Case Study mt-g

mt-g medical translation GmbH & Co. KG is specialized in the medical and pharmaceutical industry. The customer portfolio ranges from medical technology and diagnostics to pharmaceutics and drug approval to clinical studies and dental medicine. This industry is especially subject to regulatory requirements, also with respect to its product and corporate communication. One of the challenges is to adapt the complex product-related documentation efficiently and compliantly for foreign-language versions. To simplify the handling of these translations, to eliminate the manual workload of the file-based translation memories, and to support the enterprise in securing its high quality standard, mt-g introduced the Across Language Server. In this way, a platform was established on which all project managers, internal quality control staff, and external translators can access the same centralized data repository across all process stages.

Translation Process with Across

Since then, the procedure has been as follows: After the responsible project manager from the respective specialized team has received the files to be translated and has clarified parameters such as the target languages and deadlines with the customer, he creates the project in Across. If there are any special circumstances – e.g. in connection with the documents or settings that the project manager is unable to handle himself – they are forwarded to the Translation & Localization Engineering Team, with whose assistance the project is then set up. With a single click, the tasks can be assigned to the translators depending on the subject, native language, customer preference, and availability. The individual tasks are thus made available to the translators for offline processing. Following the translation, all documents are carefully reviewed within the scope of mt-g's mandatory internal quality control. Finally, the carefully prepared translations are delivered to the customer.

Across at mt-g

mt-g has been using the Across Language Server since 2010. Meanwhile, about 450 projects are handled every month. "As several target languages are needed in many cases, Across saves a lot of time even during the project creation and document preparation", explains Samuel Aubin, Head of Quality Management at mt-g. The strictly regulated environment necessitates a number of processes that have been mapped to the respective workflows. "Across enabled us to standardize most of our processes, which run automatically on the system in the background. This saves us numerous manual steps. Another reason why the workload is reduced significantly is that all parties involved automatically work with the same data, and no files need to be exchanged by e-mail", says Samuel Aubin. "All in all, our time savings average 30 percent per project." Apart from the costs, the reusability of identical and similar content has enabled mt-g to cut delivery times.

Reliability and Quality

Additionally, the company benefits from increased reliability and quality, as the translators can only use the translation memory provided by mt-g. The system prevents the intermingling with third-party translation memories. Furthermore, the translators benefit from the integrated quality assurance of Across. Besides the consistency check and spellcheck, numerous formal criteria are checked to ensure maximum reliability. "Quality has a lot to do with controlled, lean processes and reliable systems. In this area, Across supports us considerably", says Samuel Aubin. The larger the number of requested languages and documents, the more evident the advantages of Across usually become. Certain activities can be performed throughout the project, e.g. pre-translation, search and replace, etc. For example, mt-g was able to translate a large number of files with more than 100,000 words in less than four weeks – including the internal quality control. "To us as a quality-oriented service provider, the concurrent processing of translation projects by several specialized translators with consistent terminology is one of the key advantages", summarizes Samuel Aubin. Currently mt-g is considering to invest in additional modules such as additional automation scripts. This would further accelerate the work in Across. Following the certification for version v6.3, mt-g has now also successfully completed the certification for version v7.