US commerce secretary to take lessons from Mumbai’s Dabbawalas
February 4th, 2011 - 12:36 pm ICT by IANSBy Arun Kumar
Washington, Feb 4 (IANS) Besides meetings with India’s top space and nuclear energy administrators and corporate honchos, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke also has a date with Mumbai’s famed Dabbawalas.
Locke, who is leading 24 US businesses on a high tech trade mission Feb 6-11 “will also visit the Tiffianwalahs to learn about the unique Tiffinwalah logistics operation that delivers home cooked food to thousands of people daily” in Mumbai next Friday.
“This lunch delivery service, subject of management studies in the US, has been cited as a model of entrepreneurship and supply chain management at the grass-roots level,” the Commerce Department noted announcing his schedule.
Dabbawalas’ fame is well earned. Harvard Business School has produced a case study on the exciting story of the 4,500 semi-literate Dabbawalas collecting and delivering over 175,000 food packages within hours with an error free record.
The business school urges its students to learn from the organization’s unique, simple and highly efficient 120-year-old logistics system, which relies entirely on human endeavour and doesn’t employ any technology.
Conducting an analysis, Forbes Global magazine also gave the Dabbawalas a Six Sigma rating of 99.999999 percent of efficiency in 1988 where they made only one error in six million transactions.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
- US sends high tech trade mission to India - Feb 03, 2011
- Wanted, decent homes for Mumbai's dabbawallas - Oct 06, 2011
- English and computers now for Mumbai's famed dabbawalas (Feature with images) - Sep 19, 2010
- 'Discipline and hard work behind Mumbai dabbawalas' success' - Aug 13, 2009
- Mumbai's 'dabbawalas' learn English, use of computers - Sep 06, 2010
- Mumbai dabbawalas to back Hazare's fast - Aug 05, 2011
- Mumbai's dabbawalas now want to be civic fathers - Dec 05, 2011
- Mumbai dabbawalas to take out tableau on Republic Day - Jan 22, 2010
- Lifting FDI curbs will help India trigger fund inflows: Locke - Feb 11, 2011
- Top US firms embark on sales mission to India - Jan 14, 2011
- A street vendor turned entrepreneur who shared high table with Obama - May 10, 2010
- Dabbawallas to represent Maharashtra in Republic Day Parade - Dec 31, 2009
- US to send high-tech trade mission to India - Nov 06, 2010
- Experts welcome SIDBI fund for service sector startups - May 21, 2012
- US bats for its fighter aircraft makers - Jan 12, 2011
Tags: arun kumar, commerce department, commerce secretary, delivery service, food packages, forbes, gary locke, global magazine, grass roots level, harvard business school, human endeavour, logistics operation, logistics system, lunch delivery, management studies, next friday, nuclear energy, service subject, six sigma, supply chain management