On several occasions in this blog I wrote about innovations and technologies capable of facilitating the management of supply chains and optimizing companies' logistics. I am an enthusiast of new applications, systems, robots and equipment, believing in the power of technology to assist in the development and integration of relationships and make life easier for people and companies.
The purpose of today's post, however, is to show that in order to have an efficient logistics system, coordination and good management are more important than all these technologies I mentioned. And for that, nothing better than presenting the history of dabbawalas, Indian lunchbox delivery men and responsible for one of the most ingenious logistics systems in the world.
From Monday to Saturday, 5.000 Indians are tasked with delivering around 200.000 packed lunches to customers across the city of Mumbai. The lunchboxes were prepared at the customers' homes, a few hours before the lunch period, and it was up to the dabbawalas the role of taking them to the customer's workplace and then taking the empty container back from where it was collected. To perform the service, no trucks or VUCs: couriers only use bicycles, wheelbarrows or wooden boxes, in addition to using the country's public network trains.
Figure 1: The Dabbawalas carrying the lunchboxes
Source: The Free Press Journal
During deliveries, which take place within a radius of up to 70km (the residential area of the city is on the opposite side of the commercial area), lunchboxes change hands up to 4 times. To identify the customer and the address, colors, numbers and letters are used on the cover of the dabbas (as lunchbox is known in India), in a very simple code system. The why of this? About 85% of couriers have not completed elementary school and the vast majority are semi-literate.
Figure 2: The identification codes used
Source: Mark of a Leader
Even using this rudimentary system, the quality indices of the operation are impressive: according to an estimate made by the British magazine The Economist, the dabbawalas make a mistake every 16 million deliveries, which would be able to give them the Six Sigma title of quality. To understand in depth how this is possible, executives from several companies such as Coca-Cola, Siemens and Daimler-Benz have already participated in lectures given by the marmiteiros, which were also a research study by students from Harvard, Michigan and Stanford, among other renowned colleges. of the world.
In addition to the excellent coordination of activities, the way the business is structured and the values behind the work also contribute to success. The couriers have autonomy to carry out their work and there are only three levels in the cooperative hierarchy: the couriers; the coordinators, who take care of the distribution of orders on the trains; and the administrative support staff, who are based in the office. They all receive the same salary of 12.000 rupees (equivalent to just over 600 reais, which is considered a good wage in the country for a low-skilled workforce) and are subsidized when the cooperative wins new customers. Furthermore, this activity enjoys considerable prestige in India: in addition to being passed down from father to son, the motto of dabbawalas is “Bringing someone food is the same as serving God”.
the origin of dabbawalas It dates back to the year 1890, when India was still an English colony and a British clerk recruited a man from the region to take his wife's home-prepared meals to work daily. In these more than 125 years that have passed, the world has witnessed countless technological advances, but the lunch box delivery system remains practically unchanged. In recent years, start-ups such as Swiggy and Runnr have been created in India to perform a service similar to that of dabbawalas. However, the recognition conquered by marmiteiros continues unabated, making this market something difficult to conquer for new companies, both because of the tradition and the low cost (the service costs about 40 reais per month for the customer, a value of more than 10 times smaller than what would be spent in restaurants in the city).
The case of dabbawalas teaches us that to achieve an efficient logistics system, large investments in systems and technology are not necessary. The clear definition of the roles of each worker, belief in and respect for the institution's values, proper management of activities, customer focus and practicality are keys to success.
And you? What can you learn from the dabbawalas and apply in your company?
References
<http://exame.abril.com.br/revista-exame/os-marmiteiros-de-harvard-m0166230/>
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170114-the-125-year-old-network-that-keeps-mumbai-going>
<https://semanaacademica.org.br/system/files/artigos/sistema_logistico_dabbawala.pdf>
Fernanda Monteiro
More than 11 years of experience in training and consultancy projects, focusing on Logistics and Supply Chain. In consultancy, he carried out projects such as Transformational Logistics Plan, Diagnosis of logistics operations, Strategy and Calendarization of Transport Operations, Measuring the Cost of Serving, Market Study, Mapping of Inventory Reduction Opportunities, Review of the S&OP Process, Management Plan Training and Implementation of Commercial Processes in companies such as Nestlé, Raia Drogasil, Ipiranga, Lojas Americanas, B2W, Coca-Cola, Andina, Embraco, Martins Atacado, Loja do Mecânico, Santo Antônio Energia, Ecoporto and Silimed. She is currently one of the teachers of the Inventory Management Course taught every six months by ILOS. She worked on the development and management of Online Courses in Logistics and Supply Chain, Supply Processes, Demand Planning, Inventory Management and Industrial Management. Still in the training area, she was responsible for applying ILOS business games in companies such as Raia Drogasil, Fibria, NEC, Novartis and Moove.
