Making exports child’s play

One of the most exciting things in a child’s day, a play park is a popular fixture in the urban landscape the world over. Some of the most innovative play equipment is made by Sutcliffe Play in northern England and exported across the world. It is designed and manufactured to the most exacting standards, as you would expect for items destined for the rough-and-tumble attention of youngsters.

Documentation accompanies each piece of equipment, setting out its heath and safety and manufacturing standards. For international sales, this documentation often needs translating into the local language of its destination. For more than six years Sutcliffe Play has turned to McFelder Translations to do its translation work. Alongside documentation and certificates, this includes brochures, promotional literature and catalogues.

"We are currently working on the international catalogue with McFelder," says Lisa Dillon, Sutcliffe’s Marketing Manager. "The catalogue is being translated into French and Spanish. Then, depending on the country, and its rules and regulations, some certification automatically gets translated and some on request."

The international stage has become increasingly important as the domestic marketplace has altered. "When the UK Government changed we knew that a lot of funding earmarked for play would probably not come through. Although a lot of it still did, we had already decided that we would be focussing more internationally. There is a huge wide world out there that we have hardly tapped into," reflects Lisa.

Attending the major international trade fairs will provide an important showcase for Sutcliffe Play’s stimulating child-centred products, which include Snug, the colourful intriguingly-shaped lose parts play kit which is unique to the employee-owned company. The firm, which is based in Pontefract, Yorkshire, has also patented the rubber safety swing seat.

"We are very conscious that in the UK it’s going to get saturated, so one of the main things we concentrated on last year was the international market and we are stepping it up a gear this year."

Although Lisa has no hard evidence of the importance of having multi-lingual material, she knows it makes an impact. "We have distributors in Spain, France and Japan, so it makes it very much easier to sell our products if they have something translated. It can make it an easier product to access for their customers."

With a range of translation requirements, Lisa has built a solid relationship with McFelder. "They know us. They are very efficient, very quick at turning things round. And if there is something not quite right, they are very good at picking things up and questioning things with us. They won’t just translate something and leave it at that, they will actually query it, which is good because we are relying on them to give us that feedback."

"Understanding our customers and the nature of their work is part and parcel of our ethos," says Fiona McCrae, McFelder director. "By using experienced translators who have the relevant technical expertise we can produce intelligent translations of whatever documentation a client requires."

This does not however mean that McFelder gets the work automatically: for a larger project Lisa will go out and get quotes. "McFelder came in with a better quote. I would have had a preference to them in the first instance, but obviously if the price is right then that makes it an easier choice."