How SAF-HOLLAND Scaled its Global Presence with TYPO3
The industry leader partnered with 3m5. to migrate to TYPO3 and create a multisite platform.
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SAF-HOLLAND is one of the leading manufacturers of chassis-related assemblies components and suppliers to the truck and trailer industry. It operates across international markets and showcases a global portfolio of well-known brands. The company’s digital presence is a cornerstone of its operations and the medium through which it engages customers, partners, investors, and stakeholders worldwide.
Since 2019, SAF-HOLLAND has maintained a successful partnership with 3m5., with the agency managing the company’s TYPO3 platform, including country websites for 26 international markets. The partnership began with a website relaunch, and over the past seven years has continuously evolved to expand the brand’s digital presence with a strong focus on lead generation, delivering an excellent user experience for customers in the truck and trailer industry.
Challenge
As a company active across multiple global markets, SAF-HOLLAND needed a platform capable of supporting a multisite infrastructure while maintaining a consistent brand identity. The challenge was not only to create a scalable platform, but to build a website that would be capable of growing and evolving with the brand. This meant modernizing the digital experience, optimizing workflows, and integrating external tools, while ensuring local markets retained the flexibility to engage their audiences as required.
The continuous development of a TYPO3 multisite platform that was flexible enough to meet the evolving needs of SAF Holland was essential to the long-term success of the partnership.
Works Performed
Since 2019, 3m5. has delivered several landmark projects that optimized SAF-HOLLAND’s existing TYPO3 infrastructure, enabling it to continuously evolve and meet market demands.
Corporate Website Migration (2025)
The company’s previous corporate website ran on Drupal. 3m5. handled the migration to its existing TYPO3 platform, creating synergies and reducing resource requirements. The entire CSS framework was adapted in the process, and TYPO3 demonstrated its strength as a reliable multisite CMS, with the corporate website being redesigned and subsequently rolled out across all SAF Holland’s global markets.
TYPO3 Upgrades (2023 and 2026)
3m5. carried out upgrades to TYPO3 v11 and v13, including core refactoring, customization of individual extensions, and performance optimizations. The upgraded platform benefits included improved backend usability, long-term support, and future-proof architecture. TYPO3 editors also benefited from improved workflows and added efficiency.
TYPO3 Rebrush (2024)
As part of a TYPO3 rebrush project, 3m5. aligned the website’s appearance with SAF-Holland’s new company-wide corporate identity. This was completed without completely rebuilding the existing content system or architecture. A central template now defines the visual design across all country domains. Additionally, 3m5. provided editor training to further improve SAF Holland’s staff’s ability to successfully use the platform.
Salesforce Integration (2023)
Salesforce was directly integrated with the company’s TYPO3 platform via direct API connection. This significantly improved data quality within the contact section. Contact details for representatives are now able to be retrieved by Salesforce in real time and displayed alongside relevant products or documents. This enables users to quickly find the right contact person, including their photo, position, region, and direct contact information.
“The SAF-HOLLAND websites appeal to our different customer groups through group and region-specific content that addresses essential needs such as product overview, contact information and technical documentation or capital market-related information. The CMS, innovatively and experiencedly managed and further developed by 3m5., gives us the opportunity to differentiate between different user groups, such as OEM vs. capital market, and to operate them easily. It's a win-win situation, both for our customers and for the employees who maintain the system.”
Nicolas Pütz
Senior Manager Digital Solutions & IT Strategy
SAF-HOLLAND GmbH
Outcome
Today, SAF-HOLLAND operates a scalable digital platform that supports its global operations across 26 locations, while balancing its centralized governance and corporate identity.
TYPO3 delivered the foundation for an integrated digital ecosystem that combines multisite management, system integrations, and ongoing innovation. Customers now benefit from readily available and easier to access information, technical documentation, and editorial teams work efficiently in the company’s backend.
The cornerstone of this success is the longstanding partnership between 3m5. and SAF-HOLLAND, which over recent years has delivered measurable results, ensuring that the company’s digital presence continues to evolve along with industry demands.
Gallery & Features
Behind the project
The partner who made this TYPO3 project possible.
3m5.
3m5. is a specialist for global Enterprise Content Management Systems. With a focus on business-critical environments, 3m5. is a specialist for the implementation of TYPO3 on a global level. The company supports customers in a broad range of sectors, from food, automotive, insurance to health care. Among our long-standing customers are BMW, ZDF, Ravensburger, Gardena, BASF, Maggi, Vodafone, Commerzbank, Puma and Infineon.