The Australian Logistics Assured Program (ALA) is a system of integrated performance standards, covering all members of the export cold chain. Through development of full chain performance standards including time and temperature, and a comprehensive monitoring program to verify compliance, the ALA system provides your supply chain with a “Cold Chain Guarantee”.

ALA grew out of a series of studies and projects undertaken by the ILN¹. The findings from these reports revealed:

• Over 75% of Australian perishable export shipments contain at least one cold chain break.
• “It is the combination of consistency in product quality and logistics services that will attract international customers to use Australian suppliers”
• “The performance of the logistics system has a major impact on costs, service quality and competitiveness in Australian industry. Greater exposure to international competition has contributed to pressures for better performance. Logistics activities are now seen as a potential source of competitive advantage and revenue enhancement.”
• Nations such as New Zealand and the USA are considered by Asian Importers to be superior in terms of cold chain logistics than Australia, and countries such as South Africa and Chile are catching up fast.
• There are a plethora of codes of practise, quality systems and guidelines in Australia, yet none of them cover the full supply chain. This is confusing to overseas importers.
• A full supply chain quality logistics system may reduce shrinkage by up to 5%, more than paying for a logistics quality assurance program.

The basis for the ALA program is the company manual covering the temperature, time and handling requirements of your entire export chain. The Cold Chain Centre can develop this manual, or you can write it yourself with the assistance of a “DIY” Kit. Example Generic Product Manuals to a variety of countries are also available in order to assist.

Once this manual is written, it is sent for endorsement by the ALA Technical Committee, a grouping of persons with specialist cold chain knowledge. From this point signatures are gained from chain partners and you can begin export operations as an ALA endorsed supply chain.

For further information on the ALA program, or to join, please contact us or visit website www.australianlogisticsassured.com

¹ The Integrated Logistics Network is a grouping of senior government officials from all states, territories and the Commonwealth in the area of Transport and Logistics.