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Digitalization in machine building – gds partnering with Transaction-Network

  • Transaction-Network – providing the customer portal for machine building
  • easybrowse – offering added value thanks to the smart utilization of information relating to service and after-sales service processes
  • Increasing customer retention, competitiveness, sales and sustainability

Sassenberg, August 16, 2022 – Announcing their new partnership under the slogan, “The right information. At the right time. In the right place.”, gds and Transaction-Network are offering a joint solution to provide machine builders and system engineers with significant added value in the future.

Transaction-Network aims to empower machine builders to be digitally successful. All of the interactions between machine builders and their customers are at the core of the company’s customer portal software. The portal covers all essential after-sales-service processes, linking them with one another. All relevant machine data is bundled on a platform thus creating the basis for a digital twin. Users can access the machine data and related documents, and, with a digital spare parts catalog, they can easily identify and order spare and wear parts through the online shop, plan and schedule maintenance and servicing work while monitoring the systems.

For the smart utilization of information, gds brings to the table the content delivery solution, easybrowse, as an add-on feature to the digitalization strategy of Transaction-Network. “The added value is huge,” explains Ulrich Pelster, Managing Director of gds. “Partnering with Transaction-Network enables us to link all of the available data, which ultimately means large gains in efficiency and savings for the after-sales service processes relating to machine building. We can make available the information from instructions and manuals, drawings and diagrams, spare parts descriptions, and the like, in a context-related manner. This way, the automated initiation of maintenance work and service-guided troubleshooting processes will facilitate the work of service technicians.”

“Using the customer portal software, users have direct access to all relevant machine data, spare parts orders and service activities relating to the machinery,” says Gerd Bart, Managing Director of Transaction-Network GmbH & Co. KG. “Partnering with gds and linking easybrowse, have made it possible to provide the user of the platform not only with PDFs relating to individual machines but with the right information at the right time and in the right place in a context-related manner.”  

Machine builders and system engineers can have access to the platform of Transaction-Network as a Software-as-a-Service solution. The aim of the partnership and linking easybrowse to the Transaction-Network is to provide users with the information relevant to their situation at the right time and in the right place. This way, the service technician working on the machine is provided with exactly the information needed for the current service activity. The service technician can then remove the part to be replaced as stated in the provided description and order the correct new part with just a few clicks.

A Digital Only Concept that can be implemented

Another exciting aspect, particularly with regard to digital transformation, is the implementation of the Digital Only Concept, where the need for paper is almost completely eliminated in the area of technical documentation. By providing all of the product-relevant information digitally on the customer portal of Transaction-Network, the basis for the implementation of the digital-only model is established while ensuring full legal compliance. Device-specific information can be provided digitally via QR codes on the corresponding machinery. Every delivered machine is accompanied by an extract from the operating manual, the safety instructions and instructions on how to access the digital documents. Savings can quickly add up to a million sheets of paper a year, depending on the size of the company.

In the future, the partners are planning to support their customers in moving towards digital and leaner processes. Implementation can be completed with a minimum of effort thanks to the possibility of gradually integrating individual modules like the spare parts catalog or linking easybrowse. Merging and linking all of the available data also make it possible to create asset twins, which provide project support as defined by industry 4.0 or the predictive maintenance approach. “On the basis of information, data and documents, sustainable customer relations can be established in the field of machine building to ensure a successful after-sales process. We accompany this process as strong partners,” says Pelster.

Gerd Bart, Geschäftsführer der Transaction-Network GmbH & Co. KG und Ulrich Pelster, Geschäftsführer der gds GmbH

Gerd Bart (left), Managing Director of Transaction-Network GmbH & Co. KG and Ulrich Pelster (right), Managing Director of gds GmbH, at the Kick-off-Meeting in Sassenberg.



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For reasons of improved readability, the generic masculine form is used in the German-language version of this website. This form shall be understood to be gender-neutral.