SLUMDOG LOGISTICS

A workforce of 5,000 makes 200,000 deliveries to an accuracy rate of 99.9999 percent every workday in a hot, crowded metropolis. Its low cost, high accuracy logistics model is featured in TV documentaries, case studies at top US business schools, and there are even plans to create a consulting arm to teach inquisitive multinationals the secrets of its success.

Must be one of those huge global logistics companies operating with the latest supply chain methodologies and armed to the teeth with premium software and auto-ID technologies? How else would they manage to achieve coveted Six Sigma certification, which ranks them alongside the likes of GE and Motorola?

Well, no. It’s the dabbawalas of Mumbai we’re talking about here. For over 100 years, they have been serving and satisfying the hunger pangs of the daily commuters of India’s most populous city by collecting prepared meals in “tiffin boxes” from workers’ homes and food caterers, delivering them to their offices just in time for lunch, and then returning the empty boxes back home before 5 pm.

Boxes can change hands three or four times as “relay teams” of dabbawalas take them on a 60 to 70 km journey on foot, bicycle and train through busy streets and teeming railway stations. The only identification is via hand-painted marks on the box that denote source and destination.

Otherwise, there is no paperwork, and it is a solid process and the dabbawalas’ discipline, experience, teamwork, and customer focus that helps to ensure that the hungry worker enjoys a timely lunch. In fact, as writer G Venkatesh details in this month’s cover story on human resource aspects of logistics, most of the employees are illiterate and have never been to school.

Still, it seems that not even the humble tiffin carrier can escape the onslaught of technology, at least for order management. Mumbai Dabbawala now has its own website (mydabbawala.com), in which it says:

“To further enhance customer loyalty and ease of communication, we have adopted the mobile technology. Now dabbawalas may be contacted through mobile using SMS. On receiving this message one of the dabbawala will contact you on your cell phone and your dabba delivery service will start.”

And it does not stop there. “We are developing a software application through which the people of Mumbai can order Dabba service online through internet. The order will be booked online and Dabba will be picked up from your home and will be delivered to office in time. Please wait, the software will be soonavailable.”