ABB | Akeneo

At a Glance

Challenges

Time-consuming manual process: Producing a 600-page catalog with 8,000 products and up to 600 attributes each took 6 to 8 months annually, and involved extensive manual copying and pasting from SAP and spreadsheets
Outdated content: By the time the catalog was ready, some content was already outdated, and new products were missing.
Lack of scalability: The previous process was ill-suited for producing more catalogs or localizing them into different languages.

Solutions

Dramatic time savings: With Akeneo and InBetween, catalog production time was reduced from 6-8 months to just 18 hours (an over 99% reduction). Catalogs can also be updated daily, compared to once or twice a year previously.
Improved time-to-market: New products can be added instantly
Enhanced localization capabilities: Catalogs can be easily produced in multiple languages.
Greater data reliability, versatility, and accuracy: Information is consistent across print, digital, and web versions, ensuring compliance and reducing risk. ABB can now generate both print-ready and interactive web-format PDFs, and create smaller, targeted catalogs for specific audiences or events.

The Challenge: Limits of spreadsheets

ABB Motors and Generators is a business unit of ABB, one of the leading companies in technology for electrification and automation. They produce high-efficiency premium motors and dependable power generators. As leaders in digital transformation at ABB, they were driven to improve the customer experience and make processes easier and faster for their team.

One of the key challenges and a major bottle-neck, year after year, was the production of the 600-page product catalog, known as the 501 Catalog – a mammoth document, listing nearly all of ABB’s 8,000 products, each of which could include up to 600 product attributes. In the past, ABB would require just about all the attention of ABB’s graphic designer, all year round.

ABB managed its product information through a combination of SAP and spreadsheets to enrich and enhance the data. Once the product data had been enriched in multiple spreadsheets (a 2-week process), the second phase was the tedious and labor-intensive endeavor of copying and pasting the content into the actual catalog. 6 to 8 months were required for this, and by the time the catalog was ready, some of the content was outdated, or new references were already missing from it.

Faced with this time-consuming and error-prone process, ABB’s ambitions were to produce more catalogs, and start localization as well, into different languages. It became increasingly obvious that the current PIM environment and process were ill-adapted to their needs and low on scalability. ABB sought a scalable, automated solution that would eliminate manual work, ensure data accuracy, and speed up production.

The Solution: Creating a unique source of truth

The first step to achieving product information reliability and scalability of the model was to create a unique source of truth, a place to store and edit the product information. Akeneo PIM was selected for this, for its ease of use and quick integration into the existing digital environment.

By using the API features, it was quite straight-forward to connect SAP to Akeneo, batch-import the products, and then enrich them with relevant marketing information, following smart workflows.

With the data structured correctly inside Akeneo PIM, ABB started generating the 501 Catalog, and this was done using InBetween’s smart software suite. InBetween delivered a solution that fully digitized and automated the entire catalog process – a true game changer delivering efficiency, accuracy, and a superior user experience.

The Results: A time-saving and efficiency-boosting work process

After implementing Akeneo and InBetween, what are the benefits of this new work process, and have they succeeded in improving the product information experience, bringing it in line with the actual product quality?

The short answer is yes. The time and cost savings regarding the generation of the 501 Catalog are astonishing. Before Akeneo and InBetween, this whole process would take 6-8 months, involving product managers, marketing team and the graphic designer. Now that the templates have been built and InBetween setup, this takes a mere 18 hours, an extraordinary timesaving of over 99%. This not only accelerates production but also frees up valuable resources, allowing teams to focus on strategic and creative tasks instead of manual catalog creation.

Time to market is drastically improved too: new products can be added very easily, with updates made daily. Products are automatically placed in the right section. Previously there was a latency of around 6 months, so the very latest products were not always available in the catalog.

Product information reliability and consistency is much improved, with the same information available in the printed catalog, the digital PDF version and on the website. In the digital version, hyperlinks connect to the website, providing direct access to detailed product views. Key details like voltage, wattage, and certifications are always up to date, and linked to detailed online views. This ensures accuracy, supports compliance, reduces risk, and builds trust.

And on top of all this, InBetween has opened new possibilities in terms of marketing. Thanks to the power of automated digital publishing, ABB can now focus on expanding the catalog to new languages, and publishing new, more targeted brochures for specific audiences and events. This was just impossible until now.

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