Hard:
1: Employees do not have a feasible accommodation: They live in very small and unhygienic places. They need to be healthy to work efficiently. They need a good place to live in to take care of their health.
2: No provision of Clothing and footwear to the employee: The company provides only the Gandhi cap to the employees. They sometimes walk barefoot to reach to the destinations of work.
Soft:
1: Not able to Expand: They are set up in Mumbai. The city is completely connected with the suburban rail network. This kind of infrastructure is not available in other cities in India. They need to work towards understanding the infrastructure of that organisation and then implement a new logistics plan to meet the business demand in that city.
2: Employees don’t have proper meals: the tight schedules at work don’t let the dabbawala’s to eat a healthy meal. Most of the times they don’t even get to eat all the 3 meals a day.
3: Employees Stay away from the family: Most of them are from surrounding villages in the state. They can’t travel long distances to work from their hometown, hence will have to live away from the family. They are allowed to visit the family only 3 times a year.
Fish Bone Diagram for Problem Analysis
The company faces two major problems one is welfare of the employees and the expansion of the organisation.
Figure-1 Fishbone for Employee Welfare
Cause Employee Welfare
The Diagram shows the organisation’s problems with respect to the welfare of the employees. They are doing a tremendous job without getting any of the above facilities. The company should concentrate on the above points to improve the welfare of it employees and their families.
Figure-2 Fishbone for Expansion
Cause No Expansion
The company is planning for expansion into different cities. They are not being able to do so as the infrastructure in other cities are completely different. In some case not sufficient to perform their work.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma was introduced to the world of manufacturing in the early 1980’s by Motorola. It was a revolution in the area of Quality systems used in Business. It is a methodology of problem solving and focusing on optimisation and cultural transformation. The goal is achieved by the usage of an extensive set of tools and statistical and advanced mathematical tools along with well defined methodology that produced significant results quickly. This in turn would lead to a cultural transformation in the organisation.
The roots of Six Sigma go back to Carl Fredrick Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of normal curve or distribution. Later in 1922 Walter Shewhart, introduced 3σ as a measurement of output variation and also mentioned that process intervention was needed when the output went beyond the limit. The defect rate at this level was 2600 per million, which was permissible for most organisations in early 1980’s. Later when the introduction of mass produced miniature electronic goods like transistors, televisions hit the global market for mass market consumption this level was not enough to sustain the profitability of the organisation. The Japanese manufacturers were able to produce higher quality goods at lower cost.
Origin of Six Sigma
Motorola was facing same problems as the industry was facing in the early 1980’s. They realized that they were losing their business and productivity as a cost of being non-quality. Bob Galvin the then chairman of Motorola decided to put an effort to fix the problem. An engineer at Motorola Bill Smith found that the quality level associated at measure of Six Sigma was a failure rate of 2 parts per billion and hence adopted the standard. This process initiated was named Six Sigma. It is a federally registered trademark of Motorola.
Views on Six Sigma
Many authors have varied view on Six Sigma. For instance Banuelas and Antony (2002) consider it as a philosophy that employs a well structured continuous improvement methodology to reduce process variability and also reduce the waste within the business processes using statistical tools and techniques. Similarly Harry and Schroeder (2000) mention that organisations which have adopted the principles and concepts of Six Sigma methodology have realised that once they have achieved 5 level sigma (i.e. 233 defects per million parts or transaction) the only way they can surpass towards six sigma is to redesign their products, processes and service by the means of DFSS which is Design for Six Sigma. This method is argued, that because of lack of data to support the claim and the absence of assumptions used to formulate, stating the criterion meets only the electronic manufacturing processes example Motorola but has been supported by authors like Authors like Chowdhary 2001, Tennant, 2001. The redesign of the process may depend on the increase in complexity, new technology, time, cost and customer demand.
Many organisations consider that Six Sigma is just a measure of quality that means strives near perfection. It is a more a disciplined data driven approach and methodology (DMAIC=Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) to eliminate defects any process from manufacturing to transformation and product to service. On the other hand the design of Six Sigma employs the IDOV (Identify, Design, Optimise and Verify) methodology for the design and redesign of the process and products.
Six Sigma in Service organisation
Some service organisations adopt Six Sigma as a measure of quality measurement methodology. They utilise it to improve the level of consumer satisfaction. The criterion for service industries quality will vary by the type of the service they provide. In the case of Dabbawala’s it is the time at which the lunch box is delivered to the right consumer. Customer Service Satisfaction is one common criterion for any service industry.
