Complex Product Data Management
Ever tried to repair an old machine with new parts?
This was the global challenge faced by an industrial conglomerate in maintaining its customers' automation infrastructure. With machinery often dating back decades, different versions and upgrades of components, new item codes and changing suppliers had resulted in more than 500,000 products to be maintained in just one line-of-business.
Changing documentation and storage concepts for product data had intensified this needle in the haystack situation. Product management, key account managers and wholesalers faced difficulties in finding compatible components for maintenance and upgrade services. The existing product data management system of disparate relational files and applications had reach the end of the line.
98 % REDUCTIONOf Search Time
100 % SELF-SERVICEVia Web Interface
100 % SCALABLEFor Future Projects
PRODUCT USED
eccenca Corporate Memory
Challenge: Finding The Needle In The Haystack
Link Different Data Sources
The data was handled in product data management system that spread over several disparate data sources including relational data bases, web services, excel sheets, external sources (for compatible competitor brands) as well as the employees (domain experts).
Make Products Comparable
Identical product types were often documented with different local IDs and descriptions in different applications or locations. Technical specifications were not harmonized across the product data management system and hindered comparability and search for compatibility.
Capture Expert Knowledge
Many subject matter experts on both ends (within the company and at customer facilities) had retired. Their expert knowledge worth of decades of expertise retired with them.
Solution: Global Linking of 500,000+ Product Specs
Using eccenca Corporate Memory the different data sources of more than 500,000 products and their descriptions were integrated in knowledge graphs. Each knowledge graph links data of a logical domain from different sources that can be automatically updated at defined intervals. Additionally, expert knowledge and metadata on machines and spare parts were added to profit from and share best practices. To browse the data landscape in its entirety the knowledge graphs can further be integrated into one overall „super graph“.
This intelligent update of the product data management system allows key account managers, wholesalers, installers and service technicians to compare all products on-the-fly via a simple web shop interfaces. Components can be searched by their specific attributes ensuring compatibility with older generations or outphased components. This reduces search time and increased findability by about 98 % leading to a significant minimization of downtimes in their own plants as well as client plants.
