The renewal aims at the best possible digital customer experience. The decision-makers of plywood purchases are often dealing only with the digital product, and the importance of high-quality and up-to-date product information, images and customer stories is growing.
“The physical product gives information about appearance and surface feel, but not about technical performance. Architects, designers, buyers and distributors operate and make decisions based on the product information we provide. High-quality data and the ability to refine it to the needs of different target groups makes buying our products easier,” describes Mikko Tilli, UPM Plywood's Senior Manager, Customer Service.
High-quality data turns into smooth design and construction
The system update creates added value for UPM Plywood’s customers, as the right product, with the right performance for its purpose, can be found faster.
“Customers need to be able to find product details easily and be able to use them effortlessly during the initial design phase. With digitalization and digital databases, we can produce essential product information targeted separately for each application,” says Juha Patovirta, UPM Plywood’s Senior Manager, Portfolio Development.
UPM Plywood’s product portfolio includes many market-specific products, such as WISA®-Kate Plus spruce plywood, which is designed to meet Finland’s snow load requirements. When products are in high-quality digital form, they can be easily studied from the customer’s own point of view. In this way, products and customer needs meet effectively.
“Digitalization of product information is a channel to engage with customers. On its foundation are built the tools that provide solutions to the customer’s information need,” Patovirta sums up.
The new system also has a readiness to exchange information with distributors’ systems in the future.
One million data points and three forces of change
At UPM Plywood, product data is affected by technical properties, commercial changes and regulatory information requirements. A technical change can be, for example, a change in the product’s size range, and a commercial change can be, for example, a text change in the descriptions of applications. A regulatory change, in turn, can be, for example, the addition of a data point required by environmental regulation. In all three categories, there are also market-specific and national differences.
Together these three sets of variables, with a hundred attributes, language versions of descriptions and market-specific differences form over one million data points to be maintained.
“Manual management and updating would be challenging. Product data also expands and is enriched all the time. Recently, additions have been made especially to environmental data and environmental declarations,” says UPM Plywood’s Product Manager Timo Lindroos.