What we are learning from The Dabbawala – Fast lunch delivery in Mumbai

malouie — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:27:13 +0000

Lately, I’ve been studying the management system of the Dabbawala, a 125 year old lunch delivery service in Mumbai, India.

It has a network of 5000 Dabbawala who deliver lunch boxes (tiffins) across the entire city.

Some takeaways:

Simple value proposition: a homemade lunch amongst a sea of fast food
Six Sigma certification despite low technology (they had no website and did not use SMS until recently)
Flat management works best: They have a 3 tier hierarchy including executives, Dabbawala managers, and Dabbawalas
Core beliefs of hard work, pride, and entrepreneurial ownership of the business exist at all levels
99.99% accuracy of food deliveries
The business enjoys a 5-10% yearly growth rate

A great recap of numbers and pictures of the Dabbawalas on SlideShare:

For the past few weeks, HeroEx has been streamlining its business. We have been working on this:

Keeping overhead as low as possible
Limited product offering (just the most popular items) for standard deliveries; we are still continuing custom orders for a premium price
Recruiting more Delivery Heroes and Delivery Managers
New set of guiding principles for Delivery Heroes and Delivery Managers
Redesigned website: cleaner with a focus on products, Heroes, and building community
Improving our internal management systems
Maintaining our 100% accuracy and timeliness (1 hour) on deliveries

Thanks for your support!

Marissa

Francis Ford Coppola on Film and Technology

malouie — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:03:24 +0000

Technology is a tool for Francis Ford Coppola. Just like how it’s a tool that helps HeroEx coordinate deliveries.

It’s the means, not the end.

Francis Ford Coppola says technology helps preserve films, drawings, music, and performances which are “the real wealth of the human race.”

“Technology is a servant, not a master.”