Importance of EQMS in the Logistics Industry

In today’s era managing logistics industry has become a basic requirement in the success of any organization’s operations.

An effective logistics management strategy ensures control over inbound freight, optimal inventory levels, organizes the reverse flow of products, and utilizes freight moves through appropriate transportation modes – all these significantly cut costs which directly impact the bottom line.

With the growing complexity of logistics management, many companies select a Third-Party Logistics (3PL) service provider to manage or partially manage all their logistics functions. 3PLs are equipped with expertise and advanced technology to cut costs and improve processes more efficiently than most companies can do on their own.

However, ISO 9001:2015 requires you to have control over outsourced processes hence this controlling factor remains a challenge for an organization which outsources its logistics operations.

Nowadays, as customers have become more demanding, with globally expanding supply chains, tighter operating margins, and complex business processes. Having an EQMS solution becomes the cornerstone of an effective quality management strategy and equally important for the logistics industry as well!

This is because the customer expectations in terms of product quality should be deployed layer upon layer in the whole supply chain process. The end users will be satisfied only if all the contributors of supply chain can meet the needs of their internal customers.

Since the logistics industry deals with more complex processes being executed under external factors therefore in the logistics industry, lack of discipline in the process execution leads to costly errors.

For instance, In the chemical logistics industry, anyone who transports or stores a hazardous chemical should know how to handle it. This reduces any risks or dangers associated with safety.

Hence, it’s very common that chemical companies prefer only to partner with logistics providers with proven track records with safety and security procedures. This makes it essential for logistics companies to continuously monitor all safety parameters. The consequence of an error can be lethal and expensive.

Thus, management of important documents such as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) is an important aspect of document management for a logistics company dealing with hazardous chemicals.

Across the supply chain, multiple users require access to data at any point and time throughout the supply chain process. A Cottril research claims that employees spend at least 20% of their time just searching for the needed information resulting in productivity losses!

Gone are the days of pen and paper! With the development of technology and software, using an EQMS has become a necessity over a manual QMS.

The industry has also awakened to this reality. Leading organizations are moving beyond manual processes to implement electronic EQMS solutions to integrate and standardize their quality functions at an increasing rate.

According to LNS Research quality management study based on more than 1,200 global quality executives; a whopping 70 percent of respondents have had an EQMS budget that has increased ranging between 5 percent to more than 20 percent!

An EQMS Software can make document control more efficient and reliable. Audit trails, version control and workflows within an EQMS contribute to an effective document lifecycle management and ensures compliance to internal procedures and regulations.

In the logistics industry, most of the dangerous incidences in warehouses are caused by forklift accidents. Now what can be the proper solution to this? Simply setting speed limits for forklift drivers through congested areas? No! This needs deeper analysis to consider whether the necessary training for forklift drivers are being planned, executed and monitored. There can also be cases where alteration in forklift routes are needed or dismantling of a racks are required for better visibility, but it wasn’t done because of an absence of implementation measures not defined through an EQMS enabling a loop that was not closed resulting in another incident because the measures identified are being missed through using a manual tracking spreadsheet.

This is where an electronic QMS has an advantage over a manual QMS by ‘closing the loop’ for a Corrective Action Preventive Action (CAPA). With a manual deployment of a CAPA the completion of all tasks may not be ensured due to which repeat incidences happen.

This is where the Qualityze closed-loop EQMS system helps you ensure an effective CAPA process is in place.

The Qualityze product suite ensures an Effectiveness Review task is required to document the verification plan, objective evidence and success of action plan being implemented, by making it a CAPA in real sense.

One the important aspect in the logistics industry is to audit the transportation hubs to observe the correct procedures are being followed for handling, movement and storage of goods in transit. This is where Qualityze Audit Management module can be used to audit all transportation hub processes such as, compliance, procedural and handling processes and generating audit reports to improve efficiency delivery targets.

Another major concern in the logistics process is with packaging or repackaging of goods. The potential losses in packaging throughout the supply chain and trying to manage them manually will prove to be a futile exercise. Hence, real time reporting and refinement of packaging issues is a key and is possible only through an effective EQMS.

EQMS significantly helps the logistics operations team to work more collaboratively with all the participants in the supply chain to make sure the input materials are right first time.

In today’s cut throat competition, you cannot survive without reaching the highest benchmark and even challenging it by setting higher goals over time! We all have seen the Smart phones evolution, right?

With the logistics industry exposed to several uncontrollable external factors, the need of an effective and efficient EQMS is surely a best bet!

Qualityze EQMS utilizes the Salesforce.com technology platform which enables us to provide our customers an easy to use, intuitive user interface that is cloud proven and global capable. Aligned with the latest ISO 9001, FDA 21 Part 11 and GMP standards, Qualityze supports the most stringent compliance and regulatory requirements.

Related Article : Here Are the Biggest Challenges of Logistics (And How You Can Handle Them?)

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