5 tips to ease manufacturing translation

Here are a few tips to help make your manufacturing content translation process run as efficiently as a well-oiled machine (pardon the industry pun).

1. Improve the source quality of your assets

Try to get all engineers, technical writers, marketing specialists and other content creators to author materials in a consistent way. We recommend style guides (one for each target language, if possible). Look over your terms and check to make sure they’re updated and approved. That way, you’ll have a reliable glossary and terminology bank feeding your translation memory with solid data.

2. Consider automating your translation workflow

The fewer hands-on tasks you’ve got to worry about, the more time you can reclaim. The automation capabilities in advanced translation management technology can help get your products to market faster.

The key to an automated system is eliminating human touch points between these steps in the translation workflow. Automation does not have to mean removing human translators. Rather, it’s all about using a system that anticipates and adapts to the needs of a specific project.

3. Ask about more efficient language review models

If you’re getting bogged down in handling third-party reviews, consider outsourcing it to your translation partner. Also, be sure you consider your localization and review needs based on what makes sense for your company economically and prioritize accordingly.

The most common content types for manufacturing companies include:

• Technical documentation
• Sales and marketing materials
• Packaging and labeling
• Training, multimedia content and elearning

4. Use machine translation if it makes sense

When speed to market trumps everything, you might want to consider machine translation, with or without linguist post-editing. If, for instance, you have thousands of pages of product documentation and need to convey the gist, machine translation can save you time and expense. Machine translation engines tend to work especially well with repetitive, technical content—which tends to show up a lot in manufacturing content translation.

5. Get deeper insight with localization consulting

Not even sure what you need? If you're having trouble understanding your specific challenges, localization consulting can pinpoint what areas need attention. Our team can zero in on personnel, technology, workflow and more to see what is and isn’t working. You’ll also come away with a plan of action for improving things.