Schneider Electric is one of fifteen manufacturers and ten wholesalers who have signed up as founder members of EDATA, a new ‘By the industry for the industry’ product data pool.
EDATA strategic initiative
EDATA is the latest strategic initiative from the Electrical Distributors’ Association (EDA) under their EDA Data Services banner.
E-commerce and digital transformation are inextricably linked to the availability of the highest quality product data, and EDATA offers manufacturers a central ‘single source of truth’ resource for uploading product information, technical data and images, which wholesalers can download and serve up on their customer-facing e-commerce channels.
Product data pool
EDATA gives the UK’s electro-technical supply chain the opportunity to say goodbye to the heavy workloads"
“We are delighted to be a part of an initiative that will provide manufacturers with up-to-date data. This will ease their workloads and provide a space where technical knowledge can be shared. We are looking forward to seeing how the data pool will strengthen their work in the long term and encourage all wholesalers to use the tool.” said Nico van de Merwe, Vice President of Home & Distribution at Schneider Electric.
Margaret Fitzsimons, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the EDA, said “The EDA is delighted to have Schneider Electric as a founder of this new initiative. EDATA gives the UK’s electro-technical supply chain the opportunity to say goodbye to the heavy workloads created by processing data through multiple channels and hello to enhanced ecommerce infrastructure.”
Data pool categories
EDATA currently holds information in three categories: Manufacturer Master Data, the core data needed to identify a product, Digital Assets such as images and data sheets, and Technical Attributes including dimensions, suitability and performance characteristics.
The Technical Attributes held in EDATA will be structured in accordance with ETIM, the international data model for the standardization and classification of technical product data enabling wholesalers to enhance their web sites with powerful product searches and filters. The EDA has led the ETIM initiative for the UK’s electro-technical sector since 2017.