Post by Santosh Puthran on Oct 22, 2005 22:21:27 GMT
Six Sigma for Mumbai's Dabawalas
They make one Error on every 16 million transactions.
The world renowned Forbes magazine has selected them as a colossal
example of six sigma's success..
Logistics at its best.
The Mumbai Tiffinwallas are international figures now
thanks to Forbes Global.
The Forbes story details the efficiency which with they delivers the
Tiffins of their customers. Around 5000 Tiffinwallas deliver 175,000
lunches everyday and take the empty Tiffin back.
They make One Mistake in 2 months.
This means there is 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! 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 Tiffinwallas
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?
What is wonderful about this system is that it extends the design and
uses the Tiffinwallas, the end user and their cog nitive and memory
structure as well. Since one Tiffinwallas is not going to pick more than
10-20 Tiffin, 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 * A symbol (not name) of the originating
station * A symbol for the destination station * 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
not that literate.
Salaam ( Salute) to the Spirit of Mumbai !!!!!!
They make one Error on every 16 million transactions.
The world renowned Forbes magazine has selected them as a colossal
example of six sigma's success..
Logistics at its best.
The Mumbai Tiffinwallas are international figures now
thanks to Forbes Global.
The Forbes story details the efficiency which with they delivers the
Tiffins of their customers. Around 5000 Tiffinwallas deliver 175,000
lunches everyday and take the empty Tiffin back.
They make One Mistake in 2 months.
This means there is 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! 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 Tiffinwallas
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?
What is wonderful about this system is that it extends the design and
uses the Tiffinwallas, the end user and their cog nitive and memory
structure as well. Since one Tiffinwallas is not going to pick more than
10-20 Tiffin, 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 * A symbol (not name) of the originating
station * A symbol for the destination station * 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
not that literate.
Salaam ( Salute) to the Spirit of Mumbai !!!!!!
