Sopan More, a Mumbai dabbawalah who attended Prince Charles?s wedding, busy at work. Reuters file picture

Raipur, Feb. 2: After Prince Charles, it?s the turn of the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) management to admire the ?working skills? of the quintessential Mumbai dabbawalah.

?The BSP management has invited the dabbawalahs for a three-day lecture series on accuracy, precision and delivering near-perfect services and products,? the chief of corporate communications at BSP, Ashok Singhai, told The Telegraph.

The lecture series will be held at Kalamandir and BTI assembly hall in Bhilai township, about 40 km from here, starting tomorrow.

Gangaram Talekar of Nutan Mumbai Tiffinbox Suppliers? Charity Trust and Raghunath Medge, president of the Mumbai Tiffinmen?s Association, will share their experiences with the BSP employees and officials.

?The internationally-acclaimed Mumbai tiffinmen make just one error in every 16 million transactions. Forbes magazine selected them as an example of Six Sigma performers,? Singhai said.

The renowned magazine gave a Six Sigma performance rating to the dabbawalahs, which means the chances of missing a day?s lunch is just one in 6,000.

The lectures are an attempt to learn how the distribution system works and the dabbawalahs? experiences can be utilised to reorient the company?s organisational hierarchy, the official said, adding that about 500 executives and 1,500 non-executives would attend the session.

The dabbawalahs hit the big time after Prince Charles met some of them during his visit in November 2003. The publicity they got resulted in some top Indian business schools inviting them to deliver guest lectures.

The dabbawalahs, who ferry thousands of lunch boxes containing home-cooked food to offices, schools and colleges in Mumbai, never fail to do their job even if the skies open up or other adversities emerge.

Last year, they decided to send wedding gifts to Prince Charles and his bride, Camilla Parker Bowles. Medge and his associate Sopan More even attended the wedding and got the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with Queen Elizabeth.

The tiffinmen have taken classes in IIM on logistics and time management. This will be the first time they will address the officials and employees of a SAIL enterprise.