What are some interesting facts about Dabbahwallahs in Mumbai?

What are some interesting facts about Dabbahwallahs in Mumbai?

Amazing Facts about the Dabbawala System!

(135+ years old System) Dabbawala system, established in 1890, is a 136 years old system started when Britishers were ruling India. Dabbawala is a sustainable system along with Nestlé (Switzerland, established 1866), Coca-Cola (USA, established 1886), Ford Motor Company (USA, established 1903), Siemens (Germany, established 1847) and Nokia (Finland, established 1865)!
(Most are illiterate) Most Dabbawalas are illiterate, and they do not have formal education. However, they are able to code complex colour coding system and navigate the complex and crowded Mumbai local train system and Mumbai city to ensure that the right tiffin box reaches the right customer at the right time without using any bar code, QR code, RFID tags, GPS tracking, IT and AI!

(No strike in 135+ years)
Dabbawalas have never gone on strike in their 136 years of history. This is in a sharp contract to country like India where workers have the habit of going on strike on trivial issues!
(No retirement age) There is no retirement age in Dabbawala system. A Dabbawala can work as long as he is physically fit. There are many Dabbawalas over the age of 80 working enthusiastically to serve hot meals to their customers!
(Single DNA organization) Dabbawala is a single DNA organization. All Dabbawalas has same literacy levels, same financial status, same religious beliefs, speak same language, same cultural practices and same food habits. So, there are no interpersonal issues and conflicts among them. That’s why there is no HR department in Dabbawala!
(Beyound six-sigma quality standards) As per the studies undertaken, Dabbawalas operate beyond the six-sigma “world-class” quality standards. This means that there are chances of only less than 3.4 wrong deliveries per 1 million transactions!
(King Charles III is their fan) UK’s King Charles III, then Prince Charles in November, 2003, met Dabbawalas on the streets of Mumbai for around 20 minutes because Dabbawalas had very limited time to meet him as they had to serve food to their customers!
(No fossil fuels in supply chain) Dabbawalas deliver home-made hot food to people using cycles, hand-carts and on foot. By not using the fossil fuels in their supply chains, so far, Dabbawalas have saved roughly 3 billion kilograms of GHG emissions and contributing towards climate action!
(Travel to moon every day) Every day, Dabbawalas combined travel journey distance is so much that one can travel to moon from earth and return!
(Case study in Harvard) Leading global Universities such as Harvard business school (USA), Richard Ivey School of Business (Canada) and ICFAI (India) have published case studies on Dabbawala system and teach it as part of their MBA curriculum!

 

 

 

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