Knowledge · Machine builders
How do media breaks happen in machine builders' digital after-sales service processes?
By Gerd Bart, Founder and Managing Director · Updated
The short answer
A media break happens wherever information leaves a system and a person passes it on by phone, email or retyping, in other words a manual handoff. In a machine builder's after-sales service this happens at six typical points: the first report, finding the right part, quote and order, the handoff inside your company, the service report, and the boundary with your customer's system. With Transaction-Network, for example, your customer orders from the record of their machine, and the order flows on into your ERP without anyone retyping it.
What a media break is
A media break is a point where information changes medium or system on its way and is transferred by hand. The customer reads out the part number on the phone, someone types it into the ERP. The quote goes out as a PDF by email, the order comes back by email and gets typed in again.
Each of these steps costs time, it is a source of errors such as a transposed digit in the part number, and it loses context: whoever looks at the case later can't see what was said on the phone. In service this weighs more than elsewhere, because your customer's machine is often down in the meantime.
The six typical points in after-sales
| Point | What happens there | What closes the break |
|---|---|---|
| The report | Your customer calls or emails, often without the serial number, software version or symptom. Your team asks back and types the case into the ticket system. | A request that starts at the machine and brings the serial number and history with it. |
| The right part | Your customer searches a PDF drawing, sends a photo or a number. Your inside sales team checks whether the part fits exactly this machine and whether there is a successor. | The parts list of the machine as delivered, with successors, that your customer orders from directly. |
| Quote and order | Price and availability sit in your ERP, and your customer can't see them. The quote goes out as a PDF, the order comes back by email and gets entered. | Customer prices from the ERP and an order that flows back into it. |
| The handoff inside your company | From inside sales to service, from the ticket system to dispatch, from the technician back again. Each system knows part of the case, and in between things get forwarded. | One case everyone works on, with one status for everyone. |
| The service report | The report is written on paper or as a PDF and ends up in a folder. What the technician found out isn't at the machine the next time. | A report that lands in the machine's record. |
| The boundary with your customer | Your customer manages the machine in their own system, you manage it in yours. Whatever they enter in your portal, they enter there a second time, and they do that for every one of their manufacturers. | A record both sides can read, in an open standard. |
Your customer feels the first three points directly. The fourth and fifth mostly cost your team time. The sixth often stays invisible, because it sits at your customer's site.
Why new tools create new breaks
Many media breaks only appear with digitization. A shop not connected to the ERP, a ticket system next to dispatch planning, a portal next to the customer's system: each tool organizes its own part, and at its edges information is moved by hand again. VDMA, the German machine builders' association, lists applications that create media breaks or parallel processes at the customer among the risks that can make data-based offerings in machine building fail (white paper on the prerequisites for data monetization strategies, 2026).
Then there is adoption. Fewer than 30% of purchasing decision-makers use their suppliers' digital offerings (McKinsey, 250 respondents, 2025). Manufacturers themselves put the digital share of their aftermarket revenue at 26% (Valtech and Copperberg, almost 100 manufacturers, self-reported, 2024). So three quarters run through other channels, and any of them can hold a break.
Your customer runs machines from many manufacturers, and many of them offer their own portal. To them, every one is another login. When they can't remember where to find what, they pick up the phone.
How to find the breaks in your process
Trace ten cases backward.
Take ten closed service cases and spare parts orders from last month and walk through each one from first contact to invoice.
Count every hand.
Note every point where someone retyped, forwarded or asked back, and in which system it happened.
Rank by impact.
Count how often each point came up and how long the case sat there. Keep what your customer feels separate from what only costs your team time.
Start with one point.
Close the point that comes up most often and that your customer feels. A new tool is only worth it if it closes that point without opening a new one at its edge.
How Transaction-Network closes breaks
Transaction-Network is vendor-neutral software for servicing machines. Your customer manages all their machines there in one account, including other manufacturers'.
The right part.
In the Asset Management module, every machine has its record with parts list and documents. You load spare parts kits per serial number by CSV or interface, and a part's successors by interface. Your customer orders from there through E-Commerce.
The order.
It flows on into your ERP, with your customer's comment if you wish.
The request.
Through Service Requests, your customer contacts you, including requests for a quote or for parts.
The boundary with your customer.
The machine record follows the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) industry standard and, on request, goes into your customer's SAP via the SAP adapter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is a media break?
A point where information changes medium or system and is transferred by hand, for example when a part number given on the phone is typed into the ERP.
Does a customer portal close media breaks?
Only where it is connected to your systems and your customer's. A portal without an ERP connection just moves the break, and a portal per manufacturer adds another one at your customer's site.
How do I find the media breaks in my service?
Trace ten closed cases from first contact to invoice and note every point where someone retyped, forwarded or asked back. The most frequent point comes first.
Do I have to replace my ERP or ticket system?
No. You close media breaks by letting the systems exchange data. With Transaction-Network, your customer's order flows on into your ERP without anyone retyping it.
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