For mid-sized manufacturers in the U.S. market, managing product documentation in multiple languages is an ongoing and often costly challenge—especially when launching frequent product variants or regional model updates. Every new manual, every language, and every update can result in ballooning translation costs, delayed time-to-market, and consistency issues across versions.
But what if the process were designed from the ground up to be more scalable?
The Common Pitfall: Treating Every Manual as New
When companies treat each version of a product manual as a standalone project, the result is often inefficiency:
- Repeated translation of previously covered content
- Inconsistent terminology across product lines
- Difficulties tracking and applying updates across language versions
- High costs for every additional language
Why does this happen—across so many companies, even those with mature documentation teams? In many cases, it’s not a matter of effort, but of structure and systems:
- Disconnected teams
Product development and documentation are often handled by separate departments. As a result, manual writers may not be involved early, and source content is rarely managed in a centralized, reusable format. - Fragmented translation workflows
Different languages may be handled by different vendors, often without a unified translation memory (TM) or shared terminology database. - Limited system support
Even when CMS or TMS platforms are in place, they’re frequently underused. Key reuse methods—like modular writing or content tagging—are often missing. - Lack of asset strategy
Many teams still translate manuals from scratch simply because they haven’t invested in building or maintaining TMs, glossaries, or reusable content libraries.
A Proven Alternative: Smart Content Reuse and Source Management
One alternative gaining traction among global manufacturers is a derived manual strategy, where a core source manual—usually in English—is carefully maintained and reused as the foundation for all localized versions. Rather than starting from scratch each time, only the newly changed content is created or translated.
The key to this approach is disciplined content and linguistic asset management, which includes:
- Maintaining a consistent content structure and template across product families
- Identifying and rewriting only the changed portions of the manual—not as a mechanical task, but with careful alignment to existing terminology and style. This requires skilled writers who can integrate updates seamlessly without reducing TM match rates.
- Applying language-specific translation memories (TMs) and manually updating them with each minor revision. While most organizations maintain TMs, it’s common for post-delivery edits, regulatory updates, or client-requested changes to be left outside the official TM unless someone actively manages them.
- Enforcing terminology and style guide consistency across languages
- Sustaining dedicated translation teams to ensure long-term alignment
Many organizations believe they are already doing this. But in practice, consistent reuse and reliable TM performance depend not only on systems—but on people with the discipline and expertise to maintain them. Having a TM isn’t enough—it has to be trusted, current, and consistently maintained across projects. Many teams believe they’re already doing this—but without active governance, most TMs degrade quickly. The numbers above reflect what’s possible when reuse is treated as a process, not just a tool feature.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Hansem Global, a technical documentation and localization partner based in Asia, has implemented this system across hundreds of multilingual manuals for global electronics and equipment manufacturers.
In one real-world project, a multilingual manual totaling over 36,000 words achieved over 95% TM-based reuse, with only 1–2% of the content requiring new translation. This level of efficiency was made possible through consistent source structuring, well-maintained translation memories, and careful manual updates across content versions.
This isn’t the result of automation alone. It requires long-term commitment to:
- Writer-side source content optimization
- Post-translation TM updates by human editors (even for minor changes or regulatory revisions)
- Continuous collaboration between language teams, reviewers, and client feedback loops
To illustrate how effective this approach can be when executed with discipline, here’s a real-world example from one of Hansem Global’s client projects. The following two TM analysis reports show how content reuse improved from an initial strategy model to a later derived model:
| Type | Words | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect Match | 0 | 0.0% |
| Context Match | 29,821 | 82.4% |
| 100% | 4,858 | 13.4% |
| Fuzzy (95–99%) | 331 | 0.9% |
| Fuzzy (85–94%) | 391 | 1.1% |
| Fuzzy (75–84%) | 209 | 0.6% |
| Fuzzy (50–74%) | 90 | 0.2% |
| New | 416 | 1.2% |
| Total | 36,172 | 100% |
Chart 1. Strategy Model TM Match Analysis
Even for strategy models—with more new features and updates—content reuse remains high thanks to consistent structure and TM maintenance.
And in the derived model based on that initial strategy content, the reuse was even more dramatic:
| Type | Words | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect Match | 0 | 0.0% |
| Context Match | 27,420 | 93.2% |
| 100% | 1,611 | 5.5% |
| Fuzzy (95–99%) | 194 | 0.7% |
| Fuzzy (85–94%) | 66 | 0.2% |
| Fuzzy (75–84%) | 29 | 0.1% |
| Fuzzy (50–74%) | 14 | 0.0% |
| New | 61 | 0.2% |
| Total | 29,431 | 100% |
Chart 2. General Model (Derived) TM Match Analysis
Derived from the strategy model, this general variant shows nearly complete reuse—demonstrating the effectiveness of Hansem Global’s derived manual strategy.
It’s important to note that these numbers are not a fixed benchmark for all projects or industries.
Rather, they reflect what’s possible when content reuse, source control, and TM management are executed with precision and consistency.
Why This Matters for Mid-Sized Manufacturers
You don’t need to be a Fortune 500 company to benefit from scalable documentation strategies. Mid-sized companies that release frequent model updates or operate in multiple global markets face many of the same pressures as large enterprises—but often with leaner documentation teams and tighter budgets.
By adopting a derived manual approach, you can:
- Reduce localization costs over time without compromising language quality
- Accelerate your documentation timeline for global product launches
- Ensure brand and terminology consistency across markets and product lines
Final Thought
If you’re preparing multiple manuals each year and translating them into several languages, it may be time to reconsider your content workflow. A content reuse strategy, supported by disciplined translation memory management and language governance, can deliver measurable efficiency—without sacrificing quality.
Hansem Global’s work in this space shows what’s possible when documentation is treated not just as a deliverable, but as a system.