Sig Sigma and Process Steps
- Define: Selection of appropriate projects, development of project plans and identification of the relevant process. The Supplier-Input-Process-output customer (SIPOC) mapping exercise can be used effectively to describe the process
- Measure: Measurement of process variables through data quality checks, repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) studies and addressing process stability
- Analyse: Usage of Graphical techniques to analyse the process behaviour
- Improve: Improvement of the existing process through experimentation and simulation techniques
- Control: Development of the control plan for process improvement
- Reporting: Reporting of the benefits of the re-engineering process
Figure 3: Tools Used at DMAIC levels
Today Six Sigma is a combination of Six Sigma Statistical Metric and Total Quality Management with also additional innovations that enhance the program’s effectiveness while expanding its focus.
Figure 4: Depicts a 1.5-shifted distribution with "6" annotations.
Investigation
The Dabbawalas are in the industry for over 100 years. There are the only one company in the entire city that provides this service. The cost of the service is not very high and affordable by everyone living in the city. The recruitment of the employees happens through the existing members, usually their relatives or friends of their home town. They belong to the villages surrounding to the city of Mumbai. The requirements for the job are just a bicycle and the wooden boxes to carry the lunch boxes. They have the Six Sigma Certification from Forbes Magazine and have a fan which includes Prince of Wales Charles and Richard Branson of the Virgin Empire.
The president and secretary of the organisation give lectures in the most exclusive business schools in India. Their company has been studied and known to a most management students through case studies. Their mission is to serve their customers, who are mainly office goers, by delivering their lunch boxes at their doorstep on time and them returning the empty ones to their houses after the lunch. The boxes are coded using a unique coding system. They currently paint the top of the box with the location of the consumer along with the different destinations through it has to pass to reach there. Here is an example of the code they use. Figure shows how it has been depicted on the box.
Coding System
VLP: Vile Parle (Suburb in Mumbai)
9E12: Code for Dabbawallas at Destination
E: Express Towers (Bldg. Name)
12: Floor No.
3: Code for Destination station (e.g., Nariman Point)
Figure 5: Code on the lunch box
According to experts of the interview of the President reveals that they have been reinventing the method of coding time to time. He mentions “We have a unique colour coding system that we put on the boxes. Our ancestors started by first using coloured threads. Then they switched to using pieces of cloth and now we use oil paint and symbols.” This shows that they use the technique of Design or Redesign for Six Sigma (DFSS).
At the same time they also use the DMAIC process to while they are working on day to day operations. They always have one senior member or the group leader who will be patrolling across the city areas to identify and emergency situations during the function time. There are many instances for that, for example one when a dabbawala was killed in an accident with a lorry driver. His colleague, who got the information, rushed to the point and contacted the area group leader. The group leader took care of the police formalities and other activities. At the same time the colleague collected the boxes and delivered them to the destination with a delay of only 30 minutes.
Six Sigma Methodologies:
Define: The Company has defined a process to all its employees. Every one follows the schedule strictly. Each group is known by a colour. They have a common destination to arrive after the lunch boxes have been delivered. The boxes are then sorted based on the codes on them, put in shelves and taken to the destinations using the train service. Then it is again given to the local dabbawala to deliver it to the final destination. Each lunch box is exchanged 3 to 4 times in the complete transaction.
Measure: The company understands the customer’s very well and hence makes the schedule such a way that delivery of the lunch box is done on time and also the right lunch box is delivered.
Analyse: the company has set rules that needs to be followed by every single employee when at work. They are no alcohol during business hours, wearing the cap, carrying the Identity cards and also managing the time. There is a meeting scheduled on the 15th of every month to know the difficulties of the employees and resolve them. They also work on the differences between them. The employees who don’t follow the rules are penalised.
Improvement: The Company has been updating itself with new technology and new coding methods. They have started to use mobile communication and also set up a website to interact with the world. The President mentions that since every person is made a shareholder they are is chance that an employee will go on a strike. They have started to add new customer through Short messaging service.
Control: The Employees always work together and interact with each other to deliver the service. They constantly are improving the services and want to expand into other cities. They have also started catered service to consumers who don’t live with their families. This is achieved with the help of relationships they have built with restaurants who provide quality food at a reasonable cost. They also have 5 redundant employees in each group to handle emergency situations. They thrive to serve the consumers without falling into the trap of technology.
The company also follow Porter’s Forces for Governing Competition without their knowledge. The forces are as follows:
- Threats of new comers into business: it is difficult to replicate their supply chain model using the local train service which is packed.
- Current Competition: They do face competition from fast food joints and canteens. Since they core competence is to deliver home cooked food they are still the leaders in that.
- Bargaining power of buyers: Their charge is so nominal that the consumers don’t bargain.
- Bargaining power of sellers: the infrastructure used by them is very less. They use the rail infrastructure and bicycles and road for transport. Human capital is the strength they have and thus eliminate the sellers in the business.
- Threat of new substitute product or service: Indian market has not found a substitute for home cooked food. Hence there is no threat for their business.
The company has started to get more business by advertising through their lunch box which gives them additional money.
