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Case Study: EMKA

World Leading Manufacturer Unlocks its Product Information Challenges

Prior to Akeneo PIM, we were not able to provide customers nor employees with accurate, consistent, or high-quality information.

Markus Panofen, Head of Digital Marketing

Challenges

  • Product information was not centrally organized, leading to data inaccuracy and inconsistency.
  • Lack of centralized product data meant customers and employees could not access accurate product information.
  • Product information silos led to higher costs and slower time-to-market.

Benefits

  • Creation of a single source resulted in improved product information accuracy, consistency, and quality.
  • All team members are now able to instantly share high-quality, consistent, and accurate product information.
  • Centralizing product information cut down on costs and production time.

The Challenge

EMKA was founded in Velbert, Germany in 1932, as a production company for bicycle accessories and hardware. In the decades since, the business has become an international powerhouse across a range of industries.

EMKA GROUP is now the world market leader for closures, hinges, and seals used in switching and control cabinets for electronics and electrical engineering, operating across Europe, North America, and Asia. The company’s catalog offers approximately 15,000 items, including products in transportation, IT, and climate control, developed, manufactured, and assembled at eight production sites in six countries.

Over the years, managing product information for this massive catalog became a nightmare. Data was spread across a wide range of applications across sites, departments, product lines and industries. Information was not centrally organized and the search for information was time-consuming. Old data was often difficult to find, trapped in silos across the organization, and difficult to use.

As a result of this product information chaos, the company’s content was quite inaccessible, inaccurate, inconsistent, or low-quality. As it looked to expand to new digital channels and international markets, EMKA knew it needed to create a single source of truth for its wide array of product information and assets.

 

We wanted to centralize all of our product information and make it readily available to employees and customers.

Markus Panofen, Head of Digital Marketing

The Solution

In order to combat this product information chaos, the company set out to create a central location for product information. The project started in 2016, when the company decided to embark on a digitization journey. After reviewing several solutions, EMKA elected to go with Akeneo due to its flexible, open-source framework and ability to integrate with existing eCommerce solutions, including Magento.

1/ Team buy-in

In order to combat this product information chaos, the company set out to create a central location for product information. The project started in 2016, when the company decided to embark on a digitization journey. After reviewing several solutions, EMKA elected to go with Akeneo due to its flexible, open-source framework and ability to integrate with existing eCommerce solutions, including Magento.

2/ Data standardization and categorization

The standardization, made possible by PIM thanks to «smart» data categorization, was a great aid in getting the solution up and running quickly, giving employees ample time to learn how to use the PIM. In addition, certain assets, such as images, feature descriptions, CAD files and more, were automatically linked with products, making catalog expansion more efficient.

3/ Translation-ready system

What’s more, by linking Akeneo to the company’s translation systems, international expansion and localization of product data was also made easier, allowing the company to boost its cross-border commerce initiatives.

 

 

 

We were impressed by Akeneo PIM’s ability to manage and enrich large amounts of data in a relatively short period of time.

Markus Panofen, Head of Digital Marketing

The Result

Unparalleled data optimization

Akeneo PIM allowed EMKA to «create an optimized product data structure that EMKA has not had so far,» according to Markus Panofen, who noted that, «for the first time, we have the opportunity for the customer to present product information at the individual item level.

 

Radically improved collaboration and processes across the board

The company’s PIM solution has allowed more employees to easily access product data, speeding up operations and improving collaborative effort. But human team members weren’t the only beneficiaries — the company’s internal ERP and other data systems work together much more efficiently with help from PIM.

 

Expansion at scale

The speed with which large volumes of data can now be standardized, organized and enriched, as well as the ability to quickly roll out product changes will radically improve the company’s product management process. The Akeneo PIM will also assist EMKA in current and future digital and international expansion efforts.

 

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