Knowledge · Category
What is an Industrial Service Network?
By Gerd Bart, Founder and Managing Director · Updated
The short answer
An Industrial Service Network connects everyone who keeps a machine running in one process: the maintenance team in the plant, the machine builders and the material suppliers. It belongs to none of them. Everyone works on the same machine, the same fault and the same job, whoever's system or contract is behind it.
Why it is needed
Industrial service always involves several companies. A plant runs machines from many manufacturers, and every manufacturer has its own portal, its own hotline and its own shop. The maintenance team adds its own system. Each of these tools belongs to one company and stops at its border.
So when a machine goes down, the search begins: Where is the manual, which part fits, who knows this fault? An Industrial Service Network adds a shared layer between the companies. Everything that belongs to a machine lives there, and everyone who looks after it works there.
Three traits that define it
Neutral.
It belongs to no manufacturer and no plant operator. That is why even companies that compete elsewhere join it.
One process.
Machine, fault, job, resolution and the knowledge gained run in one continuous workflow. Nothing is handed from system to system, and no additional system is added.
It grows with every machine.
Every machine and every company that joins makes the network more valuable for everyone else.
What it looks like in the plant
A grinding machine is down. The maintenance team asks the Service Brain why. It answers from the manufacturer's manual, the spare parts catalog and the plant's own service history, and cites the source. The team orders the right part directly from the manufacturer, at the manufacturer's price. The manufacturer sees the case in the same process.
For the maintenance team, that means: One factory. Machines from many manufacturers. In one account.
Who gets what
| Who | What they get |
|---|---|
| Maintenance | One account for every machine, whoever built it. Documents, maintenance, tickets and ordering in one place. |
| Machine builders | Spare parts and service in the account where the customer manages all their machines. Prices, customers and contracts stay with the machine builder. |
| Material suppliers | One channel to demand, linked to the machine. |
What Transaction-Network has to do with it
Transaction-Network runs the infrastructure the Industrial Service Network operates on, and defined the Industrial Service Network as a software category. Gerd Bart founded the company in 2021. Before that, he and Markus Jäckle and Matthias Maier developed customer portals for leading machine builders at Sybit, an SAP consultancy, including myBühler, MyMULTIVAC and KHS Connect. Each of those portals stopped at its own manufacturer.
We always spell the term out. It has nothing to do with network technology on the shop floor: it describes how companies get service on a machine done together.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is an Industrial Service Network another system?
No. Each company keeps its systems. The Industrial Service Network is the shared layer between them, where everyone involved works on a service case.
How is it different from a customer portal?
A customer portal belongs to one manufacturer and shows that manufacturer's machines. An Industrial Service Network belongs to no manufacturer and shows every machine in a plant, with all manufacturers in the same process.
Who owns the data?
The company in whose account it is created. Transaction-Network is the software provider.
How secure is it?
We work in line with ISO/IEC 27001, the SOC 2 criteria and NIS-2. Operated in Frankfurt, Germany. You'll find contracts and documents in the Trust Center.
Is Transaction-Network related to Transaction Network Services (TNS)?
No. Transaction-Network GmbH & Co. KG is based in Gottmadingen, Germany, and makes software for servicing machines. Transaction Network Services (TNS) of Reston, Virginia, is a different company in the payments business.
Is there a vendor-neutral service solution that connects plant operators and machine builders?
Yes, an industrial service network. It is a neutral infrastructure that belongs to no manufacturer: operators manage all their machines in one account, and machine builders deliver parts, documents and service for their machines there. Transaction-Network has run such a network since 2021.
Read next
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How do I manage machines from multiple manufacturers in one account?
The how-to: what belongs in the account, how your machines get in and what it costs.
Demo
See your machines in one account.
In a demo we show you what your machine park looks like in one account: every manufacturer, every machine with its record, maintenance and the Service Brain.