Translations for the Medical and Pharmaceutical Industries
Package Insert
Know-how and information for mt-g customers No. 28 | November 2012
Visions:
mt-g moves to new premises
Page 3
Versions:
2,665 pages in 55 days for Biotest
Page 4
People:
Six new faces at mt-g
Page 5
www.mt‑g.com
Page 2 mt‑g Package Insert
Editorial
We’ve made it
When I started working for mt‑g in
1999, its founders Gerlinde and Andreas
Bendig had a vision: to become the
world’s most successful provider of
technical translation services to the
medical and pharmaceutical industry.
At that time we were working on the
banks of the Danube in Neu-Ulm, with
just 55 square metres of office space.
The company consisted of three mem-
bers of staff, and I was employee num-
ber one.
Today mt‑g is the leader in Europe
and active worldwide. Recently we
moved into our new office building with
a floor space of more than 1,000 square
metres. As a member of the company
management I bear some of the respon-
sibility for our permanent employees,
who now number more than 50, as well
as about 1,000 freelance translators
and experts. This is a fantastic develop-
ment of which I am very proud. I’m look-
ing forward to the continued expansion
and success of mt‑g in the future.
In this 28th edition of the Package
Insert, you can read a best-practice
example that illustrates very well the
level of service presently provided by
the mt‑g team. As a result, Biotest has
become another satisfied customer.
This demonstrates that mt‑g made the
right decision to invest in its own Across
Language Server.
We hope you enjoy reading this
issue.
Bernd Mayer,
Member of Management
mt‑g | Values bring people together –
quality makes the difference
Bernd Mayer
mt‑g Package Insert
the medical information company
mt-g medical translation is the leading provider of medical and pharmaceutical translations, covering 46 native languages and 560 language pairs. State-of-the-art translation technology ensures efficient processes, with measurable benefits in terms of costs and time.
mt-g’s most valuable asset is its 50 project managers and more than 1,000 highly qualified native speaking translators and experts with medical and lin-guistic expertise.
Worldwide 75% of the top 100 companies in the medical and pharmaceutical industry benefit from mt-g’s translation exper-tise.
Is your company one of them?
Specialities and teams
Medical Devices & Translation Technology
Global Regulatory Affairs Clinical Studies Pharmaceutical & Medical
Communication Dentistry & Dental
Technology Translation & Localisation
Engineering
ContentsEditorial
We’ve made it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2
Company News
Stuttgarter Str. 155 vision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3
Best Practice
Mission possible: Biotest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 4
People at mt‑g
Of star chefs and snowboards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 5
Company News
37° but still partying. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6
Social Sponsoring
Flash of inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7
Social Sponsoring
Two pairs of hands for a good cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 8
mt-g was the first European medical translation services company to achieve DIN ISO 9001:2008 accreditation.
mt‑g Package Insert Page 3
28 September 2012 was removal day:
the new address for mt-g now reads
'Stuttgarter Strasse 155 in Ulm'. Our
staff of more than 50 are now working
in newly built company premises with
all mod cons. Gerlinde and Andreas
Bendig, Managing Directors, give us
an initial account of the new working
environment.
Why did you decide to have your own
office building? What ultimately
prompted the decision?
Andreas Bendig: After spending a
long time searching for suitable prem-
ises for all our teams, we realised we
would have to build our own offices in
order to achieve what we had in mind
without having to compromise.
What ideas were they?
Gerlinde Bendig: Open-plan offices
with silent rooms and lounge areas. We
want our colleagues to feel comfortable,
which is why we also included a fitness
area. We wanted to put our vision of
'Working' into practice.
What is this vision exactly?
Andreas Bendig: The focus is com-
munication and a commitment to val-
ues. In open-plan spaces the entire
team is not only working together, but
truly working with one another. Infor-
mation and know-how can be exchanged
at any moment. Separate rooms also
offer quiet areas in which to communi-
cate, such as for telephone calls with
customers.
Gerlinde Bendig: An important
value in our corporate philosophy is
sustainability – we have managed to
embody such a concept by building a
zero-energy property. At present, the
building would have to be one of the
most sustainable and environmentally
friendly office buildings in Ulm and way
beyond. Pictures of the finished build-
ing will be published in the next issue of
our Package Insert.
What can staff expect?
Andreas Bendig: The latest that
modern office design and technology
have to offer. Whole storeys flooded
with light and exuding a unique atmos-
phere. In other words, we have made
mt‑g attractive to both present and
prospective employees. The former
want to move in completely!
When will the doors open to mt‑g’s
customers?
