From service chaos to machine aftermarket gold: Unlocking profit with Siemens and Salesforce | Webinar recap

Simply selling industrial machines and equipment is no longer enough.

The real goldmine lies in the machine aftermarket.

Ongoing service, maintenance and upgrades following a sale provide an additional revenue stream to machine builders and OEMs at a time when competition for building new is fierce and manufacturers are using their products longer than the intended lifecycle.

But for many companies, this vital area remains a source of “service chaos” rather than “aftermarket gold.”

How can businesses transform their service operations from a cost center into a powerful profit engine?

This was the question at the center of a recent webinar, “From Service Chaos to Aftermarket Gold.”

Torsten Beste from Siemens and Silke Sommerfeld from Salesforce unveiled a groundbreaking partnership designed to bridge the long-standing gap between product engineering and customer service.

This partnership leverages the combined power of Siemens’ Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) expertise and Salesforce’s leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.

This webinar offers a compelling vision for how companies can unlock recurring revenue, maximize profit margins and differentiate themselves through superior service.

Check out this quick trailer for a glimpse of what you missed:

If you’re ready to shift your perspective on service and discover how to truly monetize your installed base, watch the complete webinar here:

Machine aftermarket opportunity and the disconnect

The webinar kicked off by highlighting the immense, often overlooked, opportunity within the machine aftermarket.

Torsten Beste, Global Vice President of Service and Asset Lifecycle Management at Siemens, emphasized that the focus has shifted from mere product sales to building lifelong customer relationships and securing recurring revenue.

“Service is not just a cost center anymore, it’s a profit center today,” he stated, pointing out that top-performing companies achieve significantly higher revenue and profit margins from services.

However, a critical barrier stands in the way of realizing this potential: a profound disconnect.

As Mr. Beste explained, there’s a “broken link” between the product knowledge residing in engineering and the customer-facing reality of where products are sold, installed and their service history.

This disconnect means valuable insights from the field often don’t make it back to engineering, and service teams lack the comprehensive product data needed to perform efficiently.

The Siemens-Salesforce partnership aims to break down these “walls” to create a seamless flow of information, connecting engineering directly with the customer experience.

Design for service: The evolution of PLM

PLM has traditionally focused on product design (MCAD, ECAD) and manufacturing (managing bills of material, planning), but to truly monetize the machine aftermarket, PLM’s scope must expand to include Service Lifecycle Management (SLM).

This concept, known as “design for service,” emphasizes integrating service requirements into the product definition process as early as possible.

Imagine defining the conditions under which a “red light” should illuminate on a machine. These failure modes should be established within PLM, creating a digital thread from design through manufacturing, service engineering and ultimately, service execution.

By making these critical decisions upfront, companies can save immense time and cost later. When machine builders and OEMs ensure products are built with serviceability in mind, they’re making the first steps toward efficient machine aftermarket monetization.

Seamless sales and manufacturing: The power of integrated CPQ

One of the most frustrating challenges for manufacturers is the disconnect between sales promises and manufacturing reality.

Sales teams often configure and quote products without full visibility into whether those configurations can actually be manufactured.

This leads to renegotiations, delays and unhappy customers.

Mr. Beste shared a compelling example from a heavy equipment manufacturer.

The solution lies in a seamless integration of PLM and CRM for Configure Price Quote (CPQ) processes.

By bringing together Teamcenter Product Configurator from Siemens, which holds detailed product variants and service configurations, with Salesforce Revenue Cloud for sales and quotation, companies can ensure every quote is 100% accurate and manufacturable.

This eliminates post-sale headaches, ensures components fit, addresses supply chain considerations upfront and ultimately leads to meeting sales goals, profit targets and, most importantly, happy customers who receive their products on time and as expected.

The webinar also demonstrated how Agentic AI, called Agentforce, further assists in building these accurate, complex quotes.

Conclusion: Your path to machine aftermarket gold

The future of industrial success lies in transforming service operations. The strategic partnership between Siemens and Salesforce, embodied in the Teamcenter SLM for Salesforce application, offers a tangible path to achieve this.

By bridging the critical disconnect between engineering and the customer, embracing “design for service” within PLM and enabling seamless, accurate CPQ processes, businesses can:

• Grow machine aftermarket revenue: Sell the right offers to the right customers
• Deliver service excellence: Differentiate through superior customer experiences and improve operational efficiency
• Increase profitability: Optimize first-time fix rates, reduce costs and boost customer lifetime value

This webinar provides practical insights and a ready-to-deploy solution.

To dive deeper into the strategies, see the live demonstrations of Agentic AI in action, and understand how your organization can start monetizing its machine aftermarket today, watch the full webinar.

It’s time well spent to invest in your company’s future profitability and customer loyalty.