Case Study: OSRAM Packaging QR Database

OSRAM, one of the world's leading lighting brands, offers innovative applications in its three divisions Optical Semiconductors, Automotive and Digital Applications: from autonomous driving to networked intelligent lighting solutions. With the QR Code database for the automotive sector, OSRAM can collect and store important product information digitally. This not only saves on packaging for individual products in a family, but also provides OSRAM with a future-proof basis for cross-media product communication.

Business Needs

In the automotive sector OSRAM sells various products worldwide. Due to different legal requirements in the various countries, the information architecture for these packages has become increasingly complex over time and the space on the packages has become smaller and smaller. In order to remedy this situation, i.e. to simplify the process, save costs and gain space for design elements, mds was commissioned to "outsource" the required legal information virtually digitally via a QR code.

Pimcore Solution

All relevant information is available at a glance. If the consumer scans the QR code with his smartphone or tablet, he is directed to a website. Here he first selects his country, whereupon all relevant product information is immediately displayed in his national language, arranged according to marketing-relevant information and legal notices. Of course, the website also includes images of the product.

In order to make the solution of this task as open as possible, so that it can be easily used for other applications later on, we decided to design and develop the QR code database based on Pimcore.

In the database all information for the relevant products as well as the different legal requirements of the individual markets (pictos, texts etc.) are collected. For this purpose, a text database (which contains all current legal and marketing texts in all languages) and the customer's PIM and CRM system were connected via interfaces. The information is arranged according to specific product families (e.g. Night Breaker Laser, Ultra Life etc.), each of which is assigned its own QR code, which can then be printed on the packaging. In addition, all relevant assets can be automatically enriched via the supplementary direct DAM interface.

Business Results

Thanks to the QR code, OSRAM saves a lot of time in the production of packaging. And space: which can be used for a more attractive design. At the same time, the accuracy of the data is always guaranteed because the database is automatically updated at a set rhythm.

In addition, much less packaging has to be produced overall because the QR code takes care of differentiating between the various markets with their different translation requirements and legal pictograms. In this way, OSRAM has been able to reduce the number of pieces from over 1,500 artworks per year to around 900, thereby cutting its costs by over 60 percent. What's more, a change in the labelling requirements, such as a new test seal for a specific market, no longer requires all the artwork concerned to be adapted immediately. Instead, it is now sufficient to make this change in the database without having to reprint a single package.

Because the database was built in Pimcore, it is open for any kind of extensions. As in a modular system, further applications can be scaled up as needed. There are plans to connect the DAM system from OSRAM to the database. A Web2Print option is also conceivable, in which selected data is exported directly into InDesign via an InDesign plug-in. Thanks to Pimcore, OSRAM has created the basis for an omni-channel strategy with its QR Code database.