Gerlinde Bendig: The first meetings
are already taking place. We’re planning
to hold an exclusive opening party for
our customers at the new premises in
spring 2013. But we’re already delight-
ed to welcome customers here at our
new offices in Ulm.
Company News
Stuttgarter Str. 155 vision
Page 4 mt‑g Package Insert
2,665 pages to be translated in just 55
days: this was the challenge laid down
by Biotest AG when it first contacted
mt-g with its vast project.
The content of its standard operat-
ing procedures, or SOPs, needed
to be translated from German into
English, which is noth-
ing new to the special-
ists at mt‑g. But this
time we were required
to deal with more than
80,000 standard lines
of text divided across
roughly 600 different
Word documents, all to
be translated in just
two and a half months.
“A good translator,
who can manage be-
tween 250 and 400 lines of text per
day, would need at least 200, if not 320
days even, for such an amount”, ex-
plained Isabel Schenker, head of the
Pharmaceutical & Medical Communi-
cation team at mt‑g, when describing
the challenges of such a tightly sched-
uled project. “The biggest challenge
was the planning and document man-
agement. Key elements had to be de-
fined, such as how to meet the desired
deadline, keep control over all the doc-
uments and assign the various transla-
tors whilst at the same time ensure
consistency and guarantee cost sav-
ings for the customer. To account for all
these factors, a project workflow was
developed to begin with together with
colleagues from the Translation &
Localisation Engineering team. This
workflow, the collaboration of two spe-
cialised teams and the utilisation of
translation technology (Across) ena-
bled us to achieve our goal in such a
very short period of time.” Project man-
agers and customers of mt‑g can
rely at any time on the support and
expertise of the company’s own techni-
cal TLE team. The team’s experts ana-
lyse projects not only with a view to the
most efficient and optimal means of
technical implementation but they also
take the individual preferences of the
customer into account.
Consistency as a prerequisite for
highest quality
A crucial argument in favour of
using the Across Language Server dur-
ing this project was the harmonised
structure of the documents delivered
by Biotest. Despite being of varying
lengths, the format of all the docu-
ments was very similar. Another essen-
tial element in managing the project
with Across was that the documents to
be translated were in an editable for-
mat. Only PDF files were available at
the start of the project, but thanks to
the efforts of Biotest’s project manag-
ers all the documents were ultimately
available in MS Word format. Using
Across as a central language technolo-
gy platform, measurable benefits could
be achieved in terms of timing. By
using Across and at the same time lim-
iting ourselves to two principal transla-
tors, mt‑g was able to guarantee the
greatest possible terminological con-
sistency despite the tight deadline,
thereby assuring that Biotest would
not suffer any loss of quality. Work
began immediately on carefully gener-
ating the requisite term base, which
was continually updated and main-
tained during the entire process. With
optimal support from the partners at
Biotest responsible for the project, any
queries concerning
terminology could
also be resolved
very rapidly. In the
case of frequently
used technical terms
of particular impor-
tance, standardised
terms – called
'crossTerm entries'
– were laid down in
Across so that even
the slightest devia-
tion in a translation would become im-
mediately identifiable. Such detailed
work proved beneficial to all involved
as the project progressed: larger quan-
tities of text did not have to be newly
edited in each document but could be
pre-translated using the database. So
every translator was kept up-to-date
with the current status. The time that
was saved as a result meant that the
costs to Biotest could also be reduced.
“This was our biggest Across project so
far in one language combination.
Without the CAT tool, we wouldn’t have
been able to achieve the high levels of
quality that were demanded in such a
short timeframe”, Isabel Schenker
concluded.
Joining forces
But it wasn’t technology alone that
gave this ambitious project its happy
ending. The team spirit of all the staff
and the willingness of Biotest to give
mt‑g free reign to manage the project
rendered what at first seemed impos-
sible, possible. When it came to the
Best Practice
Mission possible: Biotest
mt‑g Package Insert Page 5
People at mt‑g
Of star chefs and snowboards
The mt-g team is growing and growing.
More than 50 employees have just relo-
cated from Eberhard-Finckh-Strasse to
Stuttgarter Strasse in Ulm. And there’s
still plenty of room for more. These six
colleagues have already found their
way to mt-g.
Katrin Glock
Project Manager in the Medical Devices
& Translation Technology team
“Something with languages” was
the answer Katrin Glock would give
when at school if asked what she want-
ed to do when she grew up. After gradu-
ating from school in 2008, she went on
to become a state-certified interpreter
and translator in Ingolstadt. She first
joined mt‑g in 2011 as a trainee,
impressing the whole team not only
with her work but above all her enthusi-
asm for customer support. Today she
works as a project manager in the
Medical Devices team. In her leisure
time Katrin enjoys hiking with friends,
doing a lot of sports, going to concerts
and cooking.
