Schöck Bauteile and crossbase – PIM as a Hub for Product Information
From product data records to digital applications: Schöck relies on crossbase as the central hub for all product information. In the video, Bernhard Maier explains how the PIM system simplifies data processes, connects various channels, and creates a reliable foundation for international markets.
Video Transcript
Bernhard Maier (Product Owner, PIM and CAD/BIM): Schöck is an internationally active company headquartered in Baden-Baden that develops innovative construction solutions, such as the Isokorb. This product allows for the connection of balconies while minimizing thermal bridges, and the company also offers products like Tronsole for impact sound insulation. The Passive House standard is, of course, important - it’s essential these days to have the right level of thermal insulation in buildings. And our products have naturally become indispensable in this regard.
crossbase was introduced at Schöck in 2012 to create technical documentation, since a lot of that work had previously been done manually. Our products are sold in many countries, and that involves a lot of manual work with the technical documentation - which eventually became unmanageable. We also needed more control over print production, so we needed a system, and that’s why we introduced the crossbase PIM system.
Why crossbase? The crux of the matter was our tables, which presented product information for a very large number of products in a highly condensed format. And these tables are very complex - in some cases, multidimensional matrix tables. This type of presentation in the tables apparently wasn’t feasible for many vendors, and in the end, crossbase was the only vendor that said, “We’re capable of doing this.” So we chose crossbase.
The great thing about crossbase is the guidance, consulting, and customer support. We have a dedicated point of contact who’s actually been working with us since 2012. And he really knows the Schöck world inside and out; for all the projects we’ve done with crossbase, some ideas come from us and others come from crossbase. We have a strong personal rapport, and that’s reflected in how we work everything out together.
We’ve now also integrated the Schöck website with the crossbase PIM system and feed the data there. For example, we have installation instructions for our products that are optimized for smartphones - you can access them directly from the product using a QR code on your smartphone. And we have these available for many countries in a wide variety of languages. There are over 2,000 documents behind this. As a result, the PIM system has now become a sort of hub for product information and master data - specifically, product master data. It plays a really important role within our company.
And specifically for CAD/BIM, we have the CADClick® catalog, where we provide a total of approximately 10,000 products in various configurations for 19 countries. The PIM system is now taking center stage more and more as we integrate our internal systems and consolidate all the information within the PIM system. This provides tremendous added value for us.
Yes, I would definitely recommend crossbase because our experience with them has been positive. Because the system helps us move forward, because it solves our problems, and because we’re confident that whenever we have projects or challenges we want to tackle, we’ll always have a great partner in crossbase to support us - and we’ll always find a solution. I can’t recommend it highly enough.