Translating complex content at scale

Eppendorf chose DeepL to streamline translations across legal, regulatory, and corporate teams. For these departments, speed, accuracy, and formatting fidelity are essential.

As a life sciences company working across global markets, Eppendorf needed a solution that could reduce reliance on agencies—especially for time-sensitive translations—while improving consistency, and ensuring the secure handling of sensitive documents.

DeepL now supports a tiered translation approach for Eppendorf: quick translations via their internal GPT, long text and entire documents via DeepL, and critical documentation via agencies. This allows teams to move faster while maintaining control over their multilingual content. 

“We had many tools but no centralized solution, no shared process.”

Anna-Lena Rüsken Senior Manager Transformation Projects at Eppendorf

So who is Eppendorf?

Eppendorf is a leading international life sciences company. Its portfolio includes instruments, consumables, and services used in laboratories worldwide, from pipettes and centrifuges, to ultra-freezers and bioreactors. These products are most broadly used in academic and commercial research laboratories. 

Headquartered in Germany, Eppendorf has a presence in more than 30 countries. Besides its global commercial network, Eppendorf maintains R&D and production facilities across the United States, Germany, UK, China, and Japan. 

With teams working across so many regions and regulatory frameworks, the importance of accurate, consistent, and compliant communication to keep people aligned and operations running smoothly has never been greater. 

Understanding Eppendorf's challenge

Before adopting DeepL, translation workflows varied across departments. Some teams relied on free tools for quick jobs; others exclusively commissioned agencies for their translations. 

And while the output from these agencies was highly accurate, the delays and high costs were difficult to justify—except for legal and regulatory documents that demanded that level of precision.

“We had different tools being used in different departments. Some used DeepL, some used Google Translate, some used something else. We couldn’t keep track.”

Anna-Lena Rüsken Senior Manager Transformation Projects at Eppendorf

The solution: Language AI

Eppendorf began using DeepL with the goal of streamlining document translation across departments. The solution stood out for its ability to preserve formatting, deliver legally sound translations, and produce results faster than agencies, all without compromising on security.

Today, DeepL plays a central role in Eppendorf’s tiered approach to translation. It supports:

1. Quick informal content (like checking a short paragraph), where employees turn to GPT or even DeepL’s web shortcut
2. Internal compliance documentation, contracts, and business communications, where DeepL is the preferred solution, balancing speed, quality, and security 
3. High-stakes materials like regulatory filings and scientific instructions, where Eppendorf still relies on human translation, but is already exploring ways to integrate DeepL to accelerate early drafts and reduce costs 

“If I have a paragraph that I just want to get a sense of quickly, I still use GPT. But if I need a secure solution to translate entire documents, I use DeepL.”

Anna-Lena Rüsken Senior Manager Transformation Projects at Eppendorf

DeepL’s enterprise-grade security (including GDPR compliance and a strict no-model-training policy) was also key to Eppendorf’s selection. And as adoption has grown, DeepL has become a unifying platform across departments, helping teams maintain consistency and quality, even while managing their own workloads independently.

The results: faster workflows and more control

Since integrating DeepL, Eppendorf has seen significant improvements in translation speed, consistency, and control. Internal teams can now translate contracts, articles, and regulatory documents in minutes rather than days, without always having to wait for agencies or risk inconsistent terminology. 

“It can easily take a couple of weeks for agency translations to come back, and in many cases, that’s too late already. Now you just drop it into DeepL, and you have your translation two minutes later.”

Anna-Lena Rüsken Senior Manager Transformation Projects at Eppendorf

Now with a faster turn-around on critical translations, teams can focus on higher-value work, like adapting communications for local markets, or analyzing regulatory changes.

What’s next?

With multilingual compliance becoming more complex and speed-to-insight more crucial, Eppendorf’s teams aren’t just translating documents faster: they’re unlocking a more agile way of working.

Eppendorf is already looking at integrating DeepL into its CAT system, which is primarily used for highly regulated workflows. Despite the regulatory limitations for AI based translation, this leads to better collaboration and faster iteration between the applications specialists, R&D experts and the technical writing team.

As a strategic enabler across departments, DeepL is helping this global life sciences leader scale knowledge securely, stay aligned across regions, and move faster where it matters most.