7 Languages, 580 Pages, Fully Automated: Catalog System for Gustav Daiber

7 Languages, 580 Pages, Fully Automated: Catalog System for Gustav Daiber

Kittelberger recently completed the development of a comprehensive catalog system for Gustav Daiber GmbH. The new system brings together the textile manufacturer’s product and image data in a high-quality visual format and enables highly streamlined, multilingual output. Immediately afterward, Kittelberger took over the complete production of the 2019 catalog in 7 languages.

The core focus of the project was to establish an optimal process chain for catalog generation—highly automated while maintaining a sophisticated visual layout. The implementation was based on the advastamedia® framework developed by Kittelberger and involved a number of parallel project steps: creation of 14 templates, integration of static pages, multilingual capabilities, import of existing product data and images, external control of catalog pages, and delivery of nearly print-ready InDesign files that Daiber could use for final production and print data export.

The flexible setup now allows for varied arrangements of products, static pages, chapter and subchapter intros, index, table of contents, and notes. Extensive interfaces were developed to automatically import existing product data into the catalog system. With a simple control interface, Daiber can now define which template is used for specific products, which items appear on each page, which images to use—including their placement within image boxes and scale factor.

High Level of Automation Increases Production Reliability

Complex output and query logic make each catalog production especially dynamic. Product content is automatically validated and condensed; additional algorithms handle image placements, scaling, and footnotes. This is made possible by the advastamedia® Print Engine, which already supports a wide range of such use cases and is used by customers from various industries for catalog production.

This level of automation also streamlines the correction process: each time the catalog is generated, a report is automatically created. It checks the technical print readiness of the content as well as logical consistency—for example, in text fields and pricing. “This approach saves an enormous amount of time, especially for large-scale catalogs,” explains Kittelberger Managing Director Jürgen Frücht, who led the project. “And the complete catalog is generated in just a few minutes.”

The output includes a PDF that maps all language versions on different layers. This greatly enhances production reliability in 5-color printing, as it ensures that only the black plate needs to be changed across language versions. The height of the text boxes in the catalog is automatically adjusted to accommodate all language variants.