Case Study

Belimo centralizes translation strategy for global brand consistency

How did Acolad adopt Belimo's "quality first" motto to design their translation program? A centralized translation strategy, consolidating translation vendors, and a tailored translation technology stack to achieve a consistent brand identity worldwide.


The Client

The Belimo Group is a leading global manufacturer of innovative actuator, valve, and sensor solutions for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. The Company reported sales of EUR 601 million in 2018 and has over 1,700 employees.


The Challenge

As a market leader in HVAC solutions, Belimo created a strong presence in over 80 countries. With their exponential global growth came the challenges of localization as they kept up with international demand.

  • Over 60 scattered experts working on content translation 
  • Each location / department working with different language service providers (LSPs) 
  • Inconsistent messaging 
  • No overview on total translation spend

The Solution

Our plan to support Belimo with their globalized approach started with a classic centralization process.

One of the main goals was to consolidate all translation work to a single location to avoid multiple efforts and processes by people in subsidiaries. The consensus was to centralize all translations in Switzerland.

Second and most importantly, we worked with Belimo to evaluate their numerous suppliers and by following the evaluation, we narrowed down to focus on three suppliers.

By narrowing them down, we were able to implement automated in-country review and terminology management all whilst ensuring that quality standards were not only met, but exceeded – just like the Belimo (and Acolad) mentality.

Working with Acolad’s team to centralize our translation program has allowed us to put ‘Quality First’ in every aspect of our company. Our teams cannot thank you enough!

Daniel Ritter, Senior Application Portfolio Manager, Belimo

The Result

Once we were able to help Belimo centralize their linguistic processes, suppliers and their translations, Belimo’s translation process became defined and seamless. They now have total transparency into their translation projects, including budget, as they are able to accurately track and record costs.

Most importantly, we were able to match Belimo’s “Quality First” mentality with the implementation of in-country review and terminology management. This lead to consistent messaging across all languages and a significant increase in translation quality.

In short, through centralization and the implementation of the right translation tools, we helped Belimo turn their brand promise of “Quality First” into a tangible action that improved their presence and trust with customers worldwide.

We supported Belimo throughout a classic centralization process, starting with the concept phase. Soon we became their preferred partner because we met Belimo’s high-quality standard. We provided expert outsourcing, copywriting, translation, revision (to name a few), and we worked very closely together to ensure mutual success.

Sr. Director Sales and Account Management, Acolad

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