tiffinwallah

The Modus Operandi

One set of tiffinwallas collect the tiffins from the homes and takes them to the local train stations like Borivali or
Kandivali and loads them in the specified local train. Another set unload them at the stations like Andheri, Dadar, or
Churchgate. Then there is a third set of carriers waiting at the respective stations who sort out and assemble their
respective sets of tiffins and each carrier sets out for the delivery. These carriers once again visit the work-places in
the afternoon to collect the empty tiffins and deliver them to the stations where the trainwise sorting and loading on the
respective trains takes place. The local carriers at stations like Kandivali or Borivali collect them, sort them out and
proceed to deliver the empty tiffins back to the residences.

You can witness this military discipline in all the members of the network, irrespective of the scorching hit of the
summer or drenching rains of monsoon. Total error-proof perfectionism in the total process round the year!

Better conditions and higher standards of living:

It used to be a common sight few years ago where the dabbawallahs had to sleep or have short naps in parks,
roads, pavements or shop atriums but now an Association for Dabbawallahs has been formed which has an office in
Worli. This office provides a meeting place for all dabbawallahs where problems faced by them are shared and
resolved, better opportunity scan and more efficient ways of service is discussed.

But still lot many problems…. May be perpetual within the system..

Through these meager salaries that Dabbawallahs make for a month to feed their families, a good part of it goes to
the cops and other municipal workers who often threaten them that they could be jailed for illegal and unofficial
business as some do not carry licenses to operate.

More problems for their sustenance is questioned; as children from these families resort to taking up different career
paths and change in customer needs towards fast foods and other local eateries, moreover offices these days
provide free cafeteria meals.. But the Dabbawallahs are hopeful that this traditional way of serving customers,
catering to their individual needs and preferences will keep this culture engrained in the minds of every Bombayite
for centuries to come…….

THE MUMBAI TIFFINWALLAS

The Mumbai "Tiffinwallas" are international figures now thanks to Forbes Global. The Forbes story
details the efficiency with which they deliver the Tiffins of their customers.

Around 5000 Tiffinwallas deliver 175,000 lunches everyday and take the empty tiffins back. They make
one mistake in 2 months. This means there is roughly only one error on every 16 million transactions. This is thus a
6 Sigma performance (a term used in quality assurance if the percentage of correctness is 99.999999) - the
performance which has made companies like Motorola world famous for their Quality.

Following is the complete story: Mumbai's "tiffinwallahs" have achieved a level of service to which Western
businesses can only aspire "Efficient organization" is not the first thought that comes to mind in India, but when the
profit motive is given free rein, anything is possible. To appreciate Indian efficiency at its best, watch the
Tiffinwallahs at work. These are the men who deliver 175,000 lunches (or "tiffin") each day to offices and schools
throughout Mumbai, the business capital of India. Lunch is in a tin container consisting of a number of bowls, each
containing a separate dish, held together in a frame. The meals are prepared in the homes of the people who
commute into Mumbai each morning and delivered in their own tiffin carriers. After lunch, the process is reversed.
And what a process - in it's complexity, the 5,000 Tiffinwallahs make a mistake only about once every two months,
according to Ragunath Medge, 42, president of the Mumbai Tiffinmen's Association. That's one error in every 8
million deliveries, or 16 million if you include the return trip. "If we made 10 mistakes a month, no one would use our
service," says the craggily handsome Medge. How do they do it? The meals are picked up from commuters' homes
in suburbs around central Mumbai long after the commuters have left for work, delivered to them on time, then
picked up and delivered home before the commuters return.

Each tiffin carrier has, painted on its top, a number of symbols which identify where the carrier was
picked up, the originating and destination stations and the address to which it is to be delivered. After the tiffin
carriers are picked up, they are taken to the nearest railway station, where they are sorted according to the
destination station. Between 10:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. they are loaded in crates onto the baggage cars of trains.
At the destination station they are unloaded by other tiffinwallas and re-sorted, this time according to street address
and floor. The 100 kilogram crates of carriers, carried on tiffinwallahs' heads, hand-wagons and cycles are delivered
at 12:30 p.m., picked up at 1:30 p.m., and returned where they came from. The charge for this extraordinary service
is just 150 rupees ($3.33) per month, enough for the tiffinwallahs, who are mostly self- employed, to make a good
living. After paying Rs. 60 per crate and Rs.120 per man per month to the Western Railway for transport, the
average tiffinwallah clears about Rs.3,250. Of that sum, Rs. 10 goes to the Tiffinmen's Association. After minimal
expenses, the rest of the Rs.50,000 a month that the Association collects go to a charitable trust that feeds the
poor. Superb service and charity too.

Can anyone ask for more? Comments: What is wonderful about this system is that it extends the design
and uses the tiffinwala, the end user and their cognitive and memory structure as well. Since one tiffinwala is not
going to pick more than 10-20 Tiffins, he can easily sort recognize at the originating station and deliver it to the
owner. Also within a building, the tiffinwala knows which floor to deliver. Within a floor a owner can recognize his
Tiffin amongst others. Thus these Tiffins carry only 1) A symbol (not name) of the originating station 2) A symbol for
the destination station 3) A symbol for the building where the addressee is. And what is more amazing is that this
is run by people, most of whom are illiterate.