Automatically Generate Complex Multilingual Catalogs with a PIM System

With the introduction of INCONY’s PIM system ANTEROS, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environment Systems has fundamentally modernized its product data management and catalog production. Instead of time-consuming, error-prone workflows involving redundant data entry and manual translations, the company now relies on centralized data management, streamlined processes, and fully automated print generation. The result: increased efficiency across marketing, sales, and product management, alongside consistent data quality across all output channels.

Prior to introducing the PIM system, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environment Systems managed its product data through an outdated, custom-built MySQL solution whose original developers were no longer available. Data maintenance was heavily catalog-centric and page-based. Changing a single product parameter affected the entire catalog, frequently causing unintended side effects. Translations were extremely labor-intensive, making overall data management complex and prone to errors.

Catalog creation required merging database-driven pages with numerous static, manually built pages in Adobe InDesign. Edits were typically made directly in InDesign, marked up, and revised through multiple back-and-forth review cycles—consuming significant time. Translations had to be coordinated manually via Excel without any automated import capabilities. This resulted in redundant maintenance across both InDesign and the database, including manual adjustments to tables, price updates, and image captions. Producing condensed, excerpt catalogs also demanded extensive manual corrections.

Data management is structured across multiple levels. Categories serve to organize the extensive product portfolio and form the basis for the catalog's table of contents—for instance, for air conditioning units or ventilation systems. Technical specifications, such as total length or sound pressure level, are recorded via parameters. Relationships between products, particularly between indoor and outdoor units, are mapped accordingly. Shared data across multiple products can be maintained efficiently at the product line and category levels.
 

With ANTEROS, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environment Systems has made product data management significantly more efficient. Product data is maintained centrally in the PIM, and relationships between indoor and outdoor units are mapped with clarity. Translations are easily managed either directly in the dictionary or via export/import workflows. Print generation is both flexible and automated—for full-scale master catalogs as well as customized excerpts. The built-in correction mode allows users to jump directly from the proof PDF to the corresponding field in the PIM, eliminating labor-intensive revision loops. Overall, marketing, sales, and product management benefit from higher levels of automation, consistent data quality, and a drastically reduced workload for global translations and catalog proofing.