Schneider Electric - Connecting with their customers
faster and in their own language…
Website localization case study
Schneider Electric SAS is a French-based company specialising in electricity distribution, automation management and critical power and cooling systems. The Company has eight divisions comprising Automation and Control, which offers products in the area of detection, machine safety and mounting systems, among others; Electrical Distribution, which develops products, equipment and systems covering all phases of transmission and electrical distribution; Installation Systems & Control, offering wiring devices, cable management systems and voice data image, among others. Building Automation & Security, which provides integrated solutions for building management; Critical Power & Cooling Services, offering energy solutions; Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Compliance, engaged in the elimination of banned substances in electrical products; Services, provided in various industry sectors and Training, offering professional training courses.
Present in 190 countries, Schneider Electric serves its international customers throughout the world and meets the needs of its markets with products adapted to the standards and practices of each country.
www.schneider-electric.com
Challenge
Schneider Electric wanted to increase its market penetration by translating its new website and its online Offer Presentation System (OPS) into numerous languages worldwide. The OPS provides datasheets for each product. The content, predominantly written in English, amounted to some 200,000 product references, required in 25+ target languages.
The Schneider Product Information Centre based in Montbonnot near Grenoble, France, which reports to Schneider Global Marketing, needed to work with technical translation experts, who were able to utilise their Translation Memories and work in various file formats including HTML, XML, MS Excel™, MS Word™ and MS PowerPoint™.
In particular, for the translated web pages, translation vendors needed to be able to provide a solution that would allow translated content to be visualised “in context”, for internal Schneider Electric review purposes.
Approach and solution
For some of the languages, Schneider provided Lloyd International Translations (LIT) with approved glossaries, which LIT amalgamated into the Schneider master glossaries. The continual usage of preferred terminology ensured the correct use of Schneider terms, maximising consistency. Any new terms were added to the master glossaries on a rolling basis.
The XML files sent from Schneider’s Content Management System (CMS) to LIT included content embedded in both XML and HTML tags. LIT’s in-house Engineering Team created a bespoke script to protect the XML and HTML file coding throughout the translation process.
LIT also tailored its post-translation processes to incorporate a pre-live review stage, whereby LIT provided Schneider Electric with a bilingual MS Word™ file and interim target XML files for them to use. Schneider used the Track Changes function in the Word file to show any required changes, which LIT then updated within the bilingual files and Translation Memories. Schneider received finalised target files with only the textual content localized and all tags (both HTML and XML) intact, allowing for smooth reintegration into the Schneider CMS.
A streamlined translation/CMS process shortened the delivery timeframe and only reviewed projects were used to “feed” the growing Schneider Electric Translation Memories.
Results and benefits
“In agreement with our Purchasing department, we came to Lloyd International Translations because of their experience and competency in the Automation and Energy Management sectors, their reputation in the marketplace and within Schneider, as well as their portfolio of target languages. Also, we had heard of their cutting edge technologies and processes that have resulted in up to 47% cost savings on Schneider Electric’s translation needs in 2008”, said Madeleine Pacuta, Manager of the Product Information Centre.
The Product Information Centre started “testing” LIT in June 2009 on eLaunch and TeamSite projects. Since then, Schneider Electric has regularly selected LIT to handle projects into 25+ languages, including European, Baltic and Scandinavian languages, plus Greek, Turkish, Korean, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
According to Madeleine, “We have recently awarded Lloyd International Translations a project to localize our website into Japanese. This has been a tough challenge as we wanted ready-to-go-live XML Japanese files, and the Japanese language has different translations for the same word depending on the context and on who is talking to whom. Lloyd International set up a workflow that included Schneider’s Japanese preferred vendor in the translation and in the in-context review processes.”
Translation Memory is able to provide cost reductions by identifying repetitions and reusing previously saved translated and reviewed content across all your source and target language combinations. Using Translation Memory and terminology references together, results in translations of new content only. This results in improved consistency across the style and tone, and the usage of phrases that have already been reviewed and published.
Over a 6 month period some 1.3 million words have been translated for Schneider Electric web projects, resulting in a 25% reduction in translation costs. Madeleine comments, “We look forward to working with Lloyd International Translations on future web updates and to increasing translation cost savings, in line with the overall Schneider Electric savings of 47% achieved by Lloyd International."