90 % lower costs, 50 % faster, around 17 languages simultaneously: That’s how successful seamless workflows are making the centralization of brand communications at Henkel.

The starting point: Henkel isn’t just a manufacturer of well-known cleaning and cosmetic products like Persil, Pril, Perwoll and Schwarzkopf. It’s also the market leader for adhesives, sealants and surface treatments. Products from its Loctite brand are used in demanding applications in industries including vehicle manufacturing and aerospace.

The company is active in 32 countries and conducts business in 25 languages, so a huge range of electronic and printed documents constantly have to be adapted to meet local requirements. This used to involve complex processes with significant potential for improvement – particularly when in terms of costs and quality.

The task: To develop a workflow that provides centralized control of marketing communications – with the aim of ensuring brand consistency and cutting costs.

The challenge: To create optimized processes that make life easier for marketing teams, product managers and translators, while also meeting the highest quality standards at all times. 

The solution: We implemented a new one2edit™ workflow at Henkel that protects its brands. This helped make translation processes simpler and smoother for editors, translators, proofreaders, marketing managers and system administrators.

The implementation: We installed one2edit™ within a multi-server environment for local distribution and error-proof operations, while also making the browser-based one2edit™ client available for all users at local sites and remote working locations across Henkel’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA). Users were given authorization rights that reflected their specific tasks and requirements.

The new workflow begins with an InDesign file: A designer or other authorized user uploads the document and prepares it for localization – including automatically dividing the text into segments based on rules within SDL Trados, the translation management system used by Henkel. Next, language versions of the InDesign documents are created in one2edit™ and the translated text is automatically fills the format. To ensure brand consistency, users are not able to change important brand elements like the design style or logos. Product managers and marketing managers from local sites or from the central team can conduct quality checks and approval processes through the practical one2edit™ review process. Any changes to segments of text that are made after the translation process are immediately reflected in SDL Trados and added to the translation memory. This is possible because one2edit™ contains information about the segmentation of the text and can import and export the translation memory from Trados. The final print version is coordinated through one2edit™ using print-ready PDFs from the InDesign server.