For manufacturers seeking a translation services provider to help them scale like Armstrong International, global expansion is a strategic necessity. With operations in over 100 countries, Armstrong’s leadership team knew that choosing a translation company that would help them streamline translation processes was critical to growth, maintaining global compliance, and strengthening brand trust worldwide.

The Challenge of Global Expansion for Manufacturing Leaders

Company expansion isn’t just about selling products in new markets. It’s about building relationships and consistent, reliable communications.

Armstrong’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff Nowicki, faced a significant challenge:

“We didn’t have a global process to support multiple languages. We were looking to consolidate with a single source, and to implement systematic localization of content on a more routine basis.”, states Nowicki.

How could he ensure that every piece of Armstrong’s marketing, technical documentation, and eLearning content was accurate, culturally relevant, and brand-consistent in multiple languages?

He needed a translation partner who understood Armstrong’s business inside and out, and not just another vendor.

15 years ago, he found the answer – Interpro Translation Solutions.

Over the past 15 years, Interpro has become more than a language service provider; they have become an extension of Armstrong’s marketing and technical teams. This article explores why that partnership works, the unique challenges of technical translation in manufacturing, and how Interpro helps Armstrong maintain brand consistency across global markets.

Why a Manufacturing CMO Needs a True Translation Partner, Not Just a Vendor

At Armstrong, the company doesn’t just sell thermal utility solutions – it sells reliability. Customers trust Armstrong to provide precise, technically sound, and highly specialized solutions for their steam, air, and hot water systems. Any miscommunication in technical materials – for employees or customers – could lead to inefficiencies, safety hazards, or compliance issues. And of course, there’s the challenge of maintaining a consistent and culturally relevant brand in 100 countries.

This is where many translation services fall short. A generic translation provider may be able to convert words from one language to another, but without deep industry knowledge and workflows to keep terminology consistent across all materials, the results can be disastrous.

What Armstrong needed was a translation partner that could:

• Understand the industry’s technical language and translate complex engineering terms with absolute accuracy.
• Ensure brand consistency across marketing, technical documentation, and training materials.
• Scale with Armstrong as it expanded its presence in multiple international markets.
• Integrate seamlessly into Armstrong’s workflow, working alongside the marketing and engineering teams.

Interpro checked every box.

A Strategic and Consultative Partnership with Interpro

The journey with Interpro began in 2010, when it recognized that a fragmented translation approach wasn’t sustainable. The company was working with different language service providers in various regions, leading to inconsistent terminology, formatting issues, and translation inefficiencies.

From the very first project together, Interpro’s commitment to accuracy and efficiency was clear. Interpro doesn’t just translate materials. The Interpro team did extensive scope discovery, understanding Armstrong’s unique problems. Interpro then developed a systematic localization strategy and streamlined workflow to support Armstrong’s global communication needs.

Key early initiatives included:

• Building a comprehensive Translation Memory (TM) to ensure consistent use of technical terms across all languages.
• Glossary development for French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish: This eliminated inconsistencies across materials.
• Migrating marketing materials from QuarkXPress to Adobe InDesign and ensuring multilingual content was production-ready across all markets.

Since then, Interpro has translated and localized nearly 800 projects for Armstrong, including:

• Armstrong University eLearning course library
• Installation guide and technical manual translation
• Global marketing and sales materials
• Multilingual website localization
• Video translation with voiceover and captions

Each project has reinforced Armstrong’s trust in Interpro’s ability to handle technical complexity while maintaining brand consistency.

“The relationship between Interpro and Armstrong is likely unlike other client relationships, from the standpoint of Interpro becoming fully integrated with our global marketing team, including attending the in-person summit, and quarterly team meetings,” says Nowicki.

The Unique Challenges of Technical Translation in Manufacturing (And How Interpro Solves Them)

Ensuring Absolute Accuracy in Technical Documentation

In manufacturing, the slightest mistranslation in a technical manual or product specification can lead to critical errors. Customers rely on these materials to properly install, operate, and maintain complex equipment.

How Interpro Helps:

• Industry-Specific Linguists: Interpro assigns translators with manufacturing and engineering backgrounds to ensure precise terminology usage.
• Multi-Step Quality Assurance (QA): Armstrong’s process includes multiple review stages, including in-country review (ICR) by native-speaking subject matter experts.
• Glossary and Style Guide Maintenance: Ensures consistency across all documents, regardless of the language.

Result: Armstrong’s technical manuals are accurate, reliable, and compliant in every market.

Maintaining Brand Consistency Across Global Markets

Brand voice and messaging should be consistent, no matter the language. Many manufacturers struggle with maintaining the same level of clarity, authority, and professionalism across translated materials.

