Thursday 19 December 2013

Year In Review: IMA's Top Five Highlights From 2013

As the New Year quickly approaches and we say goodbye to 2013, it is always a great time to reflect on the highlights, accomplishments and events that took place over the past twelve months. Much like 2012, this year the evolution of IMA continued as the company launched a new series of web-based services and experienced significant growth within the global market. While there were many topics that could have made our 2013 highlight list, in the end we could only choose five. Let’s take a look.

1)    IMA Introduces the uManage Series of Web-Based Services (Jan. 24, 2013)

After years of successfully providing catalogue management services via phone, fax and email, IMA made the big move to the web in 2013 by introducing its uManage series of web-based services. In comparison to traditional services, uManage was designed as a method of centralizing and standardizing the catalogue management process. Through unified web forms, uManage ensures maximum data consistency and accuracy, while reducing administrative efforts. In addition, built-in administrative features enable detailed reporting, traceability and improved cataloguing efficiency.

With one year under its belt and currently over 600 active users, uManage has proven to be a great success throughout 2013. By collecting client feedback, suggestions and market research, 2014 will no doubt see uManage evolve into an even more powerful and effective data management tool.

2)    IMA Signs Multi-Year Contract with 3M Globally (Mar. 22, 2013)

On March 22, 2013 IMA was selected as the sole service provider for the 3M DataCleansing project. With a multi-year contract signed, IMA will complete data cleansing for all 3M sites globally, beginning with North America. Upon completion of the initial phase of data cleansing, IMA is contracted to manage the 3M corporate catalogue through its uManage web-based service. “Securing a client of this magnitude is a huge accomplishment for IMA and a true testament to the level of services we offer” stated Troy Miller, Vice President of IMA Ltd. As the account manager for the 3M project, Troy went on to say “We are very excited to have a long-term deal with 3M and we look forward to assisting 3M in its efforts to reduce inventory costs while improving maintenance efficiency world-wide.

3)    IMA Featured in PEM and Plant & Works Engineering Magazines (May/Nov. 2013)

As a growing company with over twenty years of experience, IMA was able to share some of its industry knowledge by publishing articles in both PEM (Plant Engineering andMaintenance) Magazine and Plant & Works Engineering Magazine UK. Both articles focused on the topic of Data Quality and provided insight to the methodology, process, results, and benefits of Data Cleansing.

If you missed these articles, digital versions are available at the links below. Look for more interesting and informational magazine publications from IMA in 2014!

PEM Magazine – “A Data Scrub Down”

Plant & Works Engineering Magazine – “Uncovering Hidden Savings”

4)    IMA Raises Over $12,000 for The Sunshine Foundation (Nov. 16, 2013)

Following months of planning and tickets sales, the Chasing Dreams CharityGala went off without a hitch on November 16th, bringing in over $12,000 for The Sunshine Foundation. It was an elegant night filled with great people, delicious food, and endless entertainment.

The evening began with a silent auction featuring a variety of items to suit all ages and tastes. Next, the Master of Ceremonies, Steve Molnar, welcomed guests with a short speech and invited the Sunshine Foundation representative, Joelle Efford, to say a few words. The welcome ceremony also included a guest visit from one of the Sunshine Foundation families who emotionally shared the story of their 8-year old son’s life-threatening heart condition. Jesse, who was diagnosed with congenital heart failure and classified as “medically fragile”, was part of The Sunshine Foundation’s Dream Lift program that takes ill and disabled children on a dream trip to Disney World. While at Disney World, Jesse and his family were able to relax on an all expenses paid vacation, without any doctor’s appointments or medical tests. Jesse had always dreamed of meeting Captain Jack Sparrow and thanks to the Sunshine Foundation, his dream came true.

Following a superb meal prepared by Beres’ Catering, a live auction had the crowd fired up as the enthusiastic auctioneers called out bids. The excellent lineup of high-ticket auction items included Toronto Maple Leaf tickets, fine dining experiences, golf trips, and exotic vacation packages, which brought in a significant contribution for the Sunshine Foundation.

Once the live auction wrapped up, it was time for the main attraction, which featured YukYuk’s On Tour Live Comedy. The audience witnessed two hours of hilarious, laugh-out-loud comedy performed by three of the country’s top comedians. There wasn’t a dull moment in the building as the event came to a close and the final tally of proceeds was calculated.

The event was a huge success and would not have been possible without the generous support of the local Tillsonburg community and IMA social committee. Once again, IMA would like to extend its sincerest appreciation to all of the individuals, businesses, and committee members who made this event such a success. Together, we have helped dreams come true for sick and disabled children across Canada.

5)    IMA Cleanses Over 1.5 Million SKUs in 2013 (Dec. 31, 2013)

The past twelve months have been some of IMA’s busiest yet. With many new clients, global project expansions, and over 800 active catalogue management users, IMA is pleased to announce that it successfully cleansed over 1.5 Million SKUs (items) in 2013. As always, IMA continues to improve and develop its services to meet the demand and needs of its clients. As 2013 comes to an end, IMA is excited to kick off another great year with many new ideas, challenges, solutions, and success stories.

On behalf IMA, we would like to thank all of our clients, partners, and staff for making 2013 another successful and prosperous year.

Happy Holidays and all the best in 2014 from the IMA Team!


Thursday 5 December 2013

Lost In Translation: The Challenge In Translating Materials Data

Within multi-site global manufacturing organizations, language is a common barrier that can greatly impact productivity and efficiency across the corporation. Translation of manufacturing documents and data requires a specific area of expertise, which can only be acquired through experience and education in the industry. When it comes to materials data translation, it is critical that all part descriptions, materials, sizes and drawings maintain their accurate format and meaning.

In many cases, translation companies simply translate information on a word for word basis, without understanding the true context of the document, technical specification, or description. By doing so, the information can be misconstrued and cause many headaches for the end users.

Let me explain - a BALL BEARING is a standard MRO item, which every manufacturing organization maintains hundreds of in their item master. The problem is that when the part description is translated for this common MRO item, it can potentially take on a different and incorrect meaning.

For example, two translation agencies were provided the same original Ball Bearing description from an English source and asked to translate it to Portuguese. One of the translators was a subject matter expert, specializing in the Manufacturing and Engineering industry. The other translator had very little experience in any type of industrial setting and no understanding of the part description. When the file was delivered, only one of the samples successfully preserved the true industrial meaning of the Ball Bearing description in the desired language. The other sample was misinterpreted due to the lack of basic part knowledge and industrial expertise, in which case the part meaning was lost in translation.

IMA recognizes the impact that poor translation can have on a project and an organization. For this reason, IMA is proud to have staff resources fluent in English, French, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, German and Italian. All staff resources have background knowledge and experience within the manufacturing industry to ensure that each translation project reflects the data in its most accurate and useful context. In addition, IMA has aligned itself with proven translation partners, who have been carefully qualified and selected through an extensive research, sampling and evaluation process.

For more information on IMA services, please visit www.imaltd.com or contact info@imaltd.com.