PIM and Print Automation with ANTEROS

User Report by Rapid Technic – Manufacturer in Agriculture

Rapid Technic introduced ANTEROS to serve as a central product information management (PIM) database.

Catalogs created fully automatically with ANTEROS

Initial Situation

A detailed price list is created every year in German and French as well as a quadrilingual export price book for the specialized trade. Until now, these had been designed manually with great difficulty using InDesign. As a result, those responsible at Rapid Technic AG sought PIM software that would help to massively reduce this personnel and financial expense. In addition, it was intended to be possible to operate a web store with the same system in the medium term. Rapid Technic AG decided on the PIM software ANTEROS, from the German software house INCONY AG based in Paderborn, represented by ppa communications gmbh from Emmenbrücke, a technological leader in this field. The following describes how quickly and straightforwardly the first stage goal, the fully automated creation of the print catalog, was achieved.

Actual Data Management

Rapid‘s data was previously maintained on the following systems: ERP (SAP), various Excel tables, PowerPoint and InDesign used to create price lists, and photos in various directories.

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Target Data Management

SAP was to remain the leading system for maintaining product master data. The data important for price list creation, such as article number, name, short description, price and weight were to be transferred to the ANTEROS PIM software via the CSV interface. Other data relevant for the catalog (technical data, detailed product descriptions, photos, etc.) were imported from various existing Office files one time and were to be maintained in ANTEROS from then on. This product data was to be used to generate the Rapid price lists and other standardized print documents fully automatically.

Implementation

During a 2-day training, the marketing team of Rapid Technic AG was intensively trained on the PIM software ANTEROS. Prior to this, the necessary system structures were prepared in ANTEROS and existing data such as article master, prices, product parameters and translations were imported from SAP into the database. Thanks to the clear structuring of the products into categories and product families, the basis was laid for the output of the new Rapid Print catalog, whereby the same structure could also be used for a future web store.

“Our price lists have been made even more appealing while still saving us 220 hours a year. We are delighted with the product and services of INCONY and the Swiss partner ppa, as they provide us with fast, competent and friendly support when needed.”

Rapid Technic AG
Lukas Zumstieg,
Head of Sales at Rapid Technic AG

Print Rules Instead of InDesign

ANTEROS works with print rules in order to allow customers to create a catalog in their desired design at the push of a button. These are configured according to a detailed description prepared during the workshop by the INCONY programmers to meet the customer‘s specific requirements. At Rapid Technic AG, there are two basic display types. The first part of the catalog lists the basic equipment (single-axis equipment carriers) with matching options. All accessories are listed in the second part of the catalog. Using a dot matrix, it is clear at first glance which main unit the listed product is compatible with. To ensure that the dots appear with the correct main unit, the corresponding accessory is set in „relation“ to this main unit in the ANTEROS PIM system, whereby a product can also be linked to several main units. With this relationbuilding, Rapid managers are able to create catalogs extremely flexibly and without the need for programmers.

Quick catalog production with ANTEROS

Quick Catalog Production

With ANTEROS, the last-minute realization of catalogs in the event of price changes, additions to the product range, additional languages or customer-specific catalogs can easily be carried out in-house by the marketing team without outside help (or changes to templates as with other PIM systems). The price list, for example, can be output in multiple languages at the push of a button and without the need for any graphics software such as InDesign.

Online Shop and Apps

In a later phase, an online store is to be realized with the same, wellstructured product data. Discussions have also been held on the provision of an app, for example as a means of ordering spare parts, especially in mountainous regions.

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Are you planning on introducing a PIM system in order to maintain your product data much more efficiently. Are you interested in what the technologically leading PIM system ANTEROS with PIM and Print automation can do for you? Would you like to find out how far you can optimize your processes with it? Then request your free software demo now and try it for yourself!

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