Markus Oehl
Localisation Engineer in the Translation
& Localisation Engineering team
Markus was born in North Hessen,
and has been with mt‑g since August
2011. Having attained an advanced
technical certificate, specialising in
information systems, Markus studied
international professional communica-
tion in Flensburg, majoring in technical
translation. During his studies he com-
pleted a term abroad at the University of
Portsmouth. During his period of practi-
cal training with a manufacturer of wind
energy plants he discovered an interest
in renewable energies. In his private life
Markus loves to travel and pursue his
passion for photography.
Stefanie Majunke
Project Manager in the Pharmaceutical
& Medical Communication team
Three years after finishing school,
Stefanie graduated as a state-certified
translator and interpreter for French,
English and Spanish in 2008 at the
Institute of Foreign Languages and
International Studies in Erlangen. To
requested rolling delivery, Biotest did
not specify that minimum quantities
had to be delivered nor had any partic-
ular texts been prioritised. As the trans-
lations came in, the Medical & Pharma-
ceutical Communication team under-
took the final quality check with the
assistance of colleagues from the
Medical Devices team. Within about
two months, including weekends, all
the documents had been reviewed and
any final queries resolved in consulta-
tion with the translators. “mt‑g was
recommended to us as a translation
provider. So from the start we were
very confident about working with
them and our high expectations were
met”, Dr Michael Kloft, responsible for
the project at Biotest, confirmed. All
the partial deliveries of this massive
project were submitted at weekly inter-
vals: on time and in perfect quality.
Project manager Isabel Schenker also
admits to some pride at this achieve-
ment: “We’re grateful to Biotest for
placing their trust in us! It gave us the
opportunity to prove to ourselves that
the combination of modern technology,
enthusiastic staff and a direct, trusting
relationship with the customer can be a
very successful combination.”
Across as a workflow acceleratorThe Across Language Server, as a central platform, enables mt-g to deliver efficient and compliant translations of highly com-plex documentation. Ask us how it works!
About BiotestBiotest AG in Dreieich is a global spe-cialist in biological drugs. With a sup-ply chain ranging from preclinical and clinical development to global marketing, Biotest has become a specialist primarily in immunology, haematology and inten-sive as well as emergency medicine. In certain pharmaceutical sectors Biotest is a world leader. Biotest products save lives and offer new perspectives to the chronically ill. Through subsidiaries and distributors, products are sold in more than 85 countries in Europe as well as the USA, Asia and South America. Biotest AG employs roughly 1,700 people worldwide. Preferred shares are listed on the German small cap index, SDAX.
Left to right: Katrin Glock, Markus Oehl, Stefanie Majunke, Sarah Herzer, Corinna Ströbele, Benjamin Heinze
Page 6 mt‑g Package Insert
gain experience and improve her lan-
guage skills, she then spent 19 months
in Spain where she earned a living as an
au-pair. After returning to gain some
initial work experience, she joined mt‑g
in June 2011. Stefanie loves cycling in
the summer, swapping her bike in the
winter for her snowboard in the Alps.
Sarah Herzer
Project Manager in the Clinical Studies
team
Born in 1982 in Friedrichshafen,
Sarah grew up and completed her
school education in Lindau. With a uni-
versity degree in German and Romance
languages and literature under her belt,
she went on to train as a state-certified
translator and interpreter for English
and Italian. In August 2011, she joined
mt‑g as a project manager. If her head
isn’t buried in a good book, Sarah loves
to spend her free time dancing.
Corinna Ströbele
Project Manager in the Global
Regulatory Affairs team
After leaving school in 2004, Corinna
spent a year doing voluntary social
work. This was followed by her studies
to become a state-certified translator
along with additional training in busi-
ness administration. In June 2011, she
joined mt‑g just one day after her oral
exam. In her free time Corinna enjoys
having her award-winning chef cook for
her, and exploring new culinary
pastures.
Benjamin Heinze
Project Manager in the Medical Devices
& Translation Technology team
Benjamin studied business adminis-
tration, specialising in English as a for-
eign language and international man-
agement. “If you want to experience the
world’s diversity, you can visit any num-
ber of countries – or choose a country to
which the entire world is drawn: Great
Britain.” This is the philosophy by which
Benjamin lives. On finishing his diploma
he spent four years with an international
sea freight company in the port city of
Liverpool. The desire to return home
brought Benjamin back to Germany,
where he first spent two years working
as a project manager on inter-European
projects. Amongst others, he was in-
volved in implementing logistics servic-
es for the pharmaceutical industry. His
wish to work more intensively with lan-
guages was fulfilled by his appointment
at mt‑g.
