The Dabbaway
A Post—Event Report
Dr. Pawan G. Agrawal, the CEO of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association, started off his seminar to a packed
IFIM auditorium on the 12th of February
by explaining what the word ‘Dabbawala’
meant. He said, “Dabba means tiffin, and
wala is the person who carries it. Thus, a
dabbawala is a person who carries tiffin
from the customer’s house to his workplace.” Well, that’s what it sounds like
when the work is simplified, but once Dr.
Agrawal got into the intricate details, the
audience really understood and appreciated what it means being a Dabbawala of
Mumbai.
So, what can one learn from the Dabbawalas? Dr. Agrawal summed it all up succinctly into nine points – passion; commitment; consistency; 100% execution; accuracy; dedication; time management; complete customer satisfaction. In his seminar,
he touched upon all these points, and with
real life examples demonstrated how the
dabbawalas achieved this despite having a
workforce of five thousand, majority of
who were educated only up to 8th standard.
Operating for 122
years, the Dabbawalas have
never thought of
expanding their
business. This is
because they
have to travel
long distances,
and the elaborate
local train system
of the city aids
them in accomplishing that in
the least time
possible. The
efficient long
distance travelling is one of
the reasons
they have 1 error in
16,000,000
transactions,
giving the organization an
accuracy rate
of 99.99966,
which eventually got them
their Six Sigma
Certification.
During his research years, when Dr.
Agrawal had asked one of the dabbawalas
about this achievement, he had replied
saying, “If you’re doing the same work
every day, how can you make a mistake in
that?”
a step-by-step animated
route map of a dabbawala on his daily circuit.
Amidst all of the hype
that has been created
over the years about the
organization, the Dabbawalas have always kept
their core principles in
mind when going about
their work – Customer is
God. In today’s day and
age, where cut-throat
competition is prevalent
in every industry, the biggest of companies
tend to overlook such simple things, and
this presents a lesson to all of us. The message at the end of the day was greatness is
not achieved by performing great deeds,
but is achieved by doing the smaller things
with great dedication and consistency.
Dr. Agrawal also explained the unique coding system which could easily be identified
by the semi-literate employees, and which
allowed them to identify the source and
destination of each tiffin box, and also
which employee would be delivering it and
receiving it. Their efficient supply chain
which has been the focus of numerous
case studies was explained with the help of The seminar drew to a close with an interactive Q&A session, where corporate
guests, media representatives and students alike asked him various questions
showing their eagerness to learn more
from Dr. Agrawal. He even honoured Prof.
Raj Chakraborty and all the people who
asked questions by presenting them with
a Gandhi-Topi and a miniature tiffin box
(dabba). The guests and students then
made their way to the respective refreshment areas, and finally ‘Dabbaway’ was
successfully concluded, with every visitor
a little more enlightened about life and
how to go about it.