Our new company brochure has just been printed. On the back cover we are proudly displaying our accreditation logos. But do you know what they actually mean?
Here’s your guide to the associations of which are a member and the accreditations that we hold, and what they mean to you, our customers:
BIFA
BIFA stands for British International Freight Association. It’s a UK trade association that represents the Freight Forwarding industry. BIFA is a not-for-profit organisation that acts as an authoritative voice for the industry and is responsible for setting industry standards. Membership is awarded to companies who have had their operations assessed and audited by BIFA and are deemed to meet or exceed their standards within the industry. PFE has been a member of BIFA since 1998.
BIFA sets a standard code of practice and the terms and conditions for the industry. It is those terms and conditions that we trade under. As a member of BIFA you can be certain that our processes have been audited by the Freight Forwarding lead UK trade association and our trading terms and conditions are industry standard.
For more information click here.
UKWA
UKWA stands for United Kingdom Warehousing Association and is Britain’s leading trade organisation for the logistics warehousing sector. Similarly to BIFA, member companies are independently assessed and audited by the association and membership is awarded to companies that have demonstrated the highest standards in warehousing and provide great value services. PFE is a warehouse keeper and consequently we’ve been a member of UKWA for 15 years. As Freight Forwarding is our core business we trade under BIFA terms and conditions. However our Retail Fulfilment business in Oldham trades under UKWA’s code of conduct.
Similarly to our BIFA membership, our customers can be certain that our warehousing standards have been audited and checked and that our Fulfilment operation’s terms and conditions are industry standard.
For more information click here.
AEO
AEO, meaning Authorised Economic Operator, is for businesses established in the EU that are actively involved in customs operations and international trade. AEO status recognises that a company’s role in the international supply chain is secure and that customs controls and procedures are efficient and compliant. We were awarded full AEO status in 2015.
AEO is in essence a quality mark endorsed by the Customs body – its status is the highest in the EU Freight Forwarding industry. In order to be awarded AEO status we had to have the whole PFE business analysed with UK Customs validating our application. The AEO audit was an extremely rigorous process providing real recognition of our security status within our Financial, Operational and Management structures. It was a major achievement for PFE, due to the size of our business, to invest the time to go through the process and attain this status.
Our AEO status shows that our part of the supply chain is entirely secure and our customers can be confident that all of our processes and procedures meet AEO’s extremely high standards.
For more information click here.
ISO 9001
Our holding of ISO 9001, the national standard for quality systems, provides evidence of our commitment to quality and service. The accreditation demonstrates that we manage our business to achieve consistent (good!) quality services for our customers. We’ve been certified as ISO 9001 quality management systems, for the provision of Freight Forwarding services including Customs clearance, since 1992.
In a nutshell, our accreditations demonstrate our reliability and the quality of our service. For our customers, you can be reassured that PFE is a very safe pair of hands.