How Novelis cut training localization costs by almost $1M with engaging in-house AI videos

We interviewed John Mills and Jennifer Arms, who drive Global Operational Excellence Transformation at Novelis, Inc. They shared how Novelis leverages AI video to transform their training approach – making it faster, more accessible, and scalable across teams and time zones – while achieving substantial cost and time savings.

Industry Context

Metals manufacturing operates on a global scale, with distributed teams, facilities, and standards. Delivering consistent, multilingual training across regions is a major challenge—especially when relying on slow, expensive methods like in-person sessions or outsourced video. To keep up with operational demands, training needs to be fast, scalable, and easy to update across languages and time zones.

The Challenge

John and Jennifer are responsible for collaborating, coordinating, developing and delivering learning content and materials that support the Novelis Operating System and principles for operations teams across all facilities around the globe. The Novelis Operating System training focuses on skill sets designed to equip the employees with the knowledge and abilities necessary to excel in their roles and contribute to the company's overall success.

Despite their efforts, they faced persistent challenges delivering that training:

• Inefficient training production: Training content was developed externally, leading to prolonged production cycles and limited control over content updates.‍
• Slow production time: Each training course took approximately four to six weeks to produce, delaying the rollout of critical knowledge needed for equipment handling, compliance, and onboarding.‍
• Limited accessibility: Training was 100% location-bound and delivered only in English leaving many global employees without access to critical knowledge.‍
• High development and translation costs: Outsourcing the creation and translation of training videos into eight  languages was financially burdensome, with costs nearing $1,000,000.

"With training dependent on external vendors, updates lagged behind operational changes – making it harder to keep pace with evolving needs and revisions of procedures." – Jennifer Arms, Operations Excellence Coordinator

The Solution

To address these challenges, the team began transforming their training curriculum into engaging AI-powered videos. These were housed in a newly launched digital learning academy — accessible to all employees, regardless of location — enabling a modern, centralized approach to training at scale:

• In-house instructional video creation: By bringing video creation in-house, Novelis gained control over content development, enabling rapid updates and customization.‍
• Cost-effective localization: Utilizing Synthesia's multilingual capabilities, Novelis produced training videos in ten languages, reducing reliance on external translation services.‍
• Scalable training deployment: With Synthesia, Novelis scaled their training efforts beyond location-bound delivery, enabling global access to content across all facilities — all while maintaining the original intent and clarity of the training.

"Synthesia empowered us to create and update training content swiftly, ensuring our teams receive relevant information promptly." – John Mills, Global Operations Excellence Transformation Head

The Results

By integrating Synthesia into their training processes, Novelis achieved significant outcomes:

• Localization cost savings of ~85%: By bringing localization in-house with Synthesia, the team reduced development expenses by approximately 85% – while increasing speed, quality control, and accessibility.‍
• Production time cut by 83%: Course creation time dropped from 1.5 months to 1 week, enabling Novelis to respond rapidly to evolving training needs.‍
• Training content at scale: In just one quarter, the team produced more than 3,000 training videos for the Novelis Operating System.‍
• Full Ownership of Training Assets: Novelis eliminated its dependency on agencies, gaining the ability to make fast updates and iterate on materials internally.‍
• Cross-Functional Adoption: Following the successful rollout, AI video was rapidly adopted across L&D, EHS, Finance, Tax, Procurement, and HR – spanning global, regional, and manufacturing functions. It validated efficient cross-timezone collaboration and proved highly effective for delivering content at scale.