Binder Connector Group links Product Information Management and Cross Media Publishing using the Product Suite Viamedici EPIM

For Binder Connector Group, the best basis for creating marketing materials more efficiently is the cross media publishing platform EPIM from Viamedici. Product information is administered in the central database and structured such that even an extensive product portfolio can easily be fed directly to an Internet site and print media can be produced automatically.

Perfect connections really are the core business at Binder Connector group. The company produces circular connectors for industrial use and is the market leader worldwide for connectors in the sensor sector. Together with Binder Systems Group, 1,300 employees produce and develop diverse solution in the areas of electronics, tool manufacturing and plastic injection moulding.

With its approximately 5,000 catalogue articles, Binder Connection Group has not yet reached the end. “The production structures are very close-knit. Between circular connectors with a diameter of 6 millimeters and those with 44 millimeters alone there are 20,000 variants. It is a huge problem to sort the corresponding data, set up the structures and supplement them with pictures and technical data”, explains Martin Guserle, product and marketing manager at Franz Binder GmbH + Co. elektronische Bauelemente KG in Neckarsulm. In order to efficiently use the product information for print media or Internet, it is imperative that there is an efficient structure behind this “world of connectors”.

If you try to create such structures with conventional means, you soon reach you limits. Ensuring that data is up-to-date without the assistance of an intelligent software solution is enormously complex.  To at the same time create multi-language product information for a global market is near to impossible. “Connectors are similar to one another in many aspects. There are only very fine differences. That is why it is important to have a scheme according to which products can be sorted, structured and filed. The foundation for this is a database where all information, such as product or order numbers, descriptions, pictures, scale drawings, pole schemes and other technical data are stored”, Martin Guserle explains.

In choosing Viamedici EPIM, Binder selected a professional solution with a comprehensive scope of function in the area of cross media publishing. “In order to communicate data correctly so that it is understood worldwide in different languages, you need an efficient database. EPIM offers an excellent solution. The existing user interface and the data structure behind it present the product structure so that other systems can be easily supplied by it. That is the core idea behind the whole thing”, says Martin Guserle. For example, we recently began supplying and daily updating the new Internet presence with information directly from EPIM.

“The Internet presence was the first project in automated media creation realized at Binder. In doing so, we also wanted to examine optimization potential. When these intricacies have been taken care of, print media can automatically be transferred to the printing shop.  That will be the next step,” explains Martin Guserle. Already, data sheets with picture information, descriptions and certifications, installation and accessory information are being used for Internet that could also be used for print. “A few last formats are still required for the catalogue, then we are ready for that as well”, says Martin Guserle. Goal is the fully-automated creation, so that a PDF file is created in InDesign via an export interface which can subsequently be printed without further effort. “The product catalog currently has 540 to 550 pages. It pictures some 5,500 connector variants. The content is already stored in EPIM and can therefore be exported easily.” In order to more precisely reproduce the product lifecycle, Binder plans future interfaces to SAP and CAD systems. The data would then be automatically imported to EPIM from the source system as soon as there are updates. That way changes can be made quickly and at the same time, the rate of error minimized.

Martin Guserle clearly sees the benefit of EPIM in the connection between the systems as well as in the fast and efficient communication with the customer. “We want to provide our customers with all the relevant information as soon as possible. With EPIM, we have the possibility not only to exchange new information, additions and amendments between systems, but to communicate these to the customer as well.”


About Binder:
Since its founding in 1960, the Binder family business has become the market leader in the circular connector sector. Constant innovations and investments in the latest technology are a cornerstone. Priority is placed on as much continuity as possible in the production chain - from tool manufacturing to automated end assembly. The company has a Q-Management system which has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001 since 1995 and ISO 9001 & 14001 since 2004.

About Viamedici:
With locations world-wide and a multitude of renowned and enthusiastic customers, Viamedici is the leading software company for product information management (PIM) and cross media publishing (CMP). The product suite Viamedici EPIM allows product information to be administered centrally and published in diverse target media such as catalogues, brochures, operating manuals, Web-CMS (content management) or online shops.