InBetween Publishing Tool:
Automated Datasheet Generation
from PIM Data
The Portwest Publisher is a custom publishing application developed and configured by InBetween for Portwest, one of the world’s fastest-growing workwear companies. Operating in more than 130 countries and managing a portfolio of over 47,000 SKUs, Portwest produces technical datasheets and marketing materials in 28 languages, where accuracy is critical for safety standards, certifications, and compliance requirements.
Designed for distributors and sales teams, the solution enables users to automatically generate customized ready-to-use PDFs from centralized information stored in a Single Source of Truth, such as a PIM system.
Today, the Publisher is used to create branded sales materials that are always based on the latest product information. What was previously a manual process handled internally can now be completed independently by distributors and sales teams through a simple web-based interface, generating professional PDFs within seconds.
A PUBLISHING APPLICATION BUILT AROUND CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
The Portwest Publisher is not a standard off-the-shelf application. Built around Portwest’s specific requirements, it was tailored to the company’s publishing processes, document requirements, branding guidelines, and distributor workflows. The objective was clear: enable business users to create professional, branded sales materials without involving the design team, while ensuring that all documents are generated from approved and up-to-date source data.
For Portwest, this was particularly important because distributors require localized, customer-specific sales materials while maintaining consistent product communication and brand presentation across global markets.
SIMPLE USER EXPERIENCE, POWERFUL PUBLISHING ENGINE
The generated documents can be used by distributors, sales teams, and internal stakeholders for customer communication, sales activities, and approval processes. The complexity is handled entirely in the background by the InBetween Publishing Engine. It acts as the link between structured product data and finished customer-facing documents.
When a user generates a datasheet, InBetween retrieves the required product information, images, certifications, and localized content directly from the connected source. The document is then assembled automatically using publishing rules, templates, and integrations configured specifically for Portwest.
This approach ensures that every generated document follows predefined standards while remaining flexible enough to support different products, layouts, languages, and branding requirements. As Portwest expands the solution, the same publishing framework can support additional product ranges, document types, and languages across international markets.
Through a web-based interface, users can:
- Select products or product ranges
- Choose from predefined document layouts
- Upload their company logo
- Add contact information
- Generate a personalized PDF within seconds
RULES, TEMPLATES AND INTEGRATIONS
A key aspect of the solution is the separation of data, design, and publishing logic. At the core of the solution is a configurable publishing framework that allows InBetween to adapt publishing workflows to each customer’s specific requirements without changing the underlying product data structure.
For Portwest, this means distributors can generate their own sales materials while maintaining consistent branding, document quality, and product information across all markets.
The publishing process is controlled through:
Document templates
Layout and design rules
Business rules
Product data mappings
System integrations
RESULTS AND BUSINESS IMPACT
The Portwest Publisher quickly became a valuable sales enablement tool. Within the first two months after launch, distributors generated more than 700 customized flyers and catalogs, demonstrating strong adoption across the partner network. The Publisher enables partners to create localized and branded sales materials whenever they are needed.
Because documents are generated directly from live data, users always work with current product information, certifications, and localized content. Datasheets and sales flyers can be created in seconds and immediately shared with customers.
The implementation also eliminated a significant amount of repetitive design work. Previously, Portwest’s design team handled around 150 ad-hoc flyer and catalog requests per year. By automating these publishing processes, the company reduced manual effort and enabled creative teams to focus on higher-value marketing activities.
In addition, distributors can independently create customized sales materials by selecting products, layouts, and branding elements themselves. This transforms publishing from a centralized bottleneck into a scalable self-service process.
Beyond improving day-to-day publishing workflows, the Publisher also strengthens support for established markets while enabling faster expansion into new ones. By providing localized, compliant sales materials on demand, Portwest can respond more quickly to regional market requirements, remove previous capacity barriers, and empower distributors to drive growth in both existing and emerging markets.
BEYOND THE PUBLISHER
The Portwest Publisher is only one part of the broader collaboration between Portwest and InBetween. Beyond self-service publishing for distributors and sales teams, InBetween also automates the generation of technical product datasheets and supports Portwest’s transition toward template-driven catalog production.
By replacing manual publishing processes, Portwest has reduced repetitive design work by an estimated 560 hours per year, representing approximately €40,000 in annual savings. This allows creative teams to focus on higher-value marketing activities while ensuring that distributors and sales teams always have access to up-to-date product information and sales materials.
