With the development of business and commerce, the freight forwarding services are growing and are becoming an integral element from the process of reaching all parts of Europe. For more than 20 years, IFA has become a wide range network of freight forwarding and transportation services recognised by all. The mission which we have set for ourselves is to create and offer high-quality freight forwarding services at the best prices and at the optimal transportation time is the main reason for this high recognition.
The International Forwarding Association has a continuous objective to increase the quality of the freight forwarding services. This is why, like with the other forwarders throughout Europe, the approach adopted is that all member companies offer similar products. This allows for an easy appraisal of the quality level of the services at any given moment.
The quality assurance and management system applied by IFA
In order to ensure the quality of the services offered, we need a quality measurement methodology. The adopted quality assurance and management system for the international freight forwarding processes allows us to do that.
The elements which allow our member companies to measure and control the quality of international freight forwarding
- Delivery quality
- Transit times
- Freight forwarding safety within the European network for logistics services
- Compliance to the required conditions for forwarding chemical products
- Compliance to the requirements and conditions for forwarding food products, including frozen foods
- Compliance to the necessary requirements for the transportation of dangerous goods
- Regular cleaning of the forwarding vehicles from the snow, in winter conditions
- Marking the trailers of the forwarding vehicles on the back and on the sides
- Possible obstacles, failures and others
These elements are compared to the objectives set for the member companies of IFA, in order to ensure continuous control.
Methods for ensuring the quality measurement and control
In order to ensure regular measurements and thus ensure control the quality of the services offered by our member companies, special software and a central data base have been developed and applied. This allows for issuing regular reports regarding the service elements of each company, and thus allows for regular and timely informing of the offices and clients for the forwarding processes and for eventual obstacles, problems and others.
Safety – the main factor for ensuring the quality of our freight forwarding services
The basis for the safety of the freight forwarding services within the European network for transportation is set before the forwarding has even started. As the statistics show, a lack of preliminary safety assurance can lead to annual losses of around four billion Euro.
The member companies in our Association strictly adhere to the rule for safety assurance:
- Ensuring the appropriate packing of the goods and loads, according to their type as well as the necessity for keeping them protected, weather conditions and others.
- Even loading of the goods and loads, with no empty spaces between them which could cause sliding, tumbling and other shifting during the transportation.
The employees and the drivers from the IFA member companies are responsible for the safety of the goods and loads.