TNT Logistics North America (Jacksonville, Fla.), a provider of supply chain logistics services, has begun implementing an internally-developed management system that is compliant to established industry quality standards.
The system, named EQS for the company’s environmental, quality and safety initiatives, provides the structure and tools needed to ensure TNT’s operations achieve operational excellence, maintain a safe work place and have a responsible impact on the environment. EQS gives TNT’s operations a standardized, simplified approach to obtaining certification to several key international standards, including ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and OHSAS 18001, as appropriate.
First launched in January 2005, the implementation phase of EQS is now 50% complete, with several corporate internal audits and three third-party pre-assessments having been successfully completed. The company’s first registration audit is scheduled for the second quarter of 2006. As a result of implementing EQS, the company will no longer have separate ISO certification processes for 9001.
"EQS is the North American business unit’s approach to achieving operational excellence as part of TNT’s corporate sustainability initiatives,” said Melissa Alwood, senior manager of quality, and project leader for rolling out EQS throughout the company. “EQS was developed by identifying best practices within our operations, coupled with the unique services needs of our customers. The result is a system that makes sense for our business, one that can be readily certified by accredited registrars, and one that can be modified to work well at the contract level.”
“The trend in business today is to move to an integrated approach in addressing quality certification,” added Mark Johnson, vice president of quality and development. “For TNT, EQS affords us a structured, standardized way of doing business in a market where we offer a wide range of supply chain services across many business sectors.”
Source: TNT Logistics North America
