James (Jim) Davis Sep 26, 2015:

You definitely need to ask them. "industrial companies"? Every company operates in an industry whether it is the banking, the movie or the carmaking industry.

Maria Falvo (asker) Sep 26, 2015:

It's a document written by economists. It talks about industrial companies and related economic activities. It's quite general (from manufacture of machinery to shipbuilding)

James (Jim) Davis Sep 26, 2015:

Lavorazioni su ordinazione terzi This gets very very few Google hits, while "per conto" gets plenty. What industry is it? What document is it? In my experience, if this is written by economists, then they will probably be two distinct and different things and you need to ask. If it is written by people in a company, then they are probably just saying the same thing twice in different ways.

philgoddard Sep 26, 2015:

In that case Maybe keep it literal and say "Processing for third parties" and "Processing on behalf of third parties". That's not perfect, but it just about gets the distinction across.

Maria Falvo (asker) Sep 26, 2015:

Hi Phil, even in italian I can't see a clear the distinction... The problem is that there is a list of different numbers below each of these items... (i.e. the share of turnover...), so I need to translate them separately. Thanks.

philgoddard Sep 26, 2015:

I'd be tempted to combine the second and third items on the list and say "processing for third parties". I don't think we'd make this distinction in English. What do other people think?