Quality management in intermodal terminals of the Brazilian grains logistics chain

• Main Authors: Caroline Foscaches, Renato Luiz Sproesser
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual Paulista 2016-09-01
• Series: GEPROS: Gestão da Produção, Operações e Sistemas
• Subjects: Quality management era; Grains; Strategic quality management; Operational efficiency
• Online Access: http://revista.feb.unesp.br/index.php/gepros/article/view/1459

Intermodal terminals play a key role in the logistics system, since they are an important link between food production and distribution. In the agrifood chain, quality management isn´t seen as a competitive advantage, but as an issue of survival. This study thus aims to identify the quality management phase in which the intermodal terminals of the Brazilian grains logistics chain are found. To this end, interviews were conducted, using semi-structured questionnaires, with the managers of 28 intermodal terminals located in the Midwest, South, Southeast, Northeast and Northern regions. It was found that most terminals are in the Strategic Quality Management era, the fourth era of quality management. In addition, it was observed that the specific tools of the agrifood sector are widely used by terminals. In addition, many terminals use tools from the first and second quality era. Among the tools of the fourth era, product tracking is the most widely used. Finally, it was possible to determine that the terminals in the third quality era, Quality Assurance, have a higher average operating efficiency than terminals in the fourth era, Strategic Quality Management.