Coltène and crossbase - all data up to date

Coltène/Whaledent AG is a leading international company in the development, manufacture and sale of dental consumables and small appliances. The Swiss Coltène AG and the American Whaledent Inc. merged in 1990. The head office is in Altstätten (CH). State-of-the-art production facilities are located in Switzerland, Germany, the USA and Brazil, employing over 1,200 people.

The initial situation: challenges in product data management and communication

Before implementing crossbase, Coltène faced challenges in managing and communicating its product data. Manual data entry led to errors and inefficient processes. The lack of a central platform made marketing-specific communication difficult and led to inconsistent data. The management of image data and text was inadequate, and the production of printed catalogs and website content was time-consuming.

The challenge: Efficient management and communication of products

Coltène was looking for a solution to improve their product management and communication. They wanted a central platform for the collection and distribution of product data, efficient management of article groups and central storage of image data and texts. They also wanted to automate the production of printed catalogs and the use of products on the website. With the introduction of crossbase, they were able to achieve these goals and optimize their product communication, media production and data management.

The solution: customized PIM and cross-media solution

The modular crossbase standard software with Product Information Management (PIM) and cross-media publishing system was implemented at Coltène. Among other things, modules for data provision, print publishing, an ERP interface and the API server are used.

The result: central database, automated production and data provision for print and online

All articles with product structure, prices and approx. 15 MARA fields are continuously transferred via the SAP PIM interface. The so-called article group, which combines article variants of the same form, plays an important role in marketing communication. Most of the product information is maintained in the article group and passed on to the corresponding articles.

The integrated image database is used to manage product-related media elements (product photos, technical drawings, etc.). The integrated graphics converter automatically generates additional image formats based on an imported media file, so that no Photoshop license is required.

Similarly, product texts and media-specific texts for the print and online channels are classified and linked to the article group and the article. These are, for example, headlines, product descriptions or claim texts. The translation of these texts is agency-based on the basis of a TMS interface (Across).
In addition, product-independent media assets are maintained via a media structure for the media service. The product area (online catalog) and the Media Center are implemented externally by an agency. The media service is provided by crossbase.

The five segment catalogs are database-supported and automatically produced in five country-language combinations. The layout of the pages is reused and is flow frame-oriented with height-variable tables. A special feature is the print control in interaction with SAP, which is mapped via an article number.
The aim is to have several hundred additional brochures produced automatically in 10 to 20 languages.

The website (Typo3, MySQL) is connected directly to the crossbase database via the API server. In order to display the products in the print catalogs and on the website, they are referenced in marketing-specific product views for the corresponding sales channels.