Dabbawalas: A Six Sigma org without documentation that runs on Zero sigma infrastructure!

Dabbawalas are a big organization and have earned praise and wonder from many.  They have business cases in the top MBA schools of the world… have one of the best Quality records of all delivery organizations including Fedex.  Who are they and what do they do?  Well, for one, they have a Six Sigma rating [Economist]… and that too without documentation!!

More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunch boxes get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality. According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 6,000,000 deliveries, statistically equivalent to a Six Sigma (99.9999) rating

Here is a very informative slideshow that explains it well.  If you live in Mumbai and have used the dabba-walas, can you please share your thoughts and comments with everyone else?