An effective forwarding operation need have no fears of the new ISO 9000:2000, according to Richard Mallabone, m.d. of Expeditors International.
Quality management is the very basis of the international logistics business, he said.
This, for example, has seen Expeditors having had its own quality programme in documentation procedures in place for a number of years - now backing the company's ISO system.
Efficiency in the business lies in a company's performance against key performance indicators (KPIs), according to Mallabone. We set KPIs of 98%, he told FTW, and measure ourselves against this.
The company also compiles customers score cards as an external measure of its performance.
This - allied to our performance reports - indicates our clients' perception of our quality, said Mallabone.
Not only can we measure all the events, and amend any problem areas, but we also have a constant improvement policy in place.
The other essence of quality management, as Mallabone sees it, is a need for flexibility in the system.
This, he said, is an industry of change - and must be able to accommodate that change in its quality management procedures.
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