Builds never the same twice
Every engineer-to-order machine gets its own live record and route, not a fixed line.
One record per machine. Industrial machinery manufacturing software.
No two machines you build are the same, so the history of machine 0412 lives in a job folder and the lead builder's memory. Bulk grows the as-built record with the build, and the CE technical file ships with the machine.
- As-built serial genealogy
- CE/UKCA technical file & DoC
- Build routes & work instructions
- Inspection, NCR & 8D
This is your floor. These are the modules on it.
Where Bulk fits best.
Bought-in parts you must vouch for
Drives and castings book to the works order at goods-in, cert captured and filed.
Tests that must be evidenced
FAT results and NCRs land on the serial, so nothing is done until proven.
A technical file for every despatch
The CE/UKCA file and Declaration assemble from the build, not a fortnight of chasing.
From loading bay to Declaration of Conformity, one as-built record.
Kit the build
Castings and bought-in drives book to the works order at goods-in, cert attached.
See inbound OCRSupplier cert capturedGoods-in · Machine 0412 · today 07:48
Gearbox GB-220 · heat H31877 · 3.1 cert attached
Booked to kit 0412
Build & sign off each stage
Each assembly step stamps fitter, bay and inspection on the serial as it goes together.
See productionStage 4: Drive fitProduction · Machine 0412 · Bay 3
D. Harrower · torque check signed · WI rev C
In progress · 2 h 10
Test, commission, resolve
FAT results and any NCR land on the serial; the 8D closes on that exact machine.
See qualityNCR-0388 raisedQuality · FAT · Machine 0412 · raised 14:02
Hydraulic pressure 4 bar under spec on cycle 12 of 50
FAT on hold
Ship with the file
The technical file and Declaration of Conformity assemble from the build before the lorry arrives.
See documentsTechnical file: Machine 0412Documents · Despatch · Friday 09:30
Drawings rev C · parts list · FAT report · risk assessment · 14 certs
Ready to sign
Today's reality: built on paper.
Every machine is a one-off
Machine 0412's history is a job folder and one builder's memory.
'Where did this part come from?'
Two years on, one warranty query means days in the archive.
The technical file is a scramble
Drawings, tests and certs pulled together by hand every despatch.
The blocks that ship a machine and its file together.
As-built serial genealogy
Every part and test tied to the machine, answered years after despatch.
Data threadCE/UKCA technical file & DoC
The file and Declaration assemble from the build, not by hand at despatch.
DocumentsBuild routes & work instructions
The right revision at the right station, no printed pack out of date.
RoutingInspection, NCR & 8D
FAT and nonconformances land on the serial; the 8D closes on that machine.
QualityETO build planning
Plan overlapping builds against bays and fitters; promise a date you can keep.
SchedulingSupplier certs & long-lead parts
Bought-in drives and castings booked with their certs before anyone asks.
Inbound OCR
The as-built pack ships with the machine.
−83%As-built pack assembly time at Kestrel Automation
98.4%First-pass FAT sign-off
0Re-keys, supplier cert to technical file
“A customer rang about a gearbox on a machine we shipped in 2023. We had the supplier, the batch, the FAT result and the drawing revision up on screen before he'd finished explaining the fault. That used to be a day in the archive.”
KA
Gareth WhitfieldOperations Director, Kestrel Automation, special-purpose machinery
Questions, answered.
01
Is Bulk an MES or an ERP for machine builders?
Neither, and that's deliberate. An MES is built for repeat lines and chokes on one-offs; an ERP wants your whole business re-platformed before you can log a build. Bulk is the production, quality and traceability layer for the assembly floor. It sits alongside whatever you use for accounts and purchasing and runs the build record itself. No rip-and-replace.
02
We're engineer-to-order, so every machine is different. Can Bulk handle that?
That's exactly what it's for. Each build gets its own live record and route rather than a fixed line sequence, so a bespoke special-purpose machine and a made-to-order standard model both track cleanly. Configure the route for the build; the serial genealogy and the file follow whatever you actually did.
03
Can Bulk produce the as-built record for a machine we've already delivered?
For anything built on Bulk, yes. The as-built genealogy is assembled as the machine is built, so it's there the moment a warranty or field-failure query comes in, not reconstructed from travellers. For legacy machines built before you moved onto Bulk, you can attach their records, but the automatic genealogy starts from the builds you run on the platform.
04
Does Bulk help with the CE/UKCA technical file and Declaration of Conformity?
Yes, this is the UK whitespace we built for. Drawings, parts lists, test reports, risk assessments and traceability all live on the build record, so the Machinery-Directive technical file and the Declaration of Conformity assemble themselves at despatch instead of being pulled together by hand each time. Bulk holds and assembles the evidence; sign-off and conformity assessment stay your responsibility.
05
How does it handle long-lead bought-in parts and supplier certs?
Bought-in drives, castings, motors and sub-assemblies are booked against the machine's works order at goods-in, and their certs are captured (OCR'd off the paperwork) and filed to the serial. The cert is on the technical file before anyone goes looking for it, and long-lead items show up in build planning so a late delivery doesn't ambush the despatch date.
06
What does it cost, and how long is rollout?
One per-site price with every module included, no per-module upsell, hosting and rollout in the figure. Rollout is never a big-bang cutover: we take one machine end to end first, prove the as-built record and the technical file on a real build in weeks, then the rest of your builds follow the same pattern. Early-access machine builders work directly with the build team.