Conclusion
The company is in existence for 125 years and has earned the trust from its consumers. It grows at a steady rate of 10% even though some of them leave every year. They have no operations constraints or problem that needs to be concerned.
The company needs to work on company welfare and expansion into other cities. The company can allocate funds from their profit and build housing complexes for all the employees of the organisation. They can slowly get their family in with them. The family can help them in preparing food for them. This way they will not miss their family members. The Company can also allocate some funds to buy uniforms to all employees along with footwear.
The other concern the company has is that they are not able to expand. They should try and look at cities with have good suburban rail network so that they can replicate their current supply chain. They can slowly then work with the government to improve the rail infrastructure in the big cities of the countries for example the Metro Rails being set up in Bangalore and Delhi. They can start the service in smaller areas and then widen the area. Once the Metro Rail in those cities is completely operational they can utilise them for expand the business in them.
They have now started to deliver cooked food supplied by the restaurants and deliver it to consumers. Instead of doing that they can start their own catered service. They can employ the women of their families to work in this area. This will not only get a new business area to them but also employ the women in their family.
Reference
Bañuelas, Ricardo and Antony, Jiju , 2004, The TQM Magazine, Volume:16 Page: 250 – 263 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Raisinghani, Mahesh S., Ette, Hugh, Pierce, Roger, Cannon, Glory and Daripaly ,Prathima, 2005 Volume:104 Industrial Management & Data Systems; Volume: 105 Issue: 4; 2005 Pages: 491 to 501 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Elliot, George, 2005 Handbook of Business Strategy; Volume: 5 Pages: 201 to 205 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Senapati, Nihar Ranjan, 2004, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Volume 21 Pages: 683 -690 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
( accessed on 20th of June 2008)
(Accessed on 18th of June 2008)
(Accessed on 10th of June)
Appendix
Recommendations to the company using a Gantt chart
Task One: Get uniforms for all the employees in the organisation. Start by 1st of July 2008 and finish by 31st of Sep 2008
Task Two: Get Footwear for all the employees in the company Start by 1st of August 2008 and finish by 31st of October 2008
Task Three: Build House for the employees for them to live. Start by 1st Sep 2008 and finish by 31st May 2009
Interview of the President by Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express
‘Our computer is our head and our Gandhi cap is the cover to protect it from the sun or rain’
In their trademark white shirts, pyjamas and Gandhi topis, the dabbawallahs of Mumbai are a unique service which has not only attracted the attention of Forbes magazine but also of environmentalists around the world, including Prince Charles of Britain. Approximately 5000 dabbawallahs deliver over 170,000 lunch tiffins from suburban homes to offices, making only one mistake every eight million lunches! Raghunath D. Medge is president of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Supply Charity Trust. People cannot believe that uneducated people can provide such an efficient service. Medge tells Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express on NDTV 24 X 7’s Walk The Talk
You were given the 6 Sigma award by Forbes magazine, which means that if your organization delivers six lakh tiffins, it will not misplace more than one. Now you are delivering lectures at the CII, India Economic Summit, do you think all this recognition has come too late?
First I would like to thank you on behalf of all of us ‘dabbawalas’
Your operations are so complex that if even one thing goes out of place, it would lead to chaos, so much so that even when Prince Charles came to visit you, you didn’t delay your operations.
It would be difficult to explain how we function, this honour has come to us after 114 years but we get our satisfaction from our work of delivering food to people.
So you achieved the same perfection as Lata Mangeshkar has in singing or Johnny Lever has in comedy, but a lot of people like me believe that the food you deliver is also cooked by you.
We only deliver food to the people of Mumbai. Food which is cooked in their homes by their wives, sisters or mothers, whatever be their caste, creed or religion.
Does the tiffin box that the food is delivered in also belong to the customer?
Yes, the food and the tiffin box both belong to the customer. We have a unique colour coding system that we put on the boxes. Our ancestors started by first using coloured threads. Then they switched to using pieces of cloth and now we use oil paint and symbols.
Can you please explain to us your coding system with the help of these tiffins here?
The yellow colour symbolizes a ‘group’. A group comprises 10 to 20 people who service one station. Just like a cricket team there are a few substitutes in case someone falls ill.
How does the journey start?
Each group picks up about 40 tiffins from their area and delivers them to the local railway station. There they are sorted according to their destination. The alphabet you see here stands for the person who collects the tiffins from the house, and the number is for its destination.
You assign numbers for 2 lakh tiffins and there is never any confusion, do you feed the numbers into a computer?
No, we never use computers or any other technology; in fact most of us are uneducated. Our computer is our head and our Gandhi Cap is the computer cover to protect it from the sun or rain.
How often do you get complaints of someone’s tiffin getting mixed up or lost?
