Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH Company Profile

Transcription

1 Company Profile

2 Company was founded in August 2010 as the legal successor to Leinhäuser und Partner Fachübersetzungen, a partnership company that had been in existence since The company is a well-established provider of a full range of translation services in the areas of telecommunications, information technology, automotive, market research, finance and toys. Within these subject domains, translations mainly involve business communication texts (internal and external), marketing and sales documents, annual reports and corporate finance. In contrast to many other spheres of translation activity, the quality demanded in these areas is extremely high. The texts pass through several review and quality assurance phases until they can no longer be distinguished from original documents written in the target language. Quality standard To ensure that its quality standards are reflected in its translation processes, the company decided in 2009 to apply for certification as a provider of translation services in accordance with the European Standard DIN EN Both the original audit and all re-audits since have been successful. This certification, held by only 25 other companies in Germany, confirms that the holder complies with stringent requirements on its quality assurance processes and demands a high level of qualification from its internal and external employees. Value proposition Quality not quantity is the motto by which the company operates. Although the company specializes in a select range of subject areas, these have been chosen with a view to complementing each other and enabling us to act as a full-service translation provider for an exclusive circle of clients. Leinhäuser Language Services creates added value for its customers. The company therefore regards itself as a translation service provider rather than a classical translation agency that acts exclusively as a middleman for jobs. Change of legal form and expansion in 2010 The main reason behind the change of legal form and the transformation from Leinhäuser und Partner to was the cessation of business activities by one of the company s largest customers. This customer LS Language Services was one of the three Siemens translation departments in Germany. In several different forms, LS Language Services had existed as an in-house translation service for Siemens in Munich for over 50 years. For the last 20 years, it operated as a profit center serving info@leinhaeuser.com leinhaeuser.com Phone Fax of 6

3 corporate headquarters units in Munich (including the Managing Board) and also had numerous external top-name customers. Due to a carve-out of SIS, the Siemens unit to which it belonged, LS Language Services ceased to operate on 1 October Due to the fact that the managements of LS Language Services Leinhäuser und Partner had maintained a close business relationship over many years, it was possible to organize a rapid and uncomplicated transfer of the operative and commercial managers of LS, Ramón Blanco and Birgit Albrecht-Klein, to Leinhäuser und Partner (now Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH). They were joined by 4 other experienced project managers from LS with close customer contacts. Brief profiles of the company s partners Heike Leinhäuser Born 13 May 1964, gained a degree in Applied Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting from the University of Saarland in Saarbrücken (first language French, second language Italian) in She started her career as a translator and project manager at Siemens in-house translation department in the same year. In 1990, she was seconded to the Siemens UK language services department in Chertsey/England, where she was able to intensify her knowledge of English and to add English-German to her repertoire of language directions. After returning to the Siemens department in Munich, Germany, Heike Leinhäuser worked as deputy head of the Public Networks group and was later responsible for special projects as assistant to the head of language services. In all of these roles, Heike Leinhäuser was deeply involved with change management, process optimization and the transformation of Siemens translation department from a budget-driven entity to a profit center. In 1995, after seven years at the company, Heike Leinhäuser resigned from her position as deputy head of Siemens translation department. After a year of working as a freelance translator, she founded Leinhäuser und Partner, Fachübersetzungen together with her brother. As well as forming part of the management team at Leinhäuser Language Services, her main focus lies on HR and operations (organizational structure, strategic development, process optimization, personnel development). Heike Leinhäuser has been active in QSD e. V. (Qualitätssprachendienste Deutschlands e. V.) [German professional association of translation services] since In 2003 she was invited to join the DIN mirror committee working on the European EN standard. She also represented this committee at meetings with colleagues from other European countries. She has been President of QSD e. V. since 2007 and represents the association at European and international level. info@leinhaeuser.com leinhaeuser.com Phone Fax of 6

