IDEMA form global association for hard drive industry
IDEMA form global association for hard drive industry
Feb 24, 2005: The disparate branches of the International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (IDEMA) have bandied together to form a single global association.
The US arm of the IDEMA and its Asia-Pacific subsidiary have combined operations with IDEMA Japan after IDEMA members voted overwhelmingly to approve the plan to globalise the disk drive associations and approved IDEMA’s first global Board of Directors.
IDEMA is the trade association for the US$30 Billion disk drive industry, representing 340 member companies in the personal computing, enterprise, and consumer electronics storage.
"This is an historic achievement for IDEMA’s members, global volunteers, and staff," said Mark Geenen, President of IDEMA. "This is the first step in forming and leveraging the benefits of a truly global trade association. Member companies will begin to receive a wider variety of benefits, and the disk drive industry will now have a strong, unified voice."
The membership of the new global IDEMA feel the unification will provide the means to address commercial issues in multiple regions and streamline operations, in addition to having a truly global standards program.
"The global Board will enable a unified IDEMA to have synchronisation strategies, set common goals, align programs and report to its members from a global as well as regional perspective,” stated Dr. Tsuneo Suganuma, Sr. Chief Scientist, of member company Hitachi. Other members from the Asia-Pacific region include TDK, Fujitsu, Western Digital and Seagate.
The Executive Advisory Council, which includes the top executives of the industry leading companies, provides strategic support for IDEMA and was a strong supporter of the globalisation plan. "Innovations in rotating magnetic storage are creating both revenue growth and profit pool opportunities for the hard drive industry," said Matt Massengill, chairman and CEO of WD and member of IDEMA's Executive Advisory Council. "It is a global industry with some of the largest companies in the world as its customers. IDEMA plays a critical role as the industry's association, and as a globally networked organisation will have the leverage to help the industry flourish in this exciting time."
Related Article: