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The Challenge: Precision in a World of Complex Machinery

VMI Group stands as a global leader in designing and manufacturing high-tech machinery for demanding industries, including tyre, rubber, can, and care products. Their sophisticated equipment requires technical documentation and training materials of the highest clarity and precision to ensure operational safety, efficient maintenance, and effective knowledge transfer across their worldwide customer base and internal teams.

However, as with many global enterprises dealing with intricate technology, VMI Group faced the challenge of maintaining absolute consistency and unambiguous language across their varied documentation outputs. This complexity was compounded by a diverse team of professionals involved in content creation, including:

• Instructional Designers & Curriculum Developers: Responsible for creating training materials that must be universally understood by operators and technicians.
• Technical Writers & Senior Technical Writers: Tasked with authoring detailed manuals, specifications, and service guides for highly specialised machinery.
• Linguists: Critical for ensuring accuracy in content that would inevitably be translated for international markets.
• Engineers: Providing essential technical input that needed to be integrated into clear, actionable documentation.

Inconsistencies or ambiguities in any part of this documentation chain could lead to inefficiencies, rework, increased translation costs, and, crucially, potential operational errors in the field.

The Solution: Shufrans TechDocs’ Tailored STE Training & Masterclass

VMI Group partnered with Shufrans TechDocs for a comprehensive, three-day ASD-STE100 training and masterclass. Understanding the mixed bag of roles and diverse work areas (including extrusion processes) involved, Shufrans TechDocs delivered a programme designed to provide both foundational STE principles and advanced application for VMI Group’s specific needs.

The training was structured as follows:

• Days 1 & 2 (Core STE Training): Covered fundamental STE principles, writing rules, and controlled vocabulary. This section was open to all participants.
• Day 3 (Masterclass for Advanced Participants): Exclusively for individuals who had previously completed an STE course, this session delved into more complex scenarios, nuanced application, and advanced best practices for implementing STE across varied technical content.

The training emphasised practical application, utilising VMI Group’s own documentation examples where relevant, to ensure immediate and tangible skill transfer. Shufrans TechDocs’ expertise in ASD-STE100 ensured that VMI Group’s teams were equipped with the latest standards and best practices.

The Results: Unifying Communication, Enhancing Operational Excellence

By undertaking the ASD-STE100 training and masterclass with Shufrans TechDocs, VMI Group achieved measurable advancements in its technical communication:

• Enhanced Documentation Clarity: All participants gained a unified understanding and application of STE, drastically minimising ambiguity in their technical documents and training materials. This directly translates to safer and more efficient machine operation and maintenance.
• Improved Content Efficiency: Technical writers and instructional designers could create content more quickly and with greater consistency, reducing drafting time and internal review cycles.
• Optimised Translation Workflows: Linguists gained highly consistent and unambiguous source text, leading to faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective translations for VMI Group’s global reach.
• Stronger Cross-Functional Understanding: Engineers and field experts, now familiar with STE, could provide more precise input, fostering better collaboration with documentation teams.
• Accelerated Professional Development: The training upskilled a broad range of professionals, enhancing their capabilities in critical communication, which is vital for continuous improvement in a high-tech manufacturing environment.

VMI Group’s investment in STE training with Shufrans TechDocs has proven to be a strategic move, empowering their teams to produce clear, consistent, and highly effective technical documentation and training materials, thereby supporting their commitment to innovation and global operational excellence.

If your organisation faces similar challenges in global technical communication, discover how Shufrans TechDocs can help. Learn more about our ASD-STE100 training and consulting services:

🗓️ View our training calendar.

www.shufrans.com

The Challenge: Precision in the Digital Edge

Akamai Technologies stands at the forefront of powering and protecting life online, delivering and securing digital experiences across its vast global network. In an environment where milliseconds matter for performance and a single vulnerability can have widespread impact, the clarity and precision of technical documentation are not just important—they are critical to operational integrity, security, and user adoption.

Akamai faced the challenge of ensuring its comprehensive suite of solutions—spanning content delivery, cybersecurity, and cloud services—was explained with absolute consistency and unambiguous language across all documentation. This complexity was magnified by the rapid pace of technological innovation and a diverse, global customer base ranging from developers to enterprise IT professionals. Without a unified standard, there was a risk of:

• Ambiguity in complex technical explanations, potentially leading to misconfigurations or security vulnerabilities.
• Inconsistency in terminology and style across various product guides, API documentation, and security advisories.
• Inefficiencies in the documentation workflow, impacting authoring and review cycles for new product releases.
• Challenges in effectively onboarding users and partners to Akamai’s advanced platforms.

