Curious Case of Mumbai Dubbawalas
From Harvard University to Oxford University – everyone elaborately studied the ‘Mumbai Dabbawala’- a dedicated group of men who undertake the audacious of the task of delivering lunch boxes to millions of customers every day in Mumbai. Their only mode of transport is always crowded electric trains. Apart from trains, they also use hand-pulled carts, rickshaws, and cycles. Rain or shine, they always deliver the boxes on time. Due to their dedication, hard work and absolutely no room for complacency, they have achieved the sig sigma level of efficiency. (Six Sigma (6σ) is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. It was introduced by American engineer Bill Smith while working at Motorola in 1980. The GE CEO Jack Welch made it central to his business strategy at General Electric in 1995. A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of all opportunities to produce some feature of a part are statistically expected to be free of defects). Even in the pre-GPS era they have created a simplified coding system to deliver the box to the right recipient. How come, a bunch of illiterate men, can accomplish this seemingly impossible task is always been the ‘nagging question’ to the curious University graduates. The reason is the Dabbawalas are passionate, they are enthusiastic and they treat their job with the utmost respect. Beyond delivering the lunch boxes, what they do is actually ‘building the relationship.’ I have included the Ted Talk of Sri Pawan Girdharilal Agarwal, CEO of Mumbai Dabbawalas who explains their work culture in detail.
By
Srini