Print Automation with ANTEROS Based on Data from SAP and TecDoc

User Report by Hella - Manufacturer of Lighting Technology and Electronics Components for the Automotive Industry

Hella develops and manufactures lighting technology and electronics components and systems as well as complete vehicle modules, air conditioning systems and vehicle electrical systems for the automotive industry. Hella‘s „Industries“ business unit develops new target groups outside the automotive core business. Overall, the Group generates annual sales of several billion euros. Hella has one of the world‘s largest aftermarket organizations for automotive parts and accessories. Hella sells these products to original equipment manufacturers of commercial vehicles and as spare parts via the aftermarket and garages.

Hella's experience with ANTEROS and INCONY
Hella Product catalogs on demand

Efficient Data Management

Hella‘s most important requirement for the catalog system was efficient and flexible data management: master data should be transferred from SAP, TecDoc data should be easily imported from the record files at any time, and it was important for original equipment and NAFTA countries to be able to easily change catalogspecific data via web form. Existing systems such as TecDoc were not suitable for product presentation in NAFTA countries or for the original equipment sector due to their fixed data structures (product features, search criteria).

Print Catalogs On Demand

Hella has had several layout variations implemented as print rules by INCONY. This means that employees at the various locations can now either print complete catalogs, e.g. an electronics catalog for Mexico, or any number of excerpt catalogs, e.g. a Ford promotion brochure. To do this, the employee simply has to limit the products via a search query, e.g. by specifying „manufacturer=Ford“ and „promotion=yes“ or a list of article numbers of the promotional items. They can either start the print generation directly via the print button and receive the catalog as a PDF or InDesign file, or they can use the search start function to first list the products with the specified restrictions and check whether these are the desired products.

“Even though Hella has already been using some state of the art IT systems, we were surprised by the user-friendly and flexible data management functionality ANTEROS comes with. The INCONY team's support provided to our employees in Germany, Mexico and USA is very qualified and targeted.”

Hella
Rainer Holthaus,
Catalog Manager at Hella

Precise Online Search

In addition to deriving printed catalogs, Hella placed great importance on a convenient search of their many products on the Internet/Extranet. With just a few clicks, users should be able to get to the right product and then have the extensive product information displayed in a structured manner. Since the different product areas for the NAFTA countries, for original equipment and for the TecDoc aftermarket markets were separated via different clients in the database, the countries were then also able to set up their own web catalogs on the respective data areas. The ANTEROS standard functionality offers comfortable searches via classification trees and further restrictions via product group specific characteristics, e.g. search for "rear headlights with housing color black". Vehicle restrictions can also be made, such as "combination rear lamps for Ford Fiesta year of manufacture 2010". The OEM catalogs (buses, caravans, etc.) were only to be offered to a fixed group of customers via extranet. Upon access, the companies specify the target group in addition to the user name and password. If "buses" is selected, the search masks and result lists are narrowed down. The numerous product details are displayed in a well-structured manner in tabs.

A Single Installation for all Countries

Hella only needed to install ANTEROS once on a server in Germany, and it is used by several national companies for catalog creation. Thanks to the web interface, software does not have to be installed on any of the employees‘ computers and yet the application can be used on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. This reduces installation and rollout costs to a minimum.

Online Seminar: Customized Price Lists and Catalogs at the Touch of a Button

Catalogs, price lists and data sheets are becoming increasingly valuable, both in electronic and often in printed form. In addition, new customers are expecting more and more personalized information. Often ONE catalog is no longer sufficient, but rather you require customer group or market-specific print documents or even new product catalogs. This seminar will teach you how to create these documents 100% automatically.

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Software Demo for the PIM System ANTEROS - Convince Yourself!

Are planning on introducing a PIM system in order to maintain your product data much more efficiently. Are you interested in what is possible with the technologically leading PIM system ANTEROS and how far you can optimize your processes with it? Did the Hella presentation on print automation with ANTEROS based on data from SAP and TecDoc convince you? Then request your free software demo now!

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