MiniTec and crossbase - centralized and up-to-date

MiniTec GmbH & Co. KG is a full-service manufacturer of aluminum profiles, workstations, conveyor systems and special machine construction. Headquartered in Schönenberg-Kübelberg in the Palatinate region of Germany, the company is represented at eight locations in Europe, the USA and China with 360 employees and 60 sales and service partners worldwide.

A customized PIM and cross-media solution was implemented for MiniTec on the basis of the crossbase standard software. Around 17,000 articles, including prices and around 15 basic data items, are continuously imported from the ERP system to the PIM via the XML interface. In crossbase, the articles are classified in the product structure and technical features and product relationships are also maintained. The integrated image database is used to manage and link product photos, application photos, icons and graphics, among other things, and other image formats are automatically generated using the graphics converter. Additional images, documents and videos are managed in a product-independent media structure. In order to keep the effort for text maintenance, including translations into six languages, as low as possible, enumeration texts are automatically generated from reusable document modules.

The service provider translates the continuous advertising texts on the basis of the TMS interface to Trados, while the technical terms and document modules are translated in the country. In order to be able to use articles as standard articles in the printed catalogs, the electronic catalogs or in the online catalogs for specific markets, the articles are referenced in marketing-specific product views for the corresponding sales channels. These views serve as the basis for the print and online media and contain all marketing-specific product information.

The aim is to produce all print media in a database-supported and automated manner. For the product section of the website (online catalog), the data is provided to the agency in a coordinated XML format and the required image files. The XML exchange format can be configured flexibly. Similarly, the product data is provided to trading partners in BMEcat format with ECLASS classifications.