Once in a month or two we get a complaint. On following up on the complaint we generally find that it was stolen by a hungry beggar. Our people then keep a lookout for it in the market and on spotting it buy it back and return it to the rightful owner. We never misplace anything due to any confusion on our part.
How have you managed to reach such levels of efficiency with such an untrained work force?
It just depends on hard work and sincerity, only when you fly high can you reach the stars. The uneducated have an ability to memorize and retain more as opposed to the educated who are used to writing down everything.
When did you realize that home cooked food is also a brand and maybe a stronger one than even a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut?
Till one is 25-30 years old, you can eat anywhere, but after that home cooked food is what suits the stomach and health. Our clients now send water along with their tiffins.
In fact, I have heard of stories of people sending their cheque books and pens along in their tiffins and nothing ever gets misplaced or stolen tiffins and nothing ever gets misplaced or stolen
No, our workers have so much to do that they don’t have the time to open the tiffins. Even if someone in their family falls ill, they first deliver the food and then attend to them.
Aren’t you worried that, if a case of food poisoning comes up, your reputation would be dented.
Yes, we are worried. Our main aim is customer satisfaction.
How much do you charge your customers?
We charge Rs 250-300 per month. That includes picking up a tiffin from home delivering it to the office and then returning the empty tiffin back home.
How many hands does the tiffin pass through before it gets delivered?
It goes through 3 to 4 hands before reaching its destination.
How do you travel?
Our lifeline is the local train service of Mumbai. There is a train every four minutes. Without them we would not be able to do our business.
How much money do your workers make?
Each one makes about 5000-6000 per month.
I have heard that earlier you had workers but now all the people who work with you are shareholders.
Yes, till 1980 it was a worker-employer relationship. There used to be a contractor who would employ 20-25 workers under him. But the railway strike of 1975 under Datta Samant which lasted for 20-22 days caused huge losses for us. Our losses were further compounded by the Mill Strike. Those made us think that what would happen if our workers were to go on strike?
Your customers would have to go hungry then
Yes, this was the reason that I made every worker a shareholder. This way they would put in more effort and since everyone is a shareholder, there would be no question of a union.
Is it true that all the people who work with you come from your village or are your relatives?
Yes, all of us belong to Pune and adjoining areas. Our ancestors fought in Shivaji’s army and just the way they had to climb mountains while fighting, we have to climb stairs to deliver to climb stairs to deliver the tiffins.
How do you think you can expand your business? Will it be limited to just lunch tiffins? Or do you have something else in mind?
We have started advertising on our tiffin boxes by putting stickers on them. This brings in extra income. Till the time there are people, they will feel hungry and till the time they feel hungry our business will keep growing.
Don’t you feel threatened by competition from McDonald’s or others
No.
Please tell us about the history of your business.
Our business started in 1890 when the British were here. People from all over the world came here to do business. They required their own food which we delivered. Our founder was Madhav Raoji. My father and his brother joined in and now I have been working here for the last ten years.
Did you inherit the president ship or do you hold elections
There are elections and the person getting majority votes becomes the president. There is a show of hands and the person getting the most hands wins.
Are there ever any disputes?
Yes, there are. But they are settled every month on the 15th of every month by the Panch Committee.
So you have your own panchayat?
Yes, we have our own mini-government which levies a fine on the workers for making mistakes like not turning up for duty or drinking alcohol while on duty.
Have any of your disputes reached the police or the courts
No, never.
Does your business model work in Mumbai just because of the local trains or will it work in other cities like Delhi, Bangalore or Calcutta as well?
When I went to Delhi for a CII conference, a lot of people asked me this question. I dont think we would be successful in other cities because in Delhi for example, the Metro is not fully functional, I have no idea about Calcutta as I have never been there and in a city like Bangalore people have very similar eating habits.
What are the challenges your business is facing. I have heard that every year your business grows by 25,000 to 30,000 boxes.
We lose a few customers too each year but are more than compensated with the additions. We grow annually by about 10%.
Share with us some of the experiences.
We pick up the tiffins from the homes at around 9 in the morning. But it happens so often that when our worker reaches there the people are busy with their morning chores. This creates a problem so after giving them a couple of warnings, we leave without their tiffins. So in a sense the women are more scared of us than their husbands.
You have International recognition now. Has that helped your community in any way?
Even Prince Charles came to meet us. It seems that people study for so many years and then get a degree, it is the opposite for us. After 114 years of work we are getting this.
I have heard that now you even go abroad to give speeches on your business model?
Yes, Dr Vandana Shiva took us to Italy for a meeting on organic food. We didn’t like the food there as the people there do not cook fresh food. They all eat tinned foods.
How did the people there react to you?
They are amazed that uneducated people like us can carry out a business like ours so accurately. They rely on their call centres for every small problem whereas we have to be accurate with our delivery every single time
