New Work Experience

Intelligent Complex Adaptive System

“Dabbawala”

Submitted by:
Manish Saran
 “Dabbawala”
A dabbawala (one who carries the box), sometimes spelled dabbawalla , tiffinwalla , tiffinwalla
or dabbawallah, is a person in the Indian city of Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver
freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers. They are working as an ICAS
System because of the following reasons:
• Though the work sounds simple, it is actually a highly specialized trade that is over a
century old and which has become integral to Mumbai's culture.
• Indian businessmen are the main customers for the dabbawalas, and the service often
includes cooking as well as delivery.
• Everyone who works within this system is treated as an equal. Regardless of a
dabbawala's function, everyone gets paid about two to four thousand rupees per month
(around 25-50 British pounds or 40-80 US dollars).
• More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunches get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to
5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality.
According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries.
• The main reason for their popularity could be the Indian people's aversion to Western
style fast food outlets and their love of home-made food.
• The New York Times reported in 2007 that the 125 year old dabbawala industry
continues to grow at a rate of 5-10% per year.
• Dabbawala in action although the service remains essentially low-tech, with the barefoot
delivery men as the prime movers, the dabbawalas have started to embrace modern
information technology, and now allow booking for delivery through SMS. A web site,
mydabbawala.com, has also been added to allow for on-line booking, in order to keep
up with the times.
• The success of the system depends on teamwork and time management that would be
the envy of a modern manager.
• Such is the dedication and commitment of the barely
literate and barefoot delivery men (there are only a few
delivery women) who form links in the extensive
delivery chain, that there is no system of documentation
at all.
• A simple color coding system doubles as an ID system
for the destination and recipient. There are no multiple
elaborate layers of management either — just three
layers.
• Each dabbawala is also required to contribute a
minimum capital in kind, in the shape of two bicycles,
a wooden crate for the tiffins, white cotton kurta-pyjamas, and the white trademark
Gandhi topi (cap). The return on capital is ensured by monthly division of the earnings of
each unit.
• The service is uninterrupted even on the days of extreme weather, such as Mumbai's
characteristic monsoons. The local dabbawalas at the receiving and the sending ends are
known to the customers personally, so that there is no question of lack of trust. Also,
 they are well accustomed to the local areas they cater to, which allows them to access any
destination with ease.
• The dabbawallas do face competition from fast food joints as well as office canteens.
However, since neither of these serve home food, the dabbawallas' core offering remains
unchallenged.
• Bargaining power of buyers: The delivery rates of the dabbawallas are so nominal
(about Rs 300 per month) that one simply wouldn't bargain any further.
• Bargaining power of sellers: The dabbawallas use minimum infrastructure and
practically no technology, hence they are not dependent on suppliers. Since they are a
service-oriented organization, they are not dependent on sellers to buy their product.
Hence, sellers do not assume any prominence as would be the case in a product-oriented
company.
• Threat of a new substitute product or service: As substitutes to home cooked food are
not seen as a viable alternative in the Indian scenario, the threat to the dabbawalla service
is not an issue at least in the foreseeable future.
• Dabbawala methodology ~ "Error is horror,"
~The dabbawallas must be extremely disciplined. Consuming alcohol
while on duty attracts a fine of Rs 1,000.
~Unwarranted absenteeism is not tolerated and is treated with a
similar fine.
~Every dabbawalla gets a weekly off, usually on Sunday.
~ The Gandhi cap serves as a potent symbol of identification in the
crowded railway stations. Not wearing the cap attracts a fine of Rs.
25.
• The belief that technology is indispensable to solve complex problems was shattered.
FMCGs and other industries can learn a lot from the simple supply chain logistics and
efficient reverse logistics (transfer of empty lunch boxes to the source location),”
• The concept of multi-level coding (color coding on the lunch boxes for identification)
and reverse logistics can be implemented in industries as diverse as soft drinks (where
logistics becomes an important aspect, transporting the filled bottles to retailers and
collecting empty bottles back to the plants), pharmaceuticals and other FMCG areas.