Akamai sought a solution that could standardise its technical language, ensuring every instruction, explanation, and security guideline was understood unequivocally, regardless of the reader’s technical background or native language.

The Solution: Targeted STE Training for Digital Clarity

Shufrans TechDocs partnered with Akamai to deliver a focused ASD-STE100 (Issue 8) training programme in November 2022.

This was an online training delivered to colleagues in Chile, Poland, Germany, and India. Recognising the pivotal role of clear communication in Akamai’s operations, the training was specifically tailored for technical writers, technical enablement managers, and instructional designers.

The programme focused on equipping these professionals with the practical rules and vocabulary of STE, enabling them to:

• Apply STE Principles: Consistently implement the core rules of ASD-STE100 across all their documentation.
• Simplify Complex Concepts: Translate intricate network architectures, cybersecurity protocols, and cloud functionalities into clear, concise, and unambiguous language.
• Leverage Personal Pronouns: Understand and effectively utilise “You” and “We” to create direct, actionable instructions, particularly vital for user guides and procedural documentation.
• Standardise Terminology: Adopt a controlled vocabulary to ensure consistent use of terms across all documents, reducing confusion and enhancing searchability.

Documentation Types and Job Roles That Benefited:

The STE training had a direct and positive impact on several critical documentation types and enhanced the capabilities of the participating job roles:

Documentation Types That Benefited:

• Product Documentation: User manuals, installation guides, and configuration guides for Akamai’s CDN, security, and cloud computing products became significantly clearer and easier to follow.
• API Documentation: For developers integrating with Akamai’s vast array of services, STE ensured that API calls, parameters, and responses were described with unparalleled precision, reducing integration errors and accelerating development.
• Security Advisories and Bulletins: Unambiguous language in these high-stakes documents became vital for conveying security threats, vulnerabilities, and precise mitigation steps, directly impacting customer security posture.
• Training Materials: Instructional designers applied STE principles to create highly effective and unambiguous training content, crucial for onboarding users and partners to Akamai’s complex platforms and solutions.
• Solution Briefs and White Papers: Explaining intricate technical solutions to a broad audience, from technical experts to business stakeholders, became more concise and impactful.

Job Roles That Learnt a Lot:

• Technical Writers: Gained mastery in crafting consistent, clear, and concise documentation for all of Akamai’s product lines, from web performance to advanced security.
• Instructional Designers: Elevated their ability to design and develop highly effective and unambiguous training content, ensuring that users could quickly and accurately learn to utilise Akamai’s complex digital experience platforms.

The Results: Elevated Clarity, Enhanced Security, and Streamlined Global Operations

By investing in ASD-STE100 training with Shufrans TechDocs, Akamai Technologies achieved significant, measurable improvements in its technical communication:

• Enhanced Clarity for Global Users: The application of STE principles led to documentation that was easier for Akamai’s global customers to understand, directly improving the reliability of their CDN services, the effectiveness of their cybersecurity defences, and the usability of their cloud solutions.
• Improved Efficiency in Content Creation: Technical writers and instructional designers benefited from the structured approach of STE, leading to more efficient content creation, reduced rework, and greater consistency across their documentation portfolio.
• Strengthened Security Posture: Unambiguous security documentation meant that critical security advisories and mitigation steps were understood precisely, enhancing Akamai’s and its customers’ ability to defend against sophisticated cyber threats.
• Optimised Content for Translation: The inherent consistency and reduced ambiguity of STE-compliant source text facilitated faster, more accurate, and more cost-effective translations, crucial for Akamai’s global reach.

Testimonial

Kasia Lelonek, Technical Enablement Manager at Akamai Technologies, shared:

“The STE training was a truly eye-opening experience that definitely met my expectations. The trainer’s delivery was exceptionally professional, respectful, and flexible, adapting seamlessly to our specific needs. I particularly valued Rule 4.1, which focuses on writing short and clear sentences, as this is incredibly helpful when considering our diverse audience and their language proficiency. What stood out most was the trainer’s professionalism and readiness to tweak the material on-the-go, making the learning experience highly effective and engaging.”

Conclusion

Akamai’s proactive investment in STE training with Shufrans TechDocs has transformed its technical documentation into a strategic asset, reinforcing its commitment to delivering clear, reliable, and high-quality digital experiences worldwide. This success story underscores the power of targeted communication training in ensuring operational excellence and customer satisfaction in the rapidly evolving technology sector.

If your organisation faces similar challenges in achieving uncompromising clarity and operational excellence through precise communication, explore how Shufrans TechDocs can help. Learn more about our ASD-STE100 training and consulting services:

🗓️ View our training calendar.

www.shufrans.com