Case: Lemvigh-Müller

A sophisticated PIM is the key to success

The steel and engineering wholesale company Lemvigh-Müller has chosen PIM system from Hesehus

The steel and wholesale company Lemvigh-Müller's total turnover amounts to DKK 5.1 billion, and today half of all orders are placed online. Lemvigh-Müller is responsible for a fully digitised solution which in addition to an ambitious e-commerce system also counts several personalised sites and one mobile application. An important element in the solution is a sophisticated product information database, also known as a PIM-system, from Hesehus. Hesehus has developed the sophisticated PIM that handles a product range of no less than 300,000 unique units and supplies product information to Lemvigh-Müller’s comprehensive e-commerce solution, well-functioning app and catalogue production.

300,000 different products require structure

The PIM contains 300,000 products which all have various product information assigned. The products are divided into Lemvigh-Müller’s product hierarchy 'LM Basis Catalogue’ in which the individual product is divided into an overall product group such as 'Bath and Sanitary Appliances’, ‘Heat and Ventilation’ or ‘Lighting’. Subsequently, various product lines and product lists may be assigned to the product, e.g. under the product group 'Lighting’ where product lines such as ‘Table Lamps’, ‘Outdoor Lighting’ and ‘Pendants’ can be assigned to the products. The products can also be grouped in product types where a common description, image, etc. applies to all types of the product in question. This typically applies to products that vary in size and colour but can be described using the same image and text. An example is the product type ‘Brynje Safety Shoes Model Flex Protection’ which contains ten products available in the ten different sizes in which the shoe is sold.

In addition to products, the PIM contains a wide range of documents that are divided into different types such as ‘User Guide’, ‘Safety Data Sheet’ and ‘Data Sheet’. Just like the many product images, the documents may be assigned to products, product types or product lines. A specific type can also be assigned to the product images, e.g. 'to Web', 'to Catalogue' or 'Technical Drawing'. With this PIM, Lemvigh-Müller is able to keep track of the many unique products and by means of the sophisticated subdivision, the company ensures that the products can easily be used in the webshop, on the personalised sites, in the mobile application, and in various product catalogues.

Lemvigh-Müller actively involves the supplier

To make the PIM as useful as possible, Lemvigh-Müller involves its troop of suppliers in the collection of data. The individual supplier is responsible for setting up and updating products and the system allows the suppliers to set up product lists and product types. This provides the individual supplier with a certain sense of ownership of the pPIM and Lemvigh-Müller is ensured committed suppliers who make sure to maintain the product information.

Lemvigh-Müller maintains an administrative overview of the many supplier products by means of an integrated rating system in the PIM which informs administrators and product managers in Lemvigh-Müller about how much information the individual supplier has provided for the individual product. This means that the product managers can encourage the individual supplier to fill in missing information in order to constantly keep the PIM optimally updated. In addition, the system is set up to always notify the product managers when a supplier wants to enter new products or update existing products. This is important as the product manager is responsible for approving the changes before they appear in the PIM.

Last but not least, the administrators can select products that need to be translated into a given language and send the job to a selected translator. The translator places the new text in the system and sends it for approval by the PIM administrator.