How Interpro Helps:

• Centralized Translation Memory & Glossaries: Ensures key brand messages and technical terms are consistently translated.
• Cultural Adaptation (Not Just Translation): Their linguists localize content for different regions, adapting phrasing while keeping the brand’s tone intact.
• Integration with Marketing Teams: Interpro regularly attends Armstrong’s global marketing meetings and summits, ensuring alignment with brand goals.

Result: Armstrong’s messaging is unified and effective across all global campaigns.

Scaling Translation for Growth While Maintaining Quality

Armstrong International operates in over 100 countries and serves clients in industries such as food & beverage, healthcare, automotive, and education. As the company grows, the demand for translated content continues to expand.

How Interpro Helps:

• Scalable Team of Experts: They quickly ramp up resources for large-scale projects.
• Technology-Driven Workflow: Their translation management system (TMS) streamlines projects, reducing turnaround times without sacrificing quality.
• Ongoing Collaboration & Consultation: Regular check-ins ensure that Armstrong’s evolving business needs are met.

Result: Armstrong can confidently expand into new markets with a trusted translation partner by its side.

The Impact: How Interpro Has Transformed Armstrong’s Global Communications

Armstrong’s CMO, Nowicki, says it best:

“We’ve seen increased engagement, increase in form submissions, improved search engine optimization, and brand positioning because we serve comprehensive content in multiple languages. And there has been increased engagement with the team at Armstrong China because the content has been localized.”

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 6,000,000 words translated
• 800+ translation projects completed
• 74 eLearning courses localized
• 8+ languages supported across Armstrong’s global website

Resulting in:

• Increased engagement in international markets (especially in China)
• Higher SEO performance due to localized web content.
• Seamless integration with Armstrong’s global marketing team.
• A fully accessible website for global customers, improving engagement and trust.
• The marketing and sales teams can confidently communicate in local languages, enhancing relationships with international clients.
• Employees worldwide benefit from translated eLearning courses, ensuring consistency in training and operational knowledge.

Why Every Manufacturing CMO Needs a Translation Strategy

Leadership has learned that global success requires more than just great products. It requires clear, consistent, and culturally relevant communication.

Choosing a translation partner isn’t just about cost. It’s about choosing a translation team that prioritizes quality, reliability, and strategic alignment – and engineers your translation workflow to make it work for you. Armstrong’s partnership with Interpro has been a game-changer because they provide:

Technical translation expertise
A commitment to brand consistency
Scalable solutions for global growth
True integration with Armstrong’s team

For manufacturing leaders looking to streamline translation, ensure compliance, and strengthen global brand presence, Interpro Translation Solutions is the gold standard.

Ready to elevate your global strategy?

Contact Interpro today to discuss how expert translation can drive your international success.

The post Global Growth for Manufacturers: Marketing & Technical Translation appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

Since Interpro’s founding, we have incorporated state-of-the-art translation technology and localization engineers to provide our clients with the most effective all-around solutions that fit their budget and delivery times, without compromising the quality of the final deliverables. Whether it involves updating Translation Memory, utilizing the latest Neural Machine Translation (NMT) engine, or deploying a Large Language Model (LLM) generative AI, this means we help you solve your technical issues in your translation, localization, and interpreting projects.

Our Commitment to Continuous Technology Improvement: When you choose to partner with Interpro, we always stay on the cutting edge of the newest translation technology – so you don’t have to.

Advanced Translation Technology

Interpro’s specialists, methodology, and technology are built to support translating from any application, file type, or platform.

Interpro’s track record working with many different authoring programs, development tools, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Content Management Systems (CMS), programming languages, and other platforms for word processing, graphic design, audio and video production ensures consistently successful outcomes for our clients.

In addition to our team’s experience, Interpro’s processes and people create optimal language solutions you need with every project.

Supporting Any File Type, Platform, Application, or Format

From commercial platforms to proprietary tools you’ve created, our turnkey methodology allows the Interpro team to work with any file type you provide on any operating system like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, Android and IBM i OS.

Don’t see your File Type, Platform, Application, or Format listed?

Connect with an expert at Interpro! Chance are our team can help create you a solution.

The post Interpro’s Supported Applications and File Types appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.

Topics covered in this article:

• Tools for Your Translation Team
• What is a Translation Style Guide?
• Key Benefits of a Multilingual Style Guide
• Examples Found in a Multilingual Style Guide
• What is a Translation Glossary?
• Key Benefits of a Translation Glossary
• Examples Found in a Translation Glossary
• Building Your Localization Tool Kit

Tools for Your Translation Team

Localization is a massive undertaking that, when done correctly, can expand your company’s reach—and bottom line. To improve the probability for success in localization, you may consider developing some common appropriate tools that many companies with consistent and ongoing translation work use.

