LAGO: More than “just” a program

The Wuerzburg, Germany based company, Gebrüder Götz, has used LAGO to produce its media advertising for more than 11 years. The Catalyst spoke to Karl-Heinz Lassotta, Advertising Director Technical Catalog Management, about his experience with the system.

In what industry is Gebrüder Götz active?
Karl-Heinz Lassotta: “Gebrüder Götz is a catalog company with approximately 350 employees. We specialize in the shipment of footwear, apparel, sporting goods and household items.”

How many catalogs or catalog pages do you produce/edit per year?
“We have one catalog for the spring + summer season and another one for the fall + winter season. Additionally, we distribute a number of brochures throughout the year. Altogether, we publish about 2,000 pages annually – and growing.”

When did you adopt LAGO?
“In May 1999. However, we had been searching for a suitable catalog production system for a while but were not able to find a solution that met our requirements.”

What tipped the scale in favor of LAGO?
“Before we implemented LAGO, our production process for all publishing media was mostly manual. That was confusing, tedious and time consuming, despite the fact that we had access to a Cumulus image database. Furthermore, we couldn’t easily pull basic product data from our inventory management system. This important catalog information had to be re-created from item lists for each production cycle. Needless to say, this was very time consuming and error-prone.
Therefore, we wanted a system that could integrate the management of image, text and graphics with the acquisition of basic item data and allowed an update from our ERP.”

And these functions can be found in the LAGO software?
“Absolutely! The production of our marketing media is much faster with LAGO. It is more efficient and more transparent. However, I must say this: LAGO alone does not guarantee any sudden improvement. Using LAGO requires a stringent process, which needs to be defined and managed by those responsible for the production on the client side. The execution of the strategy plays a crucial role in determining the project success or failure.
If a company has had no functioning “manual production strategy” before the deployment of LAGO the desired synergies will show up very hesitantly. I like to illustrate that idea with a baking analogy. The ingredients are data such as images, text, logos, etc. LAGO represents the necessary kitchen equipment like a mixer or baking pan. The administrator and/or production manager is the baker who brings a good recipe, and takes responsibility to ensure a functioning and optimized workflow. Then the recipe will succeed.”

Does LAGO pay off? In which areas you could record savings?
“The cost of the LAGO software pays off pretty fast. It is an advantage that we can do practically everything in-house until the handover to the litho. We have achieved cost savings of up to 60% in smaller brochures with re-used items. But that does not mean we have reached the limits of LAGO. The system brings enormous potential for further cost and time savings.”

Has the switch to LAGO had additional effects?
“LAGO has proven to be much more than just a software solution. We partially redefined and clarified the internal communication between the departments within our company. For example, LAGO helped us clearly define the responsibilities of purchasing and advertising. I would even say that the thinking in our company was stimulated by LAGO.”

How important is e-commerce for Gebrüder Götz?
“We are operating an online store, but our system has not been very dynamic in terms of presenting images and logos. Once we have installed the latest version of LAGO, we will adjust our online store accordingly.”

What services do you receive from Comosoft?
“Of course, we have a support agreement. But our relationship to Comosoft stretches beyond  simple consultation and support. There is an active communication, and both companies are learning from each other. I am particularly pleased that our development suggestions are widely reflected in new versions/software updates.”