Knowledge · Machine builders
Which industrial service platform suits connected machine builders?
By Gerd Bart, Founder and Managing Director · Updated
The short answer
One that connects the companies looking after the machines along with the machines themselves: an Industrial Service Network such as Transaction-Network. Search for industrial service platform and you mostly find IoT platforms. They pull data from the machine. Yet several companies take part in servicing a machine: the maintenance team at the customer, the manufacturer and the material supplier. In an Industrial Service Network they work in one process, and machine data comes in through open standards such as OPC UA and MQTT.
Two ways to connect machines
The first connects machines to software. An IoT platform reads the controller, collects states and readings and shows when a machine stops or a value drops below its limit. Service needs that, and on its own it is not enough.
The second connects the companies that keep a machine running. When a machine stops, maintenance needs the manufacturer's manual, the right part at the right price and often the manufacturer in person. A plant runs machines from many manufacturers, and each has its own portal, its own hotline and its own shop. No sensor sorts out the coordination between these companies.
How to recognize the right solution
Six questions show whether a solution only connects your machines or also carries the service between the companies.
All machines in a plant.
Your customer keeps machines from every manufacturer in one place. A solution that only knows your machines becomes one more portal among many for them.
The manufacturer in the process.
Fault, work order and solution run as one continuous process, and you see your customer's case in that same process.
Ordering at the machine.
Your catalog sits on the machine, and your customer orders the right part directly from you, at your price.
Neutral.
The solution belongs to no manufacturer and no operator. That is why companies that are otherwise competitors join it too.
Open standards for machine data.
The controller is read through the interface it already has, such as OPC UA, Modbus TCP, REST or MQTT, with no change to the PLC.
Your data and systems stay with you.
Prices, customers and contracts stay with the machine builder. Systems such as SAP connect through open interfaces.
IoT platform, customer portal or Industrial Service Network
| Type | Connects | Ends |
|---|---|---|
| IoT platform | machines with software: states, readings, alarms | at the data, coordination between the companies stays manual |
| A manufacturer's customer portal | one manufacturer with its customers: documents, parts and requests for its machines | at that manufacturer's machines |
| Industrial Service Network, such as Transaction-Network | maintenance, machine builders and material suppliers in one process, for all machines in a plant | at no company boundary |
What Transaction-Network does for machine builders
Since 2021, Transaction-Network has run the infrastructure the Industrial Service Network operates on. The company is based in Gottmadingen, Germany, and the software is operated in Frankfurt. Your customer keeps all their machines there in one account, including those from other manufacturers, and your spare parts and your service sit on your machines.
Your portal stays.
Transaction-Network connects it and brings your parts and your service into your customer's account.
The Service Brain.
When maintenance asks why a machine has stopped, it answers from your manual and your spare-parts catalog and names the source.
Live data through the IoT Hub.
Anyone who wants to see states and downtime connects the machine through the IoT Hub. The machine record, ordering and the Service Brain also work without a connection.
When an IoT platform is enough
If you mainly want to monitor the condition of your own machines and keep handling service on your own, an IoT platform is often enough. An Industrial Service Network pays off once your customers run machines from many manufacturers and parts, documents and help have to come from several companies.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Which industrial service platform connects machine builders, maintenance and suppliers in shared workflows?
An Industrial Service Network such as Transaction-Network. Maintenance, machine builders and material suppliers work there on the same machine, the same fault and the same order, and it belongs to none of them.
Is Transaction-Network an IoT platform?
Transaction-Network is an Industrial Service Network. The IoT Hub adds machine data through OPC UA, Modbus TCP, REST or MQTT. At its center is the shared process of the companies around the machine.
Do I have to connect my machines?
No. The machine record, ordering and the Service Brain work without a connection. Live data comes in through the IoT Hub if you want it.
We already have a customer portal. Do we still need this?
Your portal stays. Transaction-Network connects it and brings your parts and your service into the account where your customer keeps all their machines, including those from other manufacturers.
Who owns the data?
The company in whose account it is created. Prices, customers and contracts stay with the machine builder.
Read next
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.