Which enterprises come to mind when you think of cutting-edge supply chains? I suspect Mumbai Dabbawalas is not one of them.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the organization, dabbawalas are workers who deliver home-cooked lunches to people in the teeming Indian city of Mumbai. That sounds mundane, but the dabbawalas have been studied by legions of experts in the west. The reason for this interest is that these largely illiterate individuals are part of a cooperative that has been using a color coded distribution system for decades to deliver millions of meals every day with eye-popping efficiency.  The cooperative’s supply chain has even been given the six-sigma designation. Read More…