Emuca, more than 40 years of innovation in the furniture sector
With more than four decades of experience, Emuca is an international company specializing in the design, manufacture, and marketing of hardware, components, and solutions for the furniture and carpentry sector. Its catalog covers a very wide range of products: from drawers, hinges, opening and closing systems, to LED lighting, solutions for kitchens, bathrooms, offices, or shops.
The company operates in more than 60 countries, with offices in Spain, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom, and is aimed primarily at professionals in the sector: furniture manufacturers, architects, interior designers, distributors, and specialized shops.
As a fundamental part of its business strategy, Emuca produces a wide variety of technical catalogs and support materials in multiple languages and formats. Keeping this editorial machinery running and with a high level of visual and technical quality is not without its difficulties.
The challenge: How to manage thousands of references, languages, and versions without losing control
Emuca’s growth meant a progressive increase in the complexity of its catalogs:
- More than 1,600 products and 4,700 active variants
- 25,000 images and visual resources
- 7,000 attached files (manuals, data sheets, certificates)
- 400 installation and demonstration videos
- Publications in 8 different languages, for 8 markets
- 8 annual thematic catalogs + 1 biannual general catalog
- Versions in paper and digital, with different structures and objectives
Each new product launch or update involved an enormous workload for the product design and data management teams: manual layout, revisions, adjustments, translations, validations… And all this with a high risk of committing numerous human errors, duplications, visual inconsistencies, or production delays.
Emuca needed a robust, flexible, and scalable solution. One that would allow it to maintain quality and control over its catalog, without relying on manual processes that consumed time and resources.
The solution: EasyCatalog + Sales Layer + Nousmedis
In 2017, Emuca began its digital transformation with the incorporation of Sales Layer, a PIM (Product Information Management) system that centralizes and structures all product information for multiple uses, one of them: catalog production. This was the first step to ensure data quality and facilitate its distribution to multiple channels.
But the real leap occurred in 2021, when the company decided to carry out a complete automation of the generation of its technical hardware catalogs using EasyCatalog, an Adobe InDesign plugin that allows you to paginate complex documents connected directly to a data source.
That’s where Nousmedis comes in: as experts in editorial automation and custom programming with EasyCatalog, we collaborate with Emuca to carry out a comprehensive automation project for its technical hardware catalog, tailored to the particularities of its business and its visual requirements.
What exactly did we do?
1. Direct connection with Sales Layer
We integrated EasyCatalog with Emuca’s PIM, which allowed us to directly link all products, attributes, images, diagrams, and tables with the InDesign templates. In this way, the contents of the catalog are automatically updated from a single source of truth.
2. Custom programming and dynamic templates
We created intelligent structures so that the different elements (texts, images, tables, diagrams, codes, descriptions, etc.) are automatically placed according to the defined rules. We also designed bilingual and multilingual templates that adapt to different markets and languages.
3. Automatic adjustment of tables and graphic elements
The tables automatically adapt to the page width; the images and sketches are scaled and positioned with precision; the texts are adjusted to the available space. All this without manual intervention.
4. Visual standardization in all languages
Thanks to the modular and multi-format structure, the catalogs in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Polish maintain perfect visual coherence, facilitating review, printing, or digital publication.
The results: more efficiency, fewer errors, and greater strategic value
The new Emuca Technical Catalog is the best example of what editorial automation can achieve:
- More than 800 fully automated pages
- Content synchronized in real time with the Sales Layer PIM
- Precise layout, without duplications or data errors
- Tables that automatically adjust to the design
- Flexible templates in bilingual and multilingual format
- Designs adapted with thumb indexes to facilitate navigation on paper
- Printed version + digital version with lead capture forms
In addition, the internal Emuca team has gained autonomy and agility. Catalogs are no longer an annual burden: they are a living, useful, and strategic tool that evolves along with the business.
Impact: when the catalog becomes a commercial engine
At Emuca, the catalog is not just a technical document. It is a commercial, marketing, training, and loyalty tool. Many of its customers value the printed catalog, for its usefulness in the workshop, in the store, or on the construction site. But at the same time, digital catalogs have become a key channel for generating qualified leads, integrated into their website and in capture campaigns, downloadable through forms.
What’s next?
Thanks to this automation, Emuca can expand its technical hardware catalog, add new product families, or open international markets without having to multiply the work of its design or documentation team. This transformation allows them to focus on what really adds value: the product, the customer, and growth.
Want to see how we did it? Watch the demo in our webinar with Sales Layer.
Would you like to automate your catalogs like Emuca? Write to us, and we will find a customized solution for you.
Want to see more similar content? Go to our blog, and see our other case studies with companies like LedsC4, Daitsu, or the University of Notre Dame.
