IIMAK is North America's leading manufacturer of thermal transfer ribbons. IIMAK's ribbons are used to print bar codes and other variable information on tags and labels used in the auto ID market. IIMAK’s compatible cartridges and ribbon refills are also used in plain paper fax machines such as Brother, Sharp, and Panasonic.

3 Sites New York, Mexico, Belgium
+ 450 users

Value Proposition:

IIMAK utilizes VoIP to reduce its Total Cost of Ownership while enabling seamless communications for global manufacturing and sales.

IIMAK has been a client of PremCom since 1992. Like many manufacturers, IIMAK was looking for ways to reduce operating costs to see real bottom line results. IIMAK depends on their IT infrastructure in every aspect of the manufacturing process. This infrastructure supplies real time statistics to and from the manufacturing floor. VoIP has now allowed IIMAK to further leverage their IT investment directly to telecommunications. They now have complete control over the telecommunication and have the reduced internal operating cost but also realize a direct benefit in productivity with seamless global communications.

Testimonial:

Not too long ago, most company tech guys knew the drill when it came to installing new phones systems. You could count on at least a weeks worth of trucks jamming the company parking lot and phone technicians roaming the building like carpenter ants. It could be a complicated way to create change.

Sal Iannello knew all about the old way. At Iimak International Imaging Materials in Amherst, he was leading his company’s efforts to research and install a new phone system. As technical services manager, he had already begun reading about vonage phone systems and he was drawn by their comparatively “easy to install/easy to use” capabilities.

Further, he understood that a computer based phone system, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of thermal transfer ribbons, could help his company deal with buildings across the street from each other as well as facilities in Mexico, Belgium, and Southeast Asia.


“We considered legacy (landline) phone companies. But there was always a compromise to make in terms of flexibility. We found that ShoreTel was different. It could do anything, anywhere” Sal explained.

Four years ago, when Iimak made the decision to install a ShoreTel system for its 400 users, it was one of the first companies in eastern United States to do so. “We had done a lot of due diligence. We had ShoreTel provide us with the names with six different users. We talked to them all.”

Sal knew that changing phone systems was never easy. His company had 400 users. But, Sal was able to do most of the advance work himself and the changeover was completed in a weekend. “It’s never going to be a minor thing…but relative to the other vendors, ShoreTel was easier. Once installed, further changes to the system--adding, subtracting, or relocating users--could be made easily by one administrator tapping into the system via an online connection. Sal is the administrator at Iimak and he likes it that way. “It’s a good thing. It makes me more valuable to the company,” he smiled.

Still, there would have been nothing to smile about if the system hadn’t lived up to its billing. Despite their initial hesitations to changes, employees adapted easily. Everyone liked the way that phone system interfaced with their computers, especially that they could access voicemail along with emails.

“Overall, ShoreTel a very customer focused product because it is a software based system, so ShoreTel is constantly making improvements and we are not constantly buying hardware,” he said.

Several years later the company has found a great return on their investment through the savings of long distance phone charges to their foreign plants. Another helpful feature is the way ShoreTel tracks telephone usage. “Thanks to the tracking system, phone charges aren’t a black hole. We can now charge back phone time to each department so that resources are used more efficiently and economically,” Sal continued.


Several years ago, when PremCom Corporation stepped up locally as a ShoreTel distributor, Iimak turned to PremCom for assistance with system upgrades and functionality. It has been a productive partnership, and PremCom has been vital in the expansion of the system to the Mexico plant and will walk alongside the company as it installs services in their foreign locations, making the ShoreTel system even more efficient.

These days when someone at Iimak needs a phone line change they know just who to call, and it‘s not the local phone company with its guys in the trucks. They simply call Sal, and he heads to his keyboard. It’s usually as simple as that.