The staff at mt‑g are not only skilled in
managing translation projects, but also
know how to party – this was clear for
all to see at the company’s construc-
tion party. At the invitation of Gerlinde
and Andreas Bendig (who were also
celebrating their wedding anniversary
that day), the shell of the new company
building was turned into one huge party
venue. At temperatures of 37 °C in the
shade, the specialised teams compet-
ed to become the mt‑g champions of
human table football, and danced to the
sounds of Ulm’s representative in the
X-Factor talent show.
Company News
37° but still partying
Absolute commitment – the mt-g team play human table football
mt‑g Package Insert Page 7
More than 222,533 donors have helped
4,038 projects in 139 countries: this is
the achievement in terms of good deeds
as announced on the homepage of the
transparent online donation portal, bet-
terplace. An achievement that is grow-
ing on a daily basis. Eleven projects
alone have been supported by mt-g and
readers of the Package Insert.
Three projects that currently need
help are listed at http://www.better-
place.org/de/companies/mt-g/projects.
They include the children’s centre
Pfiffikus e.V., a parents' initiative in
Nuremberg collecting donations in order
to buy an awning, doll’s house and sofa,
and the Rollberg school aid project in
Berlin that is still looking for supporters
to fund hot lunches for children in
socially deprived areas.
For every correct solution to the
crossword puzzle, mt‑g will make a
donation to a betterplace project. Send
your solution to [email protected].
Social Sponsoring
Flash of inspiration
1 2 3
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the medical information company
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The aim of Kakuro is to fill in the empty fields using the numbers 1 to 9. These numbers can only be used once in each row or column. The sum of each row or column should total that of the clues provided in the black squares. The black square containing the clue is divided diagonally into two parts. The number in the top half of the square is the clue for the row, and the number in the bottom half of the square refers to the column.The aim of Sudoku is to complete the grid so that each row, column or block of 9 squares contains the numbers 1 to 9, which can only be used once in each case.The sum of the numbers already placed in the fields is the clue to the solution.
Page 8 mt‑g Package Insert
Imprint:
Publishermt-g medical translation GmbH & Co. KGStuttgarter Strasse 155, 89075 UlmTel. +49 731 176397-0 Fax +49 731 176397-50 [email protected] | www.mt-g.com
EditingJOLE KommunikationDesign | Text | PRPO Box 10 13 1541545 KaarstTel. +49 2131 314612-0 Fax +49 2131 [email protected]
Cartoon: Evelyn Neuss | Hanover
Layout and Typesetting: mt-g | Ulm
Printing: Druckerei Bittera | Munich
Circulation: 2,700Feedback: [email protected]@jole-kommunikation.com
© 2012mt-g medical translation GmbH & Co. KG
Your direct contact in our Sales Department
Dr Frank KuhnertTel. +49 731 176397–[email protected]
Your direct contact to the teams
Medical Devices & Translation [email protected]
Global Regulatory [email protected]
Clinical [email protected]
Pharmaceutical & Medical [email protected]
Dentistry & Dental [email protected]
Translation & Localisation [email protected]
Quality ManagementSamuel [email protected]
Managing DirectorsGerlinde and Andreas Bendig, Bernd Mayer (member of management)[email protected]
mt‑g Package Insert
the medical information company
Social Sponsoring
Two pairs of hands for a good cause
Schoolgirls Merlin Yoko Geiger and
Anna Eleonor Gewald spent an entire
day hard at work at mt-g as part of the
national social day, 'Pupils Help Life':
folding leaflets, sticking stamps, copy-
ing files and sorting documents. They
donated all their earnings to 'Pupils
Help Life' projects in South Eastern
Europe.
This year, pupils across the
country have decided that the
money should go to Serbia, where
initiatives are being supported
that give young people a perspec-
tive on life without violence.
Examples are assisted profession-
al training and psychological sup-
port. Using the slogan, 'Lend a
Hand', roughly 100,000 pupils
throughout Germany spent a day
doing a variety of jobs, from mow-
ing lawns to picking strawberries.
The pupils were paid at least the
same as temporary staff for their
efforts.
At mt‑g, the pupils were paid
250 euros each for their excellent work
in aid of a good cause. “It was really fun
for us to work at mt‑g”, says Merlin
Yoko, who will definitely join in again
the next time around. Aside from
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the
patrons of the social day campaign in-
clude a number of prime ministers.
Merlin Geiger and Anna Eleonor Gewald enjoying their work