The two most common tools can help make the translation process easier:

• a translation style guide (aka multilingual style guide or localization style guide), a blueprint that specifically defines how to translate your brand voice, tone, and language use.
• and a translation glossary (aka multilingual glossary), a way to store and organize specific terms for your translations.

Both are essential, contributing to the accuracy, coherence, and professionalism of translated materials. While they may seem similar, these tools serve distinct yet complementary purposes. Understanding their differences can help you understand the importance of each to achieve your goals.

What is a Translation Style Guide? (Maintaining Consistency and Creating Cohesion)

A multilingual style guide is like a blueprint for consistency across all localized content. It is a set of guidelines that creates cohesion between all content for each specific language. It ensures that your brand’s voice, tone and linguistic conventions remain intact. By providing clear guidelines on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, language usage, and overall writing style, a style guide helps your message resonate with your target audience.

Key Benefits of a Multilingual Style Guide

• Brand Consistency. A style guide establishes a unified brand identity across diverse markets. This consistent identity fosters trust and recognition among your various global audiences.
• Enhanced Communication. A style guide also helps deliver clear communication between your team and your localization partners. Reducing ambiguity and streamlining the localization process leads to smoother projects.
• Time Efficiency. A style guide can cut time spent on revisions and iterations of your projects. By setting clear parameters from the outset, you can speed the time-to-market for your localized content. This is true for any project, whether you’re publishing a website, writing a video script, or creating company collateral.

Examples Found in a Multilingual Style Guide

• Begin communications with a polite greeting, such as “您好” (nín hǎo) for formal settings or “你好” (nǐ hǎo) for informal contexts.
• Use informal language with the audience, such as “tú” instead of “usted,” to reflect the brand’s familiar personality.
• Use respectful and courteous language to show consideration and maintain a professional demeanor.
• Acknowledge and respect cultural differences, customs, and traditions, avoiding any potentially insensitive or offensive language.
• Use encouraging words to motivate and inspire, fostering a positive and uplifting atmosphere.

What is a Translation Glossary? (Navigating Linguistic Terrain)

A translation or multilingual glossary focuses on the translation of frequently used terms. It shares source language terms and their corresponding translations in the target language. This repository of approved translations provides the foundation for accuracy and consistency in target language writing. It helps avoid the risk of misunderstandings or mistranslations within your projects. A glossary standardizes the translation of terms and keeps your brand’s message consistent in any language.

Key Benefits of a Translation Glossary

• Precision and Accuracy. A translation glossary eliminates ambiguity, particularly in technical or specialized fields. It acts as a comprehensive reference for terms that may not have direct equivalents in the target language.
• Cultural Sensitivity. Outline localized terms and expressions that resonate with regional audiences.
• Cost-Efficiency. Reduce the likelihood of costly revisions by addressing translation challenges. Your linguistic team will have approved translations to reference improving their potential to get translations right the first time.

Examples Found in a Translation Glossary

• Source Language: English, Target Language: Chinese
• Term: “Network”
• Translation: “网络”
• Source Language: English, Target Language: Japanese
• Term: “Software”
• Translation: “ソフトウェア”
• Source Language: English, Target Language: Italian
• Term: “Server”
• Translation: “Server”

Building Your Localization Toolkit

So, which tool should you focus on first to improve your multilingual endeavors? The answer lies in your specific business objectives, target markets, and content requirements.

If brand identity is your top priority, invest in creating a style guide for translation. A style guide is critical for maintaining a consistent brand voice and identity across global markets. Similarly, if your content spans diverse formats and genres, a style guide can ensure cohesion and continuity across all mediums.

If your content involves complex terminology or industry-specific jargon, start with a translation glossary. A glossary will ensure accuracy and precision in translations no matter the language. A glossary may also be more immediately necessary if you operate in markets with distinct dialects or linguistic nuances.

Ready to get started or not sure which to choose? Interpro offers complimentary localization strategy sessions with our team of talented experts to help ensure you’re making the right decision every step of your translation journey.

Multilingual style guides and translation glossaries both are crucial tools for localization projects. While a style guide lays the foundation for consistency and coherence, a glossary guides your linguistic team with precision and accuracy. Each tool offers unique benefits that pave the way for global success.

The post Translation Glossary vs Translation Style Guide: What’s the difference? appeared first on Interpro Translation Solutions.