Diversity and globalization: connecting teams at Hitachi IES

We met with Mr. Hirokazu Tanaka, Deputy General Manager, IT Management Department, and Mr. Mitsuo Shirai, Global Advertising Group, Global Brand & Communication Department, from Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co.

Together, they share with us the challenges they faced in building a more connected multinational workforce, and how DeepL’s tools helped overcome them. 

First, a bit more on Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems

Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems (or Hitachi IES) focuses on digitally connected solutions for a wide range of industries. From air compressors and power distribution transformers to motors, it aims to solve customer-centric and societal issues by providing green, high-efficiency products with low CO2 emissions. Socially innovative business is central to the Hitachi Group, which uses data and technology to help foster a more sustainable society. 

The challenges

• Multinational workforce, global languages. Communication had becoming increasingly global, with English prevailing due to the globalization of Hitachi IES. This made the preparation of content in advance of important meetings essential in both Japanese and English. 
• Technical terms. Existing translation tools weren't good enough at accurately conveying technical terms and nuances.

The solutions DeepL offered

• Document translations. DeepL Translate enabled the team to quickly translate potentially time-consuming English documents, without the need to change the file.
• Cross-department contract efficiency. Hitachi IES implemented DeepL on a cross-departmental basis under a corporate contract to save time and cut down on the procedures required for each department to apply for the service.

The outcomes 

• Time savings of more than 60%. A single PowerPoint slideshow that used to take 2-3 days to create can now be completed in just one day with DeepL.
• Fewer barriers across the company. The elimination of language barriers not only increased global connections within the company, but had the effect of promoting DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) too. 

Could you tell us about your department, mission, and daily work?

Tanaka: My name is Hirokazu Tanaka and I’m Deputy General Manager of the IT Planning Group, which handles budgets and overhead costs. I also act as a coordinator within that department. My main responsibility is to develop, collect, and summarize various notices, notifications, and research requests that arrive from Hitachi, Ltd. to Hitachi Industrial Equipment Group companies in Japan and overseas.

Shirai: My name is Mitsuo Shirai and I belong to the Global Advertising Group which sits in the Sustainable Management Strategy Division. I am mainly in charge of ads-related work, like managing exhibitions and catalogs, and checking advertisements.

Why have your global communication needs increased over the past few years?

Shirai: Our company has been strengthening its international business since around 2021. As a result of this effort to globalize, we now have more multilingual workers. For example, our general manager is from the US, and our section manager is from China. Communication with my boss is completely in English, which I do not speak at all.

I tried many things at first, including using a smartphone app as a translator. I was able to have a few conversations, but I was having trouble getting an accurate translation. Then my boss introduced me to DeepL. When I first tried it, I found it to be the easiest to use compared to other translation solutions, then more and more people around me started using it.

Tanaka: Before this period of increased globalization, we used to have one person a year transferred from an overseas group company. But for the past couple of years, that number has increased to two, three, or four. We’re now hiring globally, too, not only people from Japan, but also from countries like China and Thailand.

That meant that it no longer felt sufficient to distribute information within the company, like notices from general affairs or finance, in Japanese alone. Each department began to respond to this challenge in English, but each had been individually contracting with DeepL directly. We realized that we should consolidate these individual and departmental contracts into one company-wide contract.

How did you decide that the IT department should coordinate these efforts?

Tanaka: I operate in what we call the DX Promotion Division which, as the name suggests, promotes various digital transformation initiatives, one of which is around language and communication. Originally, we had free translation software available within the Hitachi Group, but it didn’t translate technical terms very well, or convey nuances, or deal with PowerPoint slides. In addition, the result was often dependent on the skill of the user.

So that’s when we decided to use free software options just for general translation needs, and when that wasn’t enough, we’d provide a specialized tool. Ultimately, we ended up going  with DeepL because of its ability to translate technical terms well. In the beginning, we had only a few dozen users. But in six months, the number of DeepL users doubled, and we realized that there was a huge need for specialized translation within the company.

By providing one tool across departments, we’ve improved our efficiency, a lot. Before we switched to a companywide contract with DeepL, each department was required to go through a new procurement process. Now that we introduced DeepL to the entire company, we’ve eliminated the need to go through time-consuming internal procedures.

What do you translate most often?

Shirai: I mostly use DeepL for emails, but if there is a PowerPoint slide that is only in English, I put the entire file into DeepL and translate it into English. That’s the only way I can get a general idea of what’s going on.

Tanaka: Until recently, it was really only used by certain people, but now that we need to communicate with our bosses in English, we use it much more frequently as a daily tool.

Has using DeepL had any other effect? 

Tanaka: At important internal meetings, we used to have only Japanese PowerPoints, but now that we're more multinational, we submit all the PowerPoints in English as well.

When I have meetings with group companies from the IT sector, I’d sometimes create a PowerPoint presentation with about 10 slides. I’d repeatedly translate each phrase between Japanese and English, until I reached a point where I could say, "This makes sense whether I translate it in the Japanese-English or English-Japanese direction.” Which meant it took about two or three days just to make a rough draft of the PowerPoint presentation.

With DeepL, I receive the English documents just one day after I create the slides in Japanese — so clearly it saves me time.

How would you like to use DeepL in the future?

Tanaka: In the future, I think it would be great if DeepL could be used for voice communication in daily conversations, to open up more opportunities to connect.

Shirai: As a hearing-impaired person, I usually use an application that transcribes speech for communication. However if the other person does not speak loudly and clearly, the transcription may not be accurate. I also sometimes have trouble hearing people who are not smooth talkers. I have particular trouble at social gatherings in loud environments. Often, the transcription gets muddled by the sounds around me and I’m unable to follow the conversation. The accuracy of these apps is not yet good enough and, as I mentioned earlier, technical terms are not translated correctly. It would be ideal if DeepL could solve such conversational issues.

Has your work or personal life changed now that you’ve broken down language barriers?

Shirai: I originally never had the opportunity to talk to people from other countries, but I think the globalization of the company since then has been a good stimulus. I have more barriers than most people — partly because I am hearing impaired — but being able to have a conversation now is a big advantage.

In terms of promoting DEI, I hope that the company can continue to foster an environment where everyone can work on a level playing field, regardless of any handicaps or differences — and that includes language barriers.

Learn more more about DeepL's document translation capabilities, and our offerings for global manufacturers.