Automated catalog production at Coltène

Coltène has created the "Restoration 2019/2020" print catalog in full for the first time using the crossbase solution. Further catalogs, including language variants, are being planned. The comprehensive automation enables efficient data maintenance and provision for various channels.

With crossbase, all information on each product is located at a central location. This guarantees that the content is up-to-date in all output channels - an essential criterion for us in the medical field."

Michael Riener
Creative Director & Manager DTP, Coltène/Whaledent AG

Initial situation

Over 11,000 articles are imported daily from SAP into the crossbase database via an XML interface. This process includes the product hierarchy, product data and product relationships such as parts lists, accessories and packaging components. The aim was to use this centrally maintained data efficiently for print publications, digital media and other applications.

Procedure

The crossbase solution offers a central data source from which information is provided for various purposes. Agencies receive the data from Coltène via the crossbase API server in order to use it for the website (in seven languages), the sales app for field sales support and the print data store.

More than 300 product features are maintained in the crossbase database at Coltène, some of which are calculated automatically. Texts for price lists, catalogs or API outputs, such as information on sets and kits, are also generated automatically. In addition, the system manages around 6,800 media assets with replacement histories, including images, videos, logos and pictograms that can be assigned to products or marketing structures. In addition, documents such as flyers, brochures and packaging documents are stored centrally.

Coltène uses the "Easy Print Publishing" module to manually create print files in Adobe InDesign. Price lists are created fully automatically: Item and price data from SAP is dynamically added to crossbase, exported and then processed in Adobe InDesign using crossbase.list.

The "Restoration 2019/2020" product catalog comprises 70 pages and was created completely automatically. Flow frames and universal tables are generated automatically, as are customer-specific tables, including accessory and reference matrix tables, which are expanded dynamically as required.

Result

With the crossbase solution, Coltène was able to produce the "Restoration 2019/2020" catalog efficiently and automatically in high quality. Central data maintenance and multichannel provision led to considerable time and resource savings.

Advantages

• Central data maintenance: Uniform management of product information and media assets
• Automation: Complete automation of catalogs and price lists.
• Multichannel use: Provision of data for print, web, app and other channels.
• Efficient media management: History and assignment of image and text content.
• Flexibility: Customized tables and layouts for specific requirements.

About Coltène

Coltène is an internationally active company for the development, manufacture and distribution of dental consumables and small devices in the areas of infection control, tooth preservation and treatment efficiency. Coltène has state-of-the-art production facilities in the USA, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland and is present with its own sales companies in key markets such as Europe, North and Latin America, Japan, China and India. Dentists, DSOs, dental clinics and dental laboratories around the world rely on Coltène's high-quality products.

Find out more about how Coltène uses the opportunities offered by crossbase:

To the Coltène Success Story