Automated production of catalogs at KS Tools SAS with crossbase

Initial situation

Until 2014, creating catalogs for KS Tools SAS was a laborious process. Product information had to be painstakingly compiled and coordinated with the product managers. The manual design was time-consuming and error-prone, especially due to the large amount of information and the requirements for a uniform layout.

Procedure

After five days of training in May 2014, two Reügo employees were able to automatically generate catalogs directly from the crossbase database. The crossbase solution enabled access to centrally maintained product information, which was automatically processed in a predefined order for the layouter. Deviations in the French assortment catalog of around 20% were taken into account via a targeted addition to the database, fed by SAP. Translations and localizations, such as shortened lists, changed sequences or country-specific images, optimally adapted the content to the requirements of the French market.

Result

The catalogs for the industrial and automotive sectors, with 600 and 700 pages respectively, were designed in a three-column layouter with flowing breaks. In addition to the product information, each catalog contains a table of contents, an item index and a key word index. Central data maintenance and automation resulted in a uniform, up-to-date and market-specific publication.