The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A dabba full of wisdom

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Sunday, Jan 10, 2010
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

A dabba full of wisdom

Karthik Madhavan

“We have two lakh princes to take care of”

— PHOTO:M.GOVARTHAN

Expert talk: Raghunath D.Medge, Mumbai Dabbawala, addresses a gathering in Erode on Friday on the success story of their organisation.

ERODE: Gangaram Lakshman Talekar, an unlettered person from Mumbai, delivered a lecture on management to professors and students in Erode on Friday.

Speaking extempore in Hindi he said 3,500 people like him and another 1,500 with an average Standard VIII education had won Six Sigma certification for the company they are shareholders of: the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers’ Association.

The certification means an error margin of one in million and the association supplies tiffin boxes to office-goers in the metropolis.

He said the Association members, popularly Dabbawalas, could not afford to commit a mistake because a mistake meant a stomach went empty without food. Not only that a mistake had four consequences.

“The person for who the food was meant wastes time and money going to the nearest eatery and in the process invites his or her boss’ wrath and the food from home goes waste,” he said and added that that’s the reason the Dabbawalas had been successful in the business for over a century.

Five thousand of them deliver two lakh tiffin boxes a day that too in time. And they return the tiffin boxes home, meaning there are four lakh transactions a day. Not one mistake, though. Such is their precision and dedication to work that they did not have time for even Prince Charles, says Raghunath D. Medge, another Dabbawala.

“When the yuvaraj [prince] said he was interested to meet us, we welcomed him but made it clear that we could not afford to spare time to meet him because we had two lakh princes [customers] to take care of,” he said and added the the former agreed and met them for 20 min at the Chathrapathi Shivaji Terminus railway station when they were working. He said the association has a turnover of $ 10 million and maintains a strict discipline, which is also a reason for success.

The success has been so well recognised that Mr. Medge says that Dabbawalas are also engaged in ‘vidya dhan’ apart from ‘anna dhan.’

“Our success has taken us to various management institutions within and outside the country and has also brought many more to us.”

And in all humility the two Dabbawalas say they want to dedicate two of the Six Sigmas to the Mumbai suburban train service, another two to the bicycles they rely on for timely delivery and retain the rest.

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