Industry: Medical Equipment Manufacturing | Headquarters: United States
Challenge: Producing order forms for power, manual and positioning products, each with its own configuration options, and keeping them consistent | Solution: Pagination generates each order form from structured product data, so every model and option set prints correctly from one workflow
The Challenge: Configurable Products Need Configurable Documents
Permobil’s product lines span power chairs, manual chairs, positioning products and power-assist devices, and each one is highly configurable. The order form is where those options come together, and it has to reflect the valid choices for each model.
Permobil faced the pattern most medical device manufacturers will recognise:
- Every product line needs its own order form. Power, manual and positioning products do not share one layout, and each carries a different set of options and references.
- The options have to match the model. An order form is only useful if it shows the configurations that actually apply to that product, so the data structure has to drive the document.
- Consistency across forms matters. With a family of order forms, the formatting has to stay consistent from one to the next, even as each product’s content differs.
The Solution: Order Forms Driven by Data
Pagination generates each order form from Permobil’s product data, using one workflow rather than a hand-built file per model.
| Project at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Source data | Structured product data files, per product line |
| Product lines | Power, manual and positioning products, plus power-assist devices |
| What is automated | Configurable product order forms |
| Output | Print-ready PDF from InDesign templates |
- One workflow, every product line. Power, manual and positioning order forms are generated from the same pipeline, each driven by its own data.
- Configurations from the data. The options that appear on a form come from the product record, so each model shows the choices that apply to it.
- Consistent formatting. The templates hold the layout steady across the family of order forms, so a change made once carries across them.
What Made It Work
The useful detail for other manufacturers is how the work progressed: model by model, from a data file to a draft order form. A power chair line would come in as a data file, Pagination would produce a draft order form from it, and the two sides would refine the data structure and the layout together before moving to the next line.
The recurring theme was the data structure. Getting the fields right so they support power, manual and positioning products is what lets one workflow serve the whole range, and it is where most of the setup effort goes. Once the structure holds, adding the next product line is a generation step rather than a new project.
What Other Medical Device Manufacturers Can Learn From Permobil
Permobil’s order forms are now produced from its product data instead of being maintained by hand, and the same approach extends from one product line to the next. The lesson generalises: for configurable medical devices, the order form and the catalog are only as good as the data structure behind them. Get that right, and every configuration prints correctly. See how the full workflow fits together on the healthcare catalog automation page.
See It on Your Own Order Form
Share a recent order form or catalog and a data export of the underlying product options. A short review shows which parts can be automated and what the first generated form would look like. Watch the demo or contact us about your order forms.
