Case Study: Database Publishing with Pimcore and InDesign
Axel Johnson International is a family-run industrial group that acquires companies worldwide in strategic niche markets, primarily in the area of technical components and industrial process solutions.
On the occasion of publishing an new catalog design of the subsidiary CERTEX we implemented our solution PimPrint. With this solution any communication media can be prepared ready for printing directly and automatically from the existing Pimcore-PIM. The solution can be multiplied by Axel Johnson for all its brands.
Customer Details
Customer Key Facts
4 400
Employees 30
Countries 150
Companies 1 142
Mio. Euro Turnover Challenge
Closing the gap between PIM and InDesign
As an industrial group with 150 companies, Axel Johnson International relies not least on printed advertising materials such as catalogs, brochures or data sheets to provide information about the extensive product and solution portfolio of all its subsidiaries worldwide. The company already had a Pimcore-based PIM, but was now looking for a way to transfer selected data and assets directly and automatically into InDesign. This is exactly what our solution PimPrint does. With the publication of the new CERTEX catalog, the solutionwas to be launched and should from then on serve as the basis for the consolidation of all publications within the industrial group.
Solution
Native and seamlessly integrated in Pimcore PIM
Our print solution is natively and seamlessly integrated into the customer's existing Pimcore PIM, eliminating the need for exports or middleware when exporting data and assets to InDesign. Using an InDesign plug-in, they can be placed directly into InDesign template documents. The creation and management of the templates remains in the customer's hands without any restrictions. On the other hand, no specifications are made to the data model or the asset structure in the Pimcore back end, because our PimPrint CoreBundle is designed as a framework. Integrated HTML parsers automatically convert HTML into native InDesign elements, and the automation can be adapted to new project requirements using custom InDesign JavaScript. For multilingual publications, all languages maintained in Pimcore can be accessed during generation. And by taking over the rights and roles management of Pimcore, the multi-brand construct remains mapped in the InDesign plug-in.
Results
CI-compliant communication standard with high data quality
With our PimPrint solution the crucial gap between data management with Pimcore and the automatic extraction of data into InDesign templates was closed for the CERTEX catalog. After this successful test run, Axel Johnson International has a tool at hand that can be used by other subsidiaries step by step. Thanks to database publishing, the solution ensures a uniform and CI-compliant communication standard with consistently high data quality. New print advertising materials can be produced more quickly and existing publications can be easily updated. There is no limit to the design scope, as templates and style sheets can be adapted as required.
Key Results
Fast production and actualization of print publications
Implementation in existing Pimcore PIM system