Atlas Copco Launches 38 Country Sites in 17 Languages

The project, called “Get-Onboard”, started a year ago and spearheads a progressive approach to increasing the company’s global presence and marketing the Atlas Copco brand on a local level. The initiative is also one of the first of its kind in the manufacturing industry: integrating 38 local country sites into one web site with 17 languages. Among the languages represented include English, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese and Czechoslovakian.  “Our goal is to give all of our customers the opportunity to enter the Atlas Copco world from a local level as they always have done,” said Mikael Deremo, Atlas Copco’s Internet Project Manager. “The Internet is a business tool, and as such, our people and our customers should have access to each other via this important means of communication. Our goal is to ensure that everyone can do business with Atlas Copco easily and effectively."  Marketing and administration of each site is overseen by a local employee or team of workers who are trained on how to communicate via the Internet and support customers with relevant and accurate information. Currently, over 200 marketing professionals have been personally trained. In the coming months, marketing and communication professionals, whose country’s web site has not yet been launched will be trained via e-learning tools.  Annika Berglund, Senior Vice President of Group Communications, noted that “Brand positioning is extremely important to Atlas Copco. The project was created to help safeguard and maintain consistency of the corporate brand and the Group’s values. It also is very cost effective, since all of the countries represented use one template to incorporate their own local information.”  Another 10 countries are expected to be up and running by the beginning of the third quarter –2001.  Visit the Atlas Copco brand site on www.atlascopco.com. CONTACT:  Mikael Deremo, Internet Project Manager, Atlas Copco Group Center, Sweden  + 46 (0)8 743 8071, e-mail: [email protected]  Rhonda Moritz, North American Communications Manager, USA  +1 973 439 3438, e-mail: [email protected]  The Atlas Copco Group is an international industrial company with its head office in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2000, the Group had revenues of $5 billion USD, with 98 percent of revenues outside Sweden, and close to 27,000 employees. Atlas Copco companies develop, manufacture, and market electric and pneumatic tools, compressed air equipment and generators, construction and mining equipment, assembly systems, and offer related service and equipment rental. More information is available on www.atlascopco-group.com.