How Lionbridge Met Epson Europe’s Urgent Translation Needs by Delivering Work at Breakneck Speed

• Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
• Functional Applications - Product Lifecycle Management Systems (PLM)

• Consumer Goods
• Retail

• Business Operation
• Sales & Marketing

• Software Design & Engineering Services
• System Integration

Epson Europe required 147 InDesign files to be translated into 25+ languages for product packaging, marketing materials, and banner ads. These assets needed to be ready before the launch of their largest and highest-visibility marketing campaign of the year. Typically, a Language Service Provider (LSP) would take six to eight weeks to complete this type of job, but Epson Europe needed it done in just two weeks. With a drop-dead deadline and no option for failure, the brand asked Lionbridge to figure out how to significantly shave off production time to meet the aggressive time frame without sacrificing quality.

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual, and lifestyle. Epson will become carbon negative and eliminate the use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion. Epson Europe B.V., based in Amsterdam, is the Group’s regional headquarters for Europe, Middle-East, Russia, and Africa. With a workforce of 1,700 employees, Epson Europe’s sales for fiscal year 2015 were 1,577 million Euros.

Lionbridge leveraged its eight-year partnership with Epson Europe to quickly assemble a team. The project management team, language support team, and translators were all familiar with the company due to the longstanding relationship. This familiarity ensured a smooth process. Furthermore, the translators’ understanding of Epson Europe’s brand voice meant fewer revisions during review cycles and faster results. While much of the translation work followed standard process, Lionbridge devised a creative plan that enabled the project to be completed more rapidly than the industry standard. The plan involved the implementation of simultaneous reviews and comprehensive communications. Epson Europe agreed to conduct some reviews simultaneously instead of in a linear fashion. For instance, instead of having one person conduct Desktop Publishing (DTP) quality reviews for all languages, the work was split up by language; one person reviewed one or two languages. Lionbridge dedicated 15 people to the quality review process as opposed to one person. By making these types of changes, Lionbridge reduced the DTP review process time by 75%. Lionbridge also put numerous communications initiatives in place including underscoring the urgency of the project to internal teams before the work began, meeting with Epson Europe every three days instead of adhering to a typical biweekly schedule, and using a status document that enabled real-time updates.

• Lionbridge completed the translations in a record 13 days, which is 66% faster than the industry standard.
• The ultra-fast delivery enabled Epson Europe to execute its ambitious marketing campaign.
• Epson Europe was able to deliver its product and marketing materials to stores in a timely manner.

• Lionbridge completed the translations in 13 days, which is 66% faster than the industry standard.