Customer stories

Linde plc

Linde improves data management and productivity with OpenText. World’s largest industrial gases and engineering company scales to meet productivity demands using OpenText Documentum

Challenges

  • Duplications and information in silos following merger
  • Developing content, scaling operations across multiple countries and departments

Results

  • Harmonized content and workflow for continued productivity

  • Customized and integrated content across global locations

  • Ensured future-proof digitization

Story

In the late 1990s, Linde engineers had rooms reserved for binders packed with documents. In 1999, it introduced OpenText™ Documentum™ to ease the paper burden and establish automated workflows to track document sharing with customers.

We put in millions and millions of documents every year and we see no issues with performance.

Sebastian Dommel
GDMS manager, Linde

Established workflows help users work more efficiently with the Documentum platform and keep the data quality high for the documents that we store in the repository" explained Sebastian Dommel, who works in the Linde engineering IT department and serves as the application owner for Linde’s global document management system (GDMS), which runs on Documentum.

By replacing outdated paper-based methods with proven content management, Documentum has enabled users across the globe to complete business-critical tasks with immediate access to materials via a familiar, integrated platform. The solution achieved ROI just a few years later. “Over the years we executed thousands of projects successfully with Documentum,” Dommel noted. “Documentum saved a lot of time and, therefore, money.” Overall, the content management system adeptly serves approximately 7,000 users at Linde. It provides an intuitive interface for gas employees to locate information and a core system with everyday workflow for engineers who upload files from a variety of engineering applications. The company also maintains interfaces with SAP and several other solutions to support external partners and customers.

As an enterprise-ready system, Documentum meets growing demand. “In our experience, the main difference between Documentum and its competitors is that the Documentum platform scales very well,” said Dommel. “We put in millions and millions of documents every year and we see no issues with performance.”

With an open, standards-based architecture, Documentum is the single source of information and allows Linde to customize the system to its needs. For instance, key users at Linde often conduct bulk exports, imports and edits. “Transmittals help us keep track of what has been sent and what has not been sent. It’s proof for recipient and for the sender,” said Dommel.

Moving forward, the multinational gases and engineering company continues to rely on Documentum. “We have projects to harmonize the data in engineering, accounting and other systems,” explained Dommel. “It’s shifting from a document-based to an informationbased approach.” Furthermore, Documentum enables professionals to replicate content globally, a feature Linde appreciates as it has expanded business across international locations, namely India and China, over the last decade.

Man in safety gear and hardhat climbing ladder

We are in a supported environment that is future-proof.

Sebastian Dommel
GDMS manager, Linde

To maintain its content management system, Linde partnered with OpenText Professional Services. Even faced with the “daunting task” of upgrades with replicated and distributed content, the transition was smooth, according to Dommel. “With our strategic partnership, OpenText gives us a way forward,” he said. “We are in a supported environment that is future-proof.

We are always able to keep the platform and IT solutions up to date concerning certifications. Just recently, Linde has started testing OpenText™ Documentum™ D2, the advanced content-centric client for Documentum, with its enterprise users. With its smart user interface, Documentum D2 will continue to support immediate content access and streamlined workflow for Linde in its mission of “making our world more productive.”

About Linde plc

Linde is a leading industrial gases and engineering company employing 80,000 people worldwide. Linde Engineering designs and builds chemical plants, while the industrial gases business supplies industrial, medical and specialty gases to customers in more than 100 countries.