From Automated Systems to Automated Product Communication

The Zimmer Group, headquartered in Rheinau, develops components and systems for automation technology that are used worldwide. The Zimmer Group has the designation “The Know-how-Factory.” For the company, this means questioning processes, making complexity manageable, and developing an intelligent solution for every challenge. So it was only a matter of time before the principle of “increasing efficiency through automation” was applied to the company’s own product communication as well.

In 2013, while searching for a solution that would centrally consolidate information, eliminate duplicate work, reduce errors, and consistently automate product communication, the Zimmer Group approached crossbase. It quickly became clear that the companies shared more than just a purely business relationship—the Zimmer Group and crossbase essentially shared the same philosophy.

Today, product data from the vast portfolio is automatically fed into the crossbase Product Information Management (PIM) system from the ERP system, where it is supplemented with technical information, images, documentation, and marketing content. This central database is used to generate product sheets and catalogs in about 10 languages, as well as data sheets and content for the website.

The collaboration is particularly impressive in areas where standard solutions reach their limits. Take the product configurator, for example: Behind its intuitive interface lies a highly complex logic with countless dependencies between components. What used to be managed manually using extensive Excel files is now mapped directly in the PIM by crossbase. As a result, the rules and product data are significantly easier to maintain, less prone to errors, and can be expanded at any time.

The website relaunch also resulted in far more than a traditional data interface. Together, we developed a solution that provides intelligent filter functions and dynamically generated product information directly from the database. This is complemented by automatically generated technical data sheets: For a wide variety of so-called “rail-car combinations” of components and manufacturers, approximately 75,000 PDF files are created, with content derived directly from the product data—a task that would be nearly impossible to manage manually.

The collaboration has remained pleasantly straightforward to this day: The Zimmer Group implements many aspects independently, while crossbase handles new requirements—such as intelligent links to product information—on demand. In this way, crossbase ensures that product communication operates according to the same principles as the Zimmer Group’s offerings—efficiently, cleverly interconnected, and with a suitable solution for every requirement.

Read here to find out how individual projects were implemented: