Case Study: Heidelberg Enriches Data of 3 ERP Systems in 1 Central PIM

Heidelberg offers a broad spectrum of printing services and software solutions. To increase their range and global sales, Heidelberg has built a European platform that links the market for Tettenrode/Plantin to Belgium and the Netherlands, the market for Mackinggraf to Italy and the market for Hartman to Spain.

Business Needs

The various international locations of Heidelberg, 3 SAP ERP systems and an impressive amount of products within their assortment motivated Heidelberg to improve their Product Information Management (PIM).

In their previous situation, there was a lack of central management and different flows of information. This meant multiple data sources were being used which lead to an unnecessary double data input, sources not being up to date, and inconsistent information among different sources. Heidelberg needed a single platform where all assortments and products could be centralized and all product data could be enriched and sent to their Magento shopping cart with one article number across all platforms.

The possibilities to add product information were limited to the data coming from the e-Commerce and ERP systems. With the help of added imagery, videos, and added specifications, other players within the market could present their products with more sophistication and organization. Having such an inefficient system was costing Heidelberg both time and money and they needed a new solution to improve their processes and enable them to be more productive.

Pimcore Solution

Through YouWe, a solution Partner, Heidelberg was advised to use Pimcore which is an open-source PIM solution. Using Pimcore, Heidelberg, was able to structure their product information flow in a structured manner. They were able to input and store all related data in a single repository and thus saved time with not having to input data to multiple sources. With everything in a single repository, they were able to maintain consistency and organization with their wide range of product data.

All articles have a so-called ‘Heidelberg-number’, a Pimcore-numbering that was added to give all articles for every branch one and the same number. This ensures less system pollution and makes identifying the profitable products easier. With this system in place, product managers have more control over the assortment management and marketing actions are made easier.

Business Results

With Pimcore’s solution, all branches can update, change or delete product information from a central location, as well as manage the assortment in the webshop with the Magento connection. By adding a unique SKU number in Pimcore all products hold the location and language-specific properties, without loading any duplicates in the Magento webshop. This simplifies the communication internationally over all products. With a single and efficient repository in place, they were able to save time that could then be used to focus on more strategic initiatives.

By adding a PIM system within the flow, more information can be added to the products as compared to the single ERP and e-Commerce system. Pimcore allows extra imagery, videos, specification sheets and safety sheets to be added to the products. Heidelberg is now able to maintain the entire product flow from ERP system to the e-Commerce system.