About Belimo
Belimo Automation AG is a leading manufacturer of actuator solutions for controlling heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Hinwil, Switzerland, Belimo has subsidiaries and distribution companies in more than 80 countries, with approximately 1,400 employees. Producing 5.5 million actuators per year, Belimo has a net turnover of 500 million CHF.
The challenge
Belimo creates and maintains more than 2,350 technical illustrations, 2,700 product images, and 5,500 technical documents in up to 25 languages. Among the daily challenges the company faces are the continuous updating of highly complex product structures, the lack of document versioning, and the manual processing of InDesign data. Without a concrete global data management strategy, the employees responsible for product management, marketing, and technical communication worked in silos using different systems and redundant data. Additionally, product and price catalogs had to be updated manually before translation. This made the creation of marketing media extremely time-consuming.
Belimo needed to automate the production and translation of its product documentation while gaining optimum transparency for all tasks and stages of product development. Furthermore, it was crucial to guarantee simultaneous high- performance access to the system by its sales team and different departments across the globe.
Requirements
Belimo needed a solution to standardize the maintenance of product information, translations and digital assets for publication across all channels in up to 25 languages. The solution needed to support:
- Clear and concise mapping of the structures and relations of complex combination products
- Synchronous transfer of core data from the SAP system
- Maintenance and management of unstructured and product-independent text modules
- Automated translation processes in cooperation with Across
- Automated creation and updating of print publications in more than 20 languages
- Transparent versioning of all documents
- Flexible configuration of data exports (i.e., Excel, web, shop, tools, SAP, etc.)
- Automated provisioning of digital datasheets for the external sales force via an intuitive portal
Implementation
Belimo selected Contentserv PIM and DAM as the central end-to-end solution that would cover its product and media data management, its multichannel output across the globe, and the seamless supply of product documentation to its external sales staff. Contentserv PIM and DAM allowed Belimo to provide its publication channels with high-quality product data, and rich and vibrant digital assets accessible to all authorized users.
Contentserv’s Translation Manager and integrated system, Across, streamlined the translation processes and workflows, while communication with external translators also became more efficient and convenient.
In terms of publishing, a combination of Contentserv’s Dynamic Publishing Connector and InBetween together enabled Belimo to fully automate the production of datasheets from data merged in the PIM system. Additionally, Contentserv’s Publication Manager helped map the visual planning of large-scale catalogs and publications.
Lastly, Contentserv’s integrated rights and workflow management ensured efficient access and task management for the distributed teams and guaranteed perfectly controlled production processes with no loss of time or media discontinuity. An intuitive self-service portal was set up for the field sales force, enabling any users without training to access product information and media assets independent of location and time.
Results that matter
Today, Belimo continues to deliver up-to-date and consistent product information across all channels, quickly and cost- effectively. The centralized solution has enabled Belimo to manage product information once, and distribute it across all channels, making necessary changes without worrying about duplicates and inaccurate information. Contentserv’s Translation Manager has also allowed Belimo to automate print publications for 20 languages resulting in accelerated time- to-market for its international brands.
Belimo also achieved its goal of providing different departments, branch offices, and external service providers with quick, secure, and simultaneous access to the central system while ensuring transparent versioning of all documents. Additionally, all authorized users can independently access current product data and datasheets.
“Contentserv enables Belimo Automation AG to deliver consistent product communication that is technically up-to-date and in the required languages. In addition, the quality of the product data has been considerably increased and it can now be reused for different systems.”
Stefan Amman, Application and Data Manager PIM, Belimo Automation AG