IMI Reorganization: New Administrations, New Core Activities

In preparation for the privatization of IMI, the government corporation has recruited senior executives and is currently undergoing radical structural changes

IMI Reorganization: New Administrations, New Core Activities

IMI CEO Avi Felder

In preparation for its privatization, IMI is executing a series of structural changes. The changes are expected to come into effect formally as of September 2014, although some of them have already been implemented.

In the context of the new organizational structure, the Givon Division (specializing, among other things, in the development of rocket engines), the MALTAM-Slavin Land Systems Division (specializing in armored fighting vehicles) and the Munitions Systems Division will be merged to form a single entity.

Additionally, IMI is establishing business administrations. The Company has established dedicated administrations that will focus on the over-all management of business projects, including infantry, artillery, armored and combat engineering, rocket propulsion, air and rear area/civilian sector administration. The Yitzhak small caliber ammunition plant in Nazareth will continue to operate as before.

To head the new administrations, IMI has appointed prominent former IDF and defense figures.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Michel Ben-Baruch, formerly the IDF Chief Artillery Officer, has been appointed to head the new artillery administration.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Alon Friedman, who had served in numerous key positions in the IDF and was a senior consultant to the Singapore Army has been appointed to head the new artillery administration.

Colonel (res.) Haim Keret will be the head of the armored and combat engineering administration. A, an aeronautical engineer, will head the new rocket propulsion administration. Colonel (res.) Shmuel Moran will head the new air administration. Nir Regev, formerly the director of security at Ben-Gurion Airport and El-Al, will head the new rear area & civilian sector administration.

In addition to the aforementioned appointments, Colonel (res.) Itzik Elimelech, formerly a senior executive at MAFAT (IMOD Administration for R&D of Weapons Technological Infrastructure) will serve as director of IMI operations in the USA. Brig. Gen. (res.) Zvi Fux, formerly a senior officer of the IDF Ground Arm, will continue to be responsible for consolidating the Company’s long-term strategy.

IMI CEO Avi Felder says that over the last few years, IMI has undergone a revolution with regard to its product mix, switching from traditional munitions to system engineering and weapon system development while specializing in core activities where the company has a distinctive advantage over defense industries worldwide, including rocket systems, precision-guided munitions and armored vehicles upgrading. 2013 was a peak year in orders from Asia, which amounted to a total of US$ 500 million.

The core activities and growth engines of the company have recently been revised, with the focus shifted to a system house for multidimensional precision-guided munitions, a system house for battle mobilization, a system house for multifunctional protection and a center for emergency and rescue systems.

It should be noted that in the context of the company’s recovery process and the preparations for selling the company to a private investor, 1,200 IMI employees, one third of the company’s total workforce, will retire. IMI sources say that the new organizational structure has been adapted to the revised workforce of about 2,000 employees. IMI has prepared a structured methodology for the process of retaining and transferring knowledge from the retiring employees to the remaining employees. This process has been under way for a few months now, with the intention of assimilating and preserving all of the knowledge gained by the company over the last decades. About 100 employees retire every month, through a structured process that had been agreed upon between IMI, the government and the “Histadrut” (labor union) as part of the company privatization agreements.