Mumbai Nutan Tiffin carriers Ltd. MNTCL, comprising around 8,000 semiliterate dabbawalas of Mumbai every day delivers more than 8.00 lakhs. Tiffin boxes in working people across the city and later return the empty Tiffin boxes to their respective homes the same day.

A meagre amount of Rs.300/- p.m. is charged for this indispensable service, providing home-cooked food to working people at their workplace. Despite the complexity hurdles of the transport system and adverse climatic conditions, the quantum of error is as low as 1 error in a million deliveries. The modes of conveyance used are bicycles, manually driven trollies and sub-urban local trains.

The entire process of giving/taking delivery is carried out with the help of three different sets of carriers. With the help of a unique colour code system sorting of thousands of tiffin boxes is carried out within a few minutes, at the destination thanks to the splendid team spirit and meticulous timings. Although the common working mumbcikar is getting home-cooked food at all nooks and corners of the metro city due to the efficient system of MNTCL, off late there has been a marked decline in business, on account of changes in working and eating habits. MNTCL is showered with Six Sigma ratings and affectionately called a ‘management guru’. At premier institutes, the office bearers deliver lectures on managing operational hurdles and sustaining high-quality services.

Learning Objectives

a) Critically examine the factors that have led to the achievement of excellence in the service provided by MNTCL.

b) Suggest suitable measures for improvement in business growth and higher profitability for business continuity in the years to come for MNTCL.