When energy and innovation come together: MENNEKES

With power and ingenuity into the future

MENNEKES' ambitions go beyond existing on the market. Together with its dedicated employees, the company wants to actively contribute to new and sustainable energy solutions and play a key role in driving forward the development of new eMobility standards. MENNEKES plug solutions are already the standard for all electric cars throughout Europe. The owner-managed company is characterized by its innovative character, above all thanks to its short decision-making processes and the inner unity of values of its employees. Now the next big step is to follow. From being an industrial supplier of award-winning connectors, the company wants to become a solution provider and also be a competent partner for its customers when it comes to optimizing processes and infrastructure. However, the digital transformation is not just about new products and services. Internal processes are also to be digitalized. Although the transformation process has already begun thanks to the foresight of those responsible at MENNEKES, it is set to gain momentum through the central organization and provision of digital assets. Together with MENNEKES, communicode's consultants developed a roadmap to successfully implement a sensibly structured digital asset management project (DAM) and thus initiate the course adjustment.

The initial situation: digital assets wherever you look

To fulfill its new role as a solution provider for charging infrastructures in the eMobility sector, MENNEKES has already developed its own billing system - an all-in-one solution for billing all charges of one or more electric vehicles. Several transformation projects are underway at MENNEKES to further digitalize the business areas. Digital asset management is a high priority because those responsible have become aware of the historically grown amount of marketing and product information. The different company divisions also use different storage structures for their assets. Around 4,000 product graphics in 2D and 3D versions and at least 15,000 other files are delivered from several file servers via SFTP server, e-mail or external storage devices as required.

The timeliness of the assets themselves is crucial for the prompt and up-to-date delivery of information and marketing content across the various channels. Compliance with the corporate identity (CI) should also be ensured in this context. This is exactly where MENNEKES and communicode come in together and establish a central DAM system to provide media faster, in the best quality and in all required formats. The cross-company release processes and workflows are controlled more efficiently in this way and thus lead to an optimized utilization of existing resources. Intelligent digital asset management supports all areas of the company in satisfying customers and partners alike and ensuring a CI-compliant external image.

In a joint workshop, communicode AG and MENNEKES identified the following milestones for the digital realignment:

• Development and implementation of a future-proof DAM system
• Installation of InDesign Link
• Establishment of a metadata model
• Establishment of a user/authorization concept
• Setting up the various download formats
• Connecting the business units to the new asset management system
• Integration of an interface to SAP Commerce

In order to achieve the corporate goals at MENNEKES efficiently and promptly on a result-oriented path, communicode determined the elementary processes and incorporated them into the DAM concept.

The direct line to success: Agile stage victories achieved

After analyzing the enterprise requirements, communicode recommended CELUM as a suitable DAM system for administration. Thanks to communicode's iteration-based working method, all adjustments can be made in the background during ongoing operations at MENNEKES. Following the basic installation of CELUM, communicode implemented all important additional functions. This primarily included the connection to the Adobe Creative Suite and the SAP store of MENNEKES as well as the link to a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This allows the assets to be provided in all desired formats across all channels. Thanks to the transparent communication of the desired workflows and content processes by MENNEKES, the project milestones were quickly defined.

The exchange with the decision-makers at MENNEKES proved to be a challenge of its own due to its purely virtual nature, but this was quickly overcome thanks to mutual transparency and a well-structured ticket system. Pain points were quickly identified and controlling was all the more efficient.

Get to the assets

With the CELUM installation and the setup of all important standards and connections, the media and files as well as their metadata can now be maintained in all relevant places. In addition, the system is linked to Typo3 Connect in order to connect the company website itself to the new asset network and ensure orderly data exchange. In the next phase of the project, SAP PCM will be integrated into the overall project so that the e-commerce sector at MENNEKES can also benefit directly from the current assets.

About CELUM

CELUM is a high-performance and integrative system that fits perfectly into communicode's range of solutions. It fulfills the current enterprise requirements of companies in terms of performance, usability, function, support and further development. With CELUM, digital asset management becomes a simple and above all efficient component of the corporate process structure.

All digital assets, from product graphics to pure information sheets, are orchestrated and provided via CELUM, which primarily makes asset management itself leaner and saves costs through shorter provision paths and the avoidance of outdated duplicates.