Wöhner and crossbase – access from any location

With technical excellence in electrical engineering, the Wöhner Group has been shaping the future of energy distribution and control technology for over 85 years. With eleven subsidiaries, a joint venture and a nationwide network of representatives in Germany and abroad, competent local contacts are available in around 80 countries.

A customized PIM and cross-media solution was implemented for Wöhner based on the standard crossbase software. The database and web server were installed in Rödental. Access for the employees at the various locations and for the graphic designers with Apple systems is via Citrix. The starting point was the transfer of data from an existing product database. All sales items with the existing product data were imported into the PIM system via this connection.

The products are created manually in the PIM system and successively enriched with features (e.g. logistical, technical and approval-relevant features), product relationships (e.g. accessories, follow-up items), images, documents and texts and mapped in the various market- and media-specific product views. This includes the product catalog in ten languages and the online catalog. The product manual with its sophisticated layout and many cross-references is produced automatically via crossbase and Adobe InDesign. In addition to general information, it also contains article indices with metal surcharges, insulation coordinates, approvals and a price update.

The online catalog accesses the mirrored crossbase database directly, so that no interfaces are necessary. The customer-specific requirements for the product information to be displayed in the various selection and information pages (attributes, image and text categories, downloads and product relationships) can be flexibly configured based on the existing data structures in the PIM. Extensive product information is clearly displayed in categories. Automatic functions for converting numerical values and generating multilingual texts from features and text modules are helpful. The standardized translation process with TMS support simplifies translation processes enormously.