How to sell digital services in mechanical engineering

Lukas Schattenberg, sales manager DACH, has been with Ixon for over five years, a provider of industrial IoT and service platforms for mechanical engineering.

He will speak at the mechanical engineering summit salon on November 17, 2025, in Ludwigsburg and virtually in the livestream on the topic "Service revenue 30% - digitalization as a revenue booster in mechanical engineering".

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How can digital technologies be translated in such a way that the customer experiences real added value - and is willing to pay for it?

Lukas Schattenberg: Digitalization only convinces when it shows what it really changes in production. Pure information about the "status quo" does not really help most manufacturing companies. The insights must be used by the machine builder and combined with knowledge of the production process so that the "paid digital service" sustainably delivers an improvement for the manufacturing company. The mere "display" of "how the machine is running" is not a service that can be monetized. Because in practice, customers do not talk about bits and bytes, but about OEE: about availability, performance, and quality.

When it comes to availability, it's about reducing downtime. Through remote diagnosis and alerting, the service can respond much faster. Predictive and preventive maintenance additionally prevent unplanned failures.

The greatest potential often lies in performance: production data shows where bottlenecks occur or cycle times deviate. Those who compare similar machines or shifts can identify inefficiencies and eliminate them strategically.

Quality also benefits measurably. Process data and parameter monitoring help to identify sources of error early. Digital traceability - keyword traceability - strengthens quality assurance and builds trust.

It is important to start with small, tangible steps. Even a dashboard with OEE values creates transparency and trust in the data. In the end, it's about thinking in terms of benefits, not features. No one buys a cloud - but everyone wants to achieve higher equipment effectiveness. When shift leaders, maintenance personnel, and service teams use OEE data daily, digitalization turns from a buzzword into a tangible improvement.

What success factors help to increase and stabilize service revenues in the long term?

Schattenberg: Service revenues grow sustainably when digital services directly improve the customer's OEE - that is, increase availability, secure performance, and maintain quality. It is crucial to align services with these goals. Service contracts that address guaranteed availability or measurable OEE improvements are significantly more valuable than traditional maintenance contracts.

Data-driven services are the key. They recognize failure probabilities early, provide concrete recommendations, and enable planned maintenance. The customer saves downtime and is willing to pay for this value. Providers who are proactive rather than reactive are truly successful. Instead of waiting for calls, the system automatically detects the need for action and reports it directly. This way, service becomes a success factor rather than a cost factor.

The basis for this is a standardized data foundation across all machines. Comparable data creates economies of scale, simplifies analyses, and ensures consistent service quality - regardless of location or machine type. In the end, measurable success means customer loyalty. When the customer sees that their OEE increases through the service, they stay with it long-term.

Then there's the human factor - sales should rethink: sell less technology, more impact. Those who think in OEE points speak the customer's language - because in the end, what matters is how much equipment effectiveness is achieved per euro invested.

In the end, what matters is what reaches the customer: More OEE points per euro - that is the benchmark by which digital services can be measured. This is how true partnership is created: The machine builder becomes the performance partner of their customer.

How do you convince customers of cloud-based services despite security concerns?

Security is a basic requirement in mechanical engineering - but trust only arises when the benefit becomes visible. Certifications, audit trails, and data sovereignty are mandatory, not differentiators. What matters is that cloud services show how they improve the customer's OEE: by increasing availability, avoiding downtime, and ensuring quality.

An OEE-based argument reduces resistance because it shifts the focus from risk to added value. When the customer understands that cloud services enhance their machine performance, perception changes: security remains important, but the benefit outweighs it.

Another success factor is transparency and control. The customer must be able to see at any time who is accessing their machines and what data is being transmitted - this strengthens trust in digital services. Hybrid solutions help build trust: critical data is processed locally, only key figures go to the cloud - thus keeping security and analytical capability in balance.

And: bring IT and production together early. Both often speak different languages when it comes to security. Only when they jointly define what is technically and organizationally acceptable does it really work, and a viable security concept emerges.

Trust grows through practice. Small pilot machines, measurable improvements, step-by-step rollout - this is how security is created through experience. And ultimately, it matters how you communicate it: “We reduce unplanned downtime by ten percent” is much more convincing than “We use edge VPN technology.” The customer wants results - not technical terms or architecture diagrams.