High-precision Industrial Tooling Solutions
BIG KAISER
Product Overview
BIG KAISER is a global leader in high-precision tooling systems and solutions for the metalworking industry, operating as a member of the BIG DAISHOWA Group. The company specializes in the development and manufacture of premium products, including high-precision boring tools, tool holders, and measuring instruments designed to improve manufacturing efficiency. By focusing on extreme accuracy and reliability, they support high-performance machining across diverse sectors such as aerospace, medical, and automotive.
Consolidate 3 global websites, content, and CMSs from North America, Europe, and Asia into 1 master domain.
Systematically accommodate 8 languages and dual measurement systems for users worldwide.
Hundreds of products with varying availability across regions.
Develop a maintainable multilingual CMS that is intuitive to use with multiple children for regional control and 1 master parent for oversight.
20,000+
Products
High-Precision tooling solutions 100%
manufactured in Switzerland and Japan
30+
Countries
Out of their 4 core locations, they distribute to
30+ countries worldwide
8
Languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Polish, Italian,
Japanese, and Mandarin
Role
Senior UX Designer
Responsibilities
Design planning, IA, UX & UI design
Surfaces
Fully responsive
Duration
Jun 2016 - Dec 2017
The Challenge
01
What & Why: BIG KAISER’s global teams and users needed a unified and centralized digital communication hub because of their global presence across North America, Europe, and Asia which made effective engagement and global marketing strategy much more complicated and challenging.
Unified Global Synergy: Foster a borderless communication ecosystem that unites international teams and users through a single voice of global authority, ensuring that geographic distance doesn’t jeopardize collaboration or brand clarity.
02
What & Why: The company’s global marketing and administrative teams needed a unified ecosystem and a single CMS because managing three separate websites and disconnected content streams created unsustainable administrative inefficiency.
Operational Agility: Maximize organizational efficiency by consolidating fragmented workflows and systems into a centralized management hub, allowing marketing teams to focus on strategic growth rather than administrative maintenance.
03
What & Why: The company needed a single, central web platform because the existing scattered online presence was confusing for users and damaged its reputation as a high-quality global leader.
Global Brand Integrity: Safeguard the company’s reputation and trust by establishing a unified digital identity that projects consistent values and professional excellence across every global market.
04
What & Why: Global users and internal administrators needed a unified digital platform that centralized localized content and tools because the existing three-site model was too fragmented to efficiently deliver the specific products, languages, and measurement systems each market required.
Automate Localization: Eliminate the friction of a fragmented web presence by developing a unified digital ecosystem that allows global markets to deliver precise, localized content through a single, high-performance platform.
01Solution
My team worked with the US and international representatives of BIG KAISER’s global locations to identify and define primary, secondary, and tertiary personas for the single site. Though the languages, units of measurement, and product catalogues varied based on global region, the user personas remained consistent.
Results
This joint exercise highlighted the similarities and consistency among worldwide users. This solidified for the entire BIG KAISER team that unifying the site’s experience into a single entity was the best approach to helping the global team unite its content management, marketing efforts, and strategic planning for future business growth.
02Solution
Collaborating with internal departments to simplify global product catalogs and map relationships between products and sections.
Results
Thorough planning and in-depth page reviews ensure that the vast product range is organized logically for the end-user.
03Solution
Incorporating search functionality for both metric and imperial systems. Partnering with native translators for content in eight different languages.
Results
This specifically meets the technical needs and preferences of a diverse global customer base and provides a human element to the translations, ensuring higher quality and more natural interpretations than automated tools.
04Solution
Consolidating the multiple websites for each region into a single, unified "multi-site" system and developing localized SEO strategies tailored for Europe and the United States.
Results
This simplifies the digital infrastructure, streamlines internal communication, and provides a straightforward user experience that aligns with the brand. The new SEO strategy prioritizes the specific types of blogs, industry news, and product dimensions most relevant to users in each geographic location, all controlled in the new multi-site system.
Wireframes
Home Page
Interactive Tool: Calculator and Conversions
Product Detail w/ Measurement Conversion
Product Listing within Category
Product Category Listing
Mockups
Home Page
Product and Services Video Library
Product Document Search Library
Regional Sales Representative Search
Open Jobs Listing
Global Location Team Page - Germany
The Pay Dirt
BIG KAISER now has a robust, multilingual website housed in a single CMS, bridging the gap between internal communication and content management. For example, if someone in the US updates a product page, each location would be notified through the CMS, allowing them to maintain translations and avoid outdated information on the website. Each of the global marketing teams has the ability to share assets between teams, as well as select the content they want to show to their specific audience.
To support both metric and imperial units, we implemented product line categories and filters. By adding high-resolution images, product features and benefits, educational videos, and downloadable product documents, we enabled customers to immerse themselves in product knowledge.
As a result, the BIG KAISER team saw a 20% increase in organic search, a 62% increase in global traffic, and a 72% increase in product page views. In addition, the maintenance team was ~50% more efficient in managing site content.
