HOPPE produces data sheets with crossbase and Microsoft Word

crossbase.office offers us the possibility to generate professionally designed data sheets from our master data - automated and uncomplicated. What was previously only possible with great manual effort can now be done with just a few clicks. The uncomplicated cooperation with the crossbase team is particularly noteworthy: Our requirements were implemented in the shortest possible time.

Karim Rufinatscha
Publicity, HOPPE AG

Müstair, 24.04.2018: HOPPE AG develops, produces and markets aluminium, stainless steel, plastic and brass fittings for windows and doors. It employs around 2,600 members of staff in its seven factories in Europe and the USA. HOPPE is based in Müstair (Switzerland). The company is a European market leader in its field. HOPPE chose crossbase's fully integrated solution for administering product information and media assets, automated catalog production and providing data for online channels and printed products 5 years ago.

Central functions of the solution

Information distribution and production of data sheets with Microsoft Word

Following the implementation of the crossbase Office module, every employee can now use all the product information that is already used in catalogs and websites for other purposes, such as creating data sheets in the Sales department. The multilingual country-specific data sheets include the product name, a table with technical data, the product photo, product drawing and product description, and notes on symbols for test marks, certificates and special product characteristics.

Procedure:

Application: Products can be filtered by using the full-text search, entering an item number, or searching for an item with the product tree.
Layout method: Data sheets are generated using a predefined Word template, which enables professional layout designs to be created, using page and table layouts.
Production methods: Ad hoc, depending on which products are selected, or mass production with batch processing using the Office module (parameters: Language, catalog range) and import into the crossbase database, for example for download on the website.

Data import and maintenance with the crossbase PIM and MAM

At HOPPE, the crossbase PIM and MAM solution is used to maintain product information data. Over 35,000 items will be imported into the crossbase database from AX, along with their product hierarchy, master data and prices, using an XML data interface. Other product information that is needed for marketing, such as product photos, drawings and product descriptions consisting of lists, with their translations, will be maintained in crossbase.

Automation of product catalog generation and the provision of data for the website

The data for many language- and country-specific online catalogs is provided from the crossbase database. In addition, the printed catalog, containing over 1,000 pages, is generated automatically with crossbase and Adobe InDesign. This is automatically converted into standing type with automatic wrapping of table blocks. Once the documents have been produced, it takes just a few working days to get the catalog ready for printing. This involves correcting layout (changes are also saved back to the database), type area control, creating the item number index, updating prices and then finally generating the print-ready PDFs.