Together, these initiatives create a scalable publishing environment that supports everything from individual datasheets and sales flyers to large product catalogs.
“By connecting InBetween directly with our Akeneo PIM, our product managers can now update information once and see those changes reflected in datasheets and publications almost immediately. That level of automation and consistency simply wasn’t possible before.”
Ronan Hughes
Design Studio Manager, Portwest
“The Web Portwest Publisher has fundamentally changed how we support our distributors. They can now generate their own customized, branded catalogs in minutes, without involving our design team. Everything is created from live PIM data, which ensures consistency while giving our partners the flexibility to market effectively in their local markets. This improves how both Portwest and our distributors are presented and helps build trust.”
Ronan Hughes
Design Studio Manager, Portwest
“It‘s a big sales tool (...) it allows our sales team to create up-to-date mini flyers and catalogs for a particular collection or a range that they can brand and send on to customers.“
Ronan Hughes
Design Studio Manager, Portwest
The Portwest Publisher demonstrates how structured product data can be transformed into professional customer-facing documents through a publishing application.
By combining centralized product information with configurable rules, templates, and integrations, organizations can automate document creation while maintaining control over branding, quality, compliance, and localization.
The result is a scalable publishing process that reduces manual effort, enables self-service document creation, and ensures that sales teams, distributors, and customers always have access to up-to-date product information.
With always up-to-date, safety-critical product information, Portwest now responds faster to market demands, strengthens partner relationships, and supports international growth with confidence.
Read the full Portwest Success Story to learn how automated datasheet and catalog generation together with self-service publishing ensure accurate product communication across global markets.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does InBetween generate datasheets from PIM data?
The InBetween Publishing Platform connects to a customer's PIM system and automatically retrieves approved product data, images, certifications, and localized content. Using configurable templates, layout rules, business rules, and data mappings, it generates professionally designed PDF datasheets automatically, eliminating manual copy-and-paste work.
How does the Portwest Publisher help distributors and sales teams?
The Portwest Publisher enables distributors and sales teams to generate branded product datasheets and sales materials independently through a self-service web interface. Documents are automatically created using the latest approved product information from the PIM system, ensuring consistent branding, accurate content, and significantly reducing the time required to prepare sales materials.
Can the publishing application be adapted to our existing workflows?
Yes. InBetween is designed to fit existing publishing processes rather than requiring companies to change how they work. Templates, layout rules, business rules, data mappings, integrations, and user workflows can all be configured to match individual business requirements.
Which systems can InBetween integrate with?
InBetween integrates with Product Information Management (PIM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), ERP, eCommerce, CRM, and other enterprise systems. It uses centralized product information to generate consistent, up-to-date documents across print and digital channels.
Which documents can be automated with InBetween?
InBetween automates the creation of product datasheets, catalogs, sales flyers, brochures, price lists, technical documentation, packaging, labels, and other customer-facing publications. Documents can be produced as print-ready PDFs, digital documents, or other publication formats, depending on business requirements.
Can InBetween generate multilingual product datasheets automatically?
Yes. InBetween automatically generates multilingual product datasheets using centrally managed product information from a PIM system. Language-specific content, market-specific assortments, legal requirements, layouts, and branding rules are applied automatically, ensuring consistent product communication across all countries and sales channels.
Do business users need design or Adobe InDesign skills?
No. Business users work through an intuitive web interface where they select products, document templates, languages, and branding options. The publishing platform automatically applies the required layouts and publishing rules, while designers retain full control over templates, layouts, and corporate branding in Adobe InDesign.
Why use a publishing application instead of exporting PDFs directly from a PIM system?
A PIM system manages and enriches product information, but it is not designed for advanced document creation. InBetween complements a PIM system by automating document composition, professional layouts, multilingual publishing, branding, business rules, and print-ready output. This allows companies to generate consistent, customer-ready product documents directly from centralized product data.
About InBetween
InBetween Deutschland GmbH, a global leader in digital publishing solutions, has been at the forefront of product and brand professionalisation for more than 20 years. Our software automatically creates catalogs, sales folders, price lists, datasheets, and more, all based on your latest product data. This saves you significant and measurable time and costs, while increasing the quality of your output documents by reducing manual errors. Our solution offers both fully or partially automated publications, personalised for different customer segments, in a variety of output formats and languages suiting your company.
