business.
 Second, their driver is not profit but subsistence ,plus
a little margin.
 If speed is the seed capital for business at the top end
value of chain, it is so bottom end too, factored by the
rate of change of technology
With a dependable delivery service,
it provides lasting service
 The freshness of the home food has to be retained-
key factor in the uniqueness of our delivery system.
 Dabawalas cannot collect dabas earlier or deliver late.
 The operation has to be carried out within the three to
three and half hours in the morning.
 The difference between ordinary and socially
conscious business men is the attitude they show
about passing in the cost to the customer.
 In effect, the Dabawalas fulfill a societal need by
using high technology to increase their productivity
and provide customer satisfaction with minimal cost
escalation. This is a unique service to all the classes
alike.
The Dabawalas Philosophy
 The whole philosophy of Dabawalas about work is life
and contentment.

 This philosophy is promisingly secular, productivity

oriented ,and humane.

 USP –cost consciousness of customers, and moderation

in behaviour.

 Dabawalas choices are elegant and healing, because

they have not violently disturbed the ecology of self,
family and community
Awards and Rewards
 Forbes-
 ”Western businesses can only aspire to”

 Research and acclaimed by HBS

 DHL and Fedex, with their start-of-the –art technology

infrastructure ,sure might like to benchmark.

 Appreciated by Prince Charles and Richard Branson

 MTV and Zee TV documentaries

 Guinness book of World Records (Time Management)

and Ripley’s Believe it or not
Coding
Organisation Structure
President
Raghunath D.Medge

Vice-President Secretary Treasurer

Directors(9)
Sambhaji G.Medge Ganagaram L.Talekar Damodar Pingle

Mukadam Mukadam

Dabawala Dabawala

Dabawala Dabawala
Conclusion