Brugger GmbH Magnetic Systems
Website and PIM relaunch for 1,600 magnetic systems from the Black Forest.
- UX Design
- Web design
- Pimcore development
- PIM structure
- Product Finder & Filter Logic
- Search index
- PDF automation
- Interface configuration
- Product Data Interface
- B2B marketplace integration
- Multilingualism (DE/EN/FR)
Brugger GmbH, based in Hardt, is a family-run business and has been a specialist in magnetic fastening technology for 60 years. Magnetic technology, metalworking and plastics technology are all under one roof – from design through in-house toolmaking to assembly. This results in several million magnetic systems being produced each year.
The product range extends from high-quality standard items to complex customised systems: rubber-coated magnetic systems, pot magnets, rod grippers, magnetic filters, magnetic fittings, POS and office magnets, raw magnets, as well as magnetic couplings, ring-gap systems and rotors. The company supplies 16 sectors, ranging from the automotive industry through to medical technology and wind power.
The result is a new website with a PIM at its heart – structured product data that simultaneously feeds product finders, detail pages, data sheets and marketplace feeds.
Our work:
- Analysis of the existing website and user requirements
- Design of a responsive website with a new visual identity
- Development of the PIM as the central database for all magnet system types
- Product finder with filters for holding force, temperature and dimensions, including tolerances
- Search index covering the entire product range
- Automated PDF data sheets for each product and language
- Interface for reading and writing product data
- Integration with B2B marketplaces
- Wishlist and price enquiry across the entire catalogue
- Implementation in Pimcore on container infrastructure
A magnet is not an item, but a data record.
Anyone looking for a magnetic system in mechanical engineering isn’t looking for a product name. They’re looking for 40 newtons of holding force at a maximum operating temperature of 80 degrees, round, with an external diameter of 25 millimetres and a tolerance of two millimetres, with an internal thread, and galvanised.
The website must address precisely this enquiry – across a wide variety of system types:
- Presenting a wide variety of magnetic system types in a consistent yet flexible manner
- Enable products to be found specifically by holding force, temperature range and exact dimensions, including tolerances
- Automatically generate up-to-date PDF data sheets for every product and every language
- Ensure product data is both readable and editable externally
One data set.
Four output channels.
In the PIM, each magnet system is stored as a structured data record: magnet material, housing material, dimensions with tolerances, holding force, operating temperature, design, surface finish, industry classification.
These fields are used to generate the product finder, the details page, the PDF data sheet and the marketplace feed – all at the same time and in three languages. If the holding force is changed, it updates everywhere, rather than having to be updated in four places one after the other.
Four issues
Search, details page, data sheet and marketplace – all from the same source
Unified data model
from the rubberised disc to the annular gap system
Multilingual
German, English and French from a single collection
Search the way engineers think.
The product finder does not filter by category, but by technical specifications. Dimensions can be entered as either circular or rectangular – for circular dimensions, via outer and inner diameters and height; for rectangular dimensions, via length, width and height.
The key feature is the tolerance search: if you need 25 millimetres but can accept a range of 23 to 27, you can activate the two-millimetre tolerance and receive results that an exact search would have omitted. Adhesive force and operating temperature are also available as separate range filters.
Dimension search with tolerance
round or square, optionally with 2 mm clearance
Adhesion & Temperature
as a range filter, not as a text box
Industry filters
Approach via the application rather than the design
No technical data sheet should be older than the product itself.
In B2B sales, technical data sheets are the document that settles matters in case of doubt – and, in many companies, they are also the ones that become obsolete the quickest. A value changes in the ERP system, but the PDF on the website remains as it was.
At Brugger, the data sheet is generated directly from the data record, in every language. There is no centralised PDF repository that could become out of sync. By definition, what the data sheet shows is exactly what is in the PIM.
Automatic generation
per product and per language, without any manual intermediate steps
No duplicate management
a single source rather than a collection of individual documents
Wishlist & Price Enquiry
Request selected items as a bundle
Data that flows in both directions.
The product data is not only readable but also writable. Connected systems can retrieve and write back values – the PIM is therefore not a copy of the truth, but the truth itself.
B2B marketplaces operate on the same principle: wherever Brugger is listed, the product data comes from the same inventory as on its own website. One product range, one set of data, regardless of the channel.
Reading and writing
A two-way interface rather than a one-way street
Marketplace integration
Supplies B2B platforms from the same data source
Single Point of Truth
The PIM is the source, not a copy of it
Research rarely begins at a desk.
A design engineer is standing by the machine, a procurement officer is sitting at the supplier’s premises, and a fitter is holding the component in their hand. The product finder must work even when the screen is the size of the palm of your hand.
On a smartphone, the filter column becomes a collapsible section above the list of results; the data tables wrap to the next line instead of requiring scrolling; and the wishlist remains accessible throughout every step – so that a search carried out on the move can be turned into an enquiry once back at the desk.
Brugger benefits from a modern website and significantly more efficient portfolio management. Efforts are focused where they should be – on product data management – and no longer on duplicating the same information across web pages, PDFs and marketplaces.
For customers, this means: they search by technical specifications rather than product names, see the same values on every page, and can submit their selection directly as an enquiry.
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