Situation
Course materials need to be translated into three languages for NAFTA automotive technicians. An automotive manufacturer’s non-English-speaking NAFTA technicians were not receiving translated course materials in time for vehicle rollouts. The potential for service and repair issues as well as dissatisfied customers increased drastically for newly launched vehicles.
Concurrent development and resource-gathering efforts reduced translation processing time
Challenge
Key reference materials were not obtained for all NAFTA languages during the development of English version courses, adding time to the translation process. Further, the course development and translation processes were performed sequentially (one after the other). This delayed delivery time. Finally, subject-matter experts frequently used idioms and expressions that did not easily translate into other languages. Additional clarification was often sought by the translation team, which impacted processing time.
Solution
GP Strategies removed inefficiencies from the translation process. All NAFTA reference materials and images were obtained and made available during English course development. GP Strategies also implemented a concurrent development and translation approach to reduce delivery time. Finally, GP Strategies developers helped reduce and eliminate non translatable idioms and expressions, which reduced the amount of clarification needed by the translation team.
Results
- Shorter translation processing time for newly launched vehicles and technologies
- Improved technician performance on the job
- Increased technician morale
- Increased fixed first visit performance
- Increased customer satisfaction
