When did you last review your QTAs?
Many hours are spent to gain agreement on the finer details in your agreements as part of the on-boarding and approval process of a supplier or customer and once they are mutually agreed signed and dated by both parties they come into effect.
But do you check if both contract giver and acceptor are in compliance with the QTA they have approved?
Have you defined a review period and mode of communication and the preferred communication channel with the contract acceptor? Have you followed through with the agreed plan?
Many contract givers never assess the compliance of their contractors they do not give feedback or they do not record the feedback they give.
Often WDA holders will not record delivery delays or missed deliveries as complaints and there is then no way of assessing compliance with a defines quality objective. E.g. “ 99% on-time delivery”
In addition, common deviations with QTAs with logistics providers are temperature related. Deviations on loading or due to groupage are common and are not routinely reported. You need to ask what is the frequency of the temperature reading? What is your definition of a temperature excursion and decide if this is acceptable to you and that your product will not be affected?
Often logistics companies will outsource their shipments to other providers and what you have stipulated in the QTA may not be able to be delivered by the Subcontractor.
You may wish to review the subcontractors QTA and your approved providers approval process of their outsource partners. You may wish to restrict the outsource of your shipments with just one or two other companies.
Ensure the QTAs are reviewed at least once a year to ensure that they are complied with and if anything requires to be updated, added or removes. Always check the contact details are still correct!
QTAs are effective when used as a live document which is referenced, reviewed, audited against and updated regularly.