4 Ramón Blanco Born 28 October 1959 Studied at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, graduating in 1985 as a translator for Spanish, German and Italian April 1986: Joined Siemens language services in Munich as a translator February 1990 June 1991: Seconded to Barcelona to help set up a branch of the translation department in Spain June 1991: Return to language services in Munich June 1991 October 1997: Worked in several different management roles for Siemens language services (including head of the terminology group, head of the Public Networks group, and head of the unit located in the Munich Hofmannstrasse). October 1997 March 2004: Headed up the translation group for Siemens Business Services Training and Services and was a member of the managerial team of Training and Services In April 2004, language services was outsourced as a wholly-owned Siemens subsidiary called LS Language Services GmbH, where, together with Birgit Albrecht-Klein, Ramón Blanco became managing director. LS Language Services GmbH was reintegrated into Siemens AG in September September September 2010: Head of Siemens AG SIS PRO Language Services The language services group was closed on 30 September 2010 as part of the carveout of Siemens IT Solution and Services. 1 October 2010: Moved to to take up a position as a member of the management team with responsibility for operations. Within the management team, he focuses on operative business, strategic development, customer relations and project management coaching. He has been a co-partner of since October Birgit Albrecht-Klein Born 4 October 1965, studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. Graduated with a degree in business management in 1990 August 1990: Joined Siemens AG as a sales business administrator March 1995: Switch to Siemens Business Services Training and Services as commercial manager for several TS groups including language services. Her responsibilities included the following: Ensuring the successful implementation of a management model based on employee involvement Regular reporting, controlling and planning duties info@leinhaeuser.com leinhaeuser.com Phone Fax of 6

5 Ensuring compliance with financial targets and timely identification of deviations Definition of strategic direction On 1 April 2004, the language services group was outsourced as a wholly-owned Siemens subsidiary. Birgit Albrecht-Klein took over the commercial management of the new LS Language Services GmbH (sales around EUR 9 million/10% profit/average 25 employees). Execution of Due Diligence Creation of a corporate identity Design and implementation of new processes Implementation of regular planning, reporting and controlling for both the GmbH and the shareholder Siemens Business Services Design and set up of sales controlling Adaption of organizational structure to requirements of the new GmbH Strategic development Quality management (ISO certification, SOA compliance) Disciplinary responsibility for employees Annual audits with external auditors On 1 September 2009, LS Language Services GmbH was amalgamated into Siemens AG again and assigned organizationally to Siemens IT Solutions and Services. Between this date and 30 September 2010, Birgit Albrecht-Klein was responsible for the commercial management of SIS PRO Language Services. 1 October 2010: Moved to to take up a position as a member of the management team with responsibility for finances. Within the management team, she focuses on operative business and strategic development. Co-partner of since October The team In addition to the partners, the company has over 30 full-time employees. All project managers are qualified translators and copywriters, and as account managers are responsible for all interaction with their customers. The actual translations are carried out by a network of around 300 freelance translators and specialists located around the globe plus a select group of cooperation partners. The internal team focuses primarily on customer support, project management and quality assurance. As highly qualified translators, all project managers are also able to carry out translation tasks internally whenever necessary and where other duties permit. In compliance with the company s DIN EN Translation Services certification, all translations are info@leinhaeuser.com leinhaeuser.com Phone Fax of 6

6 reviewed according to the four eyes principle, unless the customer expressly wishes otherwise. All members of the management team are actively involved in the operative business and coach the project managers in their duties. In addition to classical translation work Quality assurance Because two pairs of eyes are definitely better than one. For texts which are to be published or printed, this service is essential Transcreation In some cases, even a good translation is not good enough. This applies especially to marketing texts. Consulting and copywriting expertise is vital in cases such as these because the information to be conveyed is mostly to be found in the subtext rather than in the actual words themselves Technological know-how Expertise in all the technologies and tools used for pre- and post-processing during translation and transcreation projects. We not only handle widely-used DTP formats and files in markup languages such as html and xml, we are also able to export content from CMS systems and import it again after translation Senior editing/copywriting Adaption of translations for a specific target group or market so that they read like original purpose-written documents Terminology management Researching and defining corporate terminology for customers, and, if desired, providing the results via an Internet platform Alignment Recycling existing translations for re-use in future documents and compilation of a special customer database Project management Jobs are placed with (one or more) suitable translators and the results checked centrally for consistency. The customer benefits from the shortest possible turnaround times One face to the customer The customer can commission multilingual projects (translation into several different languages) via a single contact person Consulting Many companies have little experience with translation work. We provide advice on how they can optimize the way they handle translation projects info@leinhaeuser.com leinhaeuser.com Phone Fax of 6