Dabbawallas are quite often described as the lifeline of the food chain in India’s business capital, Mumbai. Their job is to carry and deliver home cooked food to office workers. The food is collected from homes mostly from suburbs of Mumbai and delivered to the respective workers mostly working downtown. The food is typically carried in a “dabba” or lunch box and boxes are carried through a network of people, hand carts and local trains. The final delivery is manually made by the dabbawala to the addressee on all working days. After consumption of food the empty boxes return to their origins by a journey in the reverse direction.
The entire system is based on teamwork and meticulous timing. The supply chain starts with tiffins collected from homes between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and are taken to the nearest railway station. At various intermediary stations, they are sorted out for area-wise distribution. The railway department has provided sorting areas on the platforms as well as special compartments on trains between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. During the sorting process each dabbawala locates only those 40 tiffins under his charge, irrespective of the point of origin. In about 10-15 minutes, 40 tiffins are assembled and loaded onto a crate and by 12:30 p.m. they are delivered to offices. After the lunch hour the whole process move in the reverse direction and the tiffins return to the suburban homes by 6 p.m. The Dabbawallas also use a unique coding system to identify the boxes from their destination and route, and this code is painted in red on the tiffin boxes.
This system that started in 1880 became a registered association in 1965. The dabbawalas cover a distance of 60 km delivering 200,000 tiffins everyday completing their operations in about three hours. The average dabbawala has studied only up to 8th standard. Their flawless service with an error rate of 1 in 16 million transactions makes them eligible for a Six Sigma rating in performance. The dabbawalas supply chain is quoted as one of the best examples in logistics that works without any IT support.
A Rose is a Rose, But only if it is Fresh
Supply chains for food and flowers must be fast. And they must be good. When the food supply chain has a problem, the best that can happen is the customer does not get fed on time; the worst that happens is the customer gets food poisoning and dies. In the floral industry the timing and the temperature are also critical. Indeed flowers are the most perishable agricultural items-even more so than fish. Flowers not only need to move fast but they must also be kept cool at a constant temperature of 33 to 37 degrees. And they must be provided preservative-treated water while in transit. Roses are especially delicate, fragile and perishable. Seventy percent of the roses sold in the U.S. market arrive by air from rural Columbia and Ecuador. Roses move through this supply chain via intricate but fast transportation network. This network stretches from growers who cut, grade, bundle, pack and ship to importers who make the deal to the U.S. Department of Agricultural personnel who inspect for insects diseases and parasites, to U.S. Customs agents who inspect and approve, to facilitators who provide clearance and labeling to wholesalers who distribute to retailers who arrange and sell and finally to the customers. Each and every minute the product is deteriorating. The time and temperature sensitivity of perishables like roses requires sophistication and refined standards in the supply chain. Success yields quality and low losses. After all when it’s Valentine’s Day, what good is a shipment of roses that arrives wilted or late? This is a difficult supply chain; only an excellent one will get the job done.
Answers
The entire system is based on teamwork and meticulous timing. The supply chain starts with tiffins collected from homes between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and are taken to the nearest railway station. At various intermediary stations, they are sorted out for area-wise distribution. The railway department has provided sorting areas on the platforms as well as special compartments on trains between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. During the sorting process each dabbawala locates only those 40 tiffins under his charge, irrespective of the point of origin. In about 10-15 minutes, 40 tiffins are assembled and loaded onto a crate and by 12:30 p.m. they are delivered to offices. After the lunch hour the whole process move in the reverse direction and the tiffins return to the suburban homes by 6 p.m. The Dabbawallas also use a unique coding system to identify the boxes from their destination and route, and this code is painted in red on the tiffin boxes.
This system that started in 1880 became a registered association in 1965. The dabbawalas cover a distance of 60 km delivering 200,000 tiffins everyday completing their operations in about three hours. The average dabbawala has studied only up to 8th standard. Their flawless service with an error rate of 1 in 16 million transactions makes them eligible for a Six Sigma rating in performance. The dabbawalas supply chain is quoted as one of the best examples in logistics that works without any IT support.
A Rose is a Rose, But only if it is Fresh
Supply chains for food and flowers must be fast. And they must be good. When the food supply chain has a problem, the best that can happen is the customer does not get fed on time; the worst that happens is the customer gets food poisoning and dies. In the floral industry the timing and the temperature are also critical. Indeed flowers are the most perishable agricultural items-even more so than fish. Flowers not only need to move fast but they must also be kept cool at a constant temperature of 33 to 37 degrees. And they must be provided preservative-treated water while in transit. Roses are especially delicate, fragile and perishable. Seventy percent of the roses sold in the U.S. market arrive by air from rural Columbia and Ecuador. Roses move through this supply chain via intricate but fast transportation network. This network stretches from growers who cut, grade, bundle, pack and ship to importers who make the deal to the U.S. Department of Agricultural personnel who inspect for insects diseases and parasites, to U.S. Customs agents who inspect and approve, to facilitators who provide clearance and labeling to wholesalers who distribute to retailers who arrange and sell and finally to the customers. Each and every minute the product is deteriorating. The time and temperature sensitivity of perishables like roses requires sophistication and refined standards in the supply chain. Success yields quality and low losses. After all when it’s Valentine’s Day, what good is a shipment of roses that arrives wilted or late? This is a difficult supply chain; only an excellent one will get the job done.