Is your engineering team spending hours manually tracking components across designs? In today’s complex manufacturing environment, machine builders face unprecedented challenges in managing their digital assets. With regulatory requirements like the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) demanding greater transparency, the old ways of handling software components simply won’t cut it anymore.
Every hour spent wrestling with spreadsheets is time not spent on innovation. Every missed component in your inventory is a potential security vulnerability. Machine builders need a comprehensive solution that automates the tracking, management, and compliance aspects of their software bill of materials (SBOM).
At Noux Node, we’ve developed low-code tools that transform how machine builders handle their digital inventory—reducing errors, enhancing security, and ensuring regulatory compliance while dramatically cutting administrative overhead.
The hidden costs of manual bill of materials management
The average engineer spends 15-20% of their time just managing documentation and tracking changes across systems. This silent productivity killer becomes even more costly when you consider the ripple effects throughout your operation. According to industry research, each undetected BOM error costs manufacturers an average of £3,000 in rework and delayed production.
The challenges extend far beyond wasted time. When departments operate in silos, critical information gets lost in translation. Your engineering team creates brilliant designs, but procurement orders incorrect components. Production begins with outdated specifications. Quality assurance tests against the wrong requirements. The result? Engineering change orders that cost upwards of £8,000 each and can delay projects by weeks.
For machine builders specifically, these problems compound when software components enter the picture. Without proper tracking, security vulnerabilities remain undetected, creating significant exposure under the new CRA regulations. The financial implications of non-compliance include not just fines but potential market exclusion—a business-ending prospect for many manufacturers.
Ready to see how much time and money you could save with proper BOM management? Download our ROI calculator to quantify the impact on your operations.
Understanding CRA machine builder software for bill of materials
Modern manufacturing requires modern solutions. Software BOM management tools designed specifically for machine builders offer a comprehensive approach to tracking all digital components in your systems. Unlike generic PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) solutions, these specialized tools understand the unique challenges of industrial automation environments.
The key difference lies in how these systems handle the intersection of hardware and software. When a PLC program changes, does your current system automatically flag all affected components? Does it track dependencies between software versions and physical components? Most importantly, can it generate the comprehensive documentation required for CRA compliance?
Our low-code solution creates a digital thread connecting every component in your system, from CAD designs to firmware versions to third-party libraries. The platform integrates seamlessly with existing CAD systems and ERP platforms, pulling information automatically rather than requiring duplicate data entry. This integration creates a single source of truth across all departments, eliminating the communication breakdowns that plague traditional processes.
See how our solution compares to what you’re currently using. Book a personalized demo with our engineering team to discover the difference.
End-to-end automation: From design to production
The real power of automated SBOM management comes from its ability to connect every step in your process. When a design engineer updates a component in CAD, the system automatically updates the bill of materials, flags affected assemblies, notifies purchasing of changed requirements, and updates production documentation—all without manual intervention.
This automation extends to version control and engineering change management. Each revision is tracked with complete history, creating an audit trail that satisfies both internal quality requirements and external regulatory demands. When changes occur, the system identifies all downstream impacts, allowing teams to make informed decisions rather than discovering problems during production.
For machine builders implementing CI/CD pipelines, this capability becomes even more valuable. The system maintains a live link between development environments and production systems, ensuring that software updates are properly tracked, tested, and documented before deployment. This is particularly crucial for CRA compliance, which requires complete transparency into all digital components.
ROI analysis: The business case for BOM automation
The numbers tell a compelling story. Organizations implementing automated SBOM management typically see:
- 40-60% reduction in BOM management time
- 75% fewer component errors and mismatches
- 30% faster response to engineering change orders
- 50% reduction in compliance documentation effort
These efficiency gains translate directly to financial benefits. A mid-sized machine builder with 10 engineers can reclaim over 1,200 hours annually—equivalent to adding another engineer to your team without the additional headcount cost.
Beyond these operational savings, the strategic benefits include faster time-to-market and improved quality. One manufacturing client reduced their design-to-production cycle by 25% while simultaneously improving first-pass quality rates from 82% to 96%. The ability to respond quickly to market demands and regulatory changes provides a sustainable competitive advantage that extends well beyond the immediate cost savings.
“We’ve reduced our documentation time by half while improving our compliance posture. The system paid for itself within the first six months.” – Manufacturing Director, European OEM
Implementation guide: Adopting CRA machine builder software in your organization
Successful implementation follows a proven four-stage process that minimizes disruption while maximizing results:
- Assessment: Evaluate current processes, identify integration points, and establish success metrics (1-2 weeks)
- Configuration: Set up the platform, connect to existing systems, and import initial data (2-4 weeks)
- Training: Prepare teams through role-specific training sessions (1 week)
- Rollout: Deploy in phases, starting with a pilot project before full implementation (2-6 weeks)
The most successful implementations assign a dedicated internal champion who works closely with our implementation team. This approach ensures the solution addresses your specific workflows while building internal expertise that supports long-term success.
Common challenges include resistance to process changes and concerns about data migration. Our methodology addresses these through early stakeholder involvement and proven migration tools that preserve your historical data while cleaning up inconsistencies.
Ready to transform how your organization manages software bills of materials while ensuring CRA compliance? Contact us today to schedule your initial assessment and discover how Noux Node can revolutionize your machine building processes.
