Industrial Automation and Machinery with Matrix Req
Functional safety evidence for machinery and process control, held as one traceable chain. Matrix Req links hazards to safety functions, SIL and performance level targets, design and verification results, so the safety case is assembled rather than reconstructed.
For taking a demo with our team.
The challenge
Functional safety evidence spread across three teams and a shared drive
Machinery and process safety usually produce the right analysis and then lose it. The hazard study sits with one team, the requirements with another and the verification results with a third.
- IEC 61508 runs a full safety lifecycle.Hazard and risk analysis, safety requirements allocation, realisation and verification each produce evidence that has to connect, and the SIL claimed for a safety function has to be traceable to the analysis behind it.
- Machinery adds a parallel standard.ISO 13849 works in performance levels and ISO 12100 in risk reduction, so many machines carry both a functional safety argument and a machinery risk assessment that have to agree with one another.
- The EU Machinery Regulation raises the bar.Regulation 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027 and brings software, cybersecurity and autonomous behaviour further into the technical file, which means more evidence and more traceability, not less.
- Security has become a safety concern.IEC 62443 requirements for industrial control systems increasingly sit alongside safety requirements, owned by a different team and tracked in a different place.
- Variants multiply the work.A machine family with options and configurations means the same safety argument has to be maintained across derivatives without copying it by hand each time.
Our solution
One safety argument, traceable end to end
Matrix Req is a configurable requirements, risk and test platform. Hazards, safety functions, requirements and verification live in one structure, so the argument can be read in either direction at any point.
- Model your own safety lifecycle.Hazards, safety functions, safety requirements with their SIL or performance level, design elements and verification results are item types you define and link in both directions.
- Risk management in the same structure.Hazard, cause, risk control and residual risk are first class items rather than a spreadsheet beside the requirements, so a control traces to the requirement that implements it and the test that proves it.
- Coverage before verification closes.See which safety requirements have no verification evidence behind them, and which controls are still unproven, while there is time to act.
- Reuse across a machine family.Baseline a configuration and branch it for a derivative, keeping the trace intact instead of copying documents between projects.
- Full audit history and electronic signatures.Every review, approval and version is retained against the item, which is what an assessor or a notified body asks to see.
Core Features
What Matrix Req does for machinery and process safety programmes.
Hazard and Risk Analysis Linked to Requirements
Hold hazards, causes, risk controls and residual risk as traceable items, linked to the safety requirements that implement them and the tests that verify them.
Learn moreSIL and Performance Level on the Item
Carry the claimed SIL or performance level as an attribute on the safety function and its requirements, visible in every trace and coverage view.
Configurable to IEC 61508 or ISO 13849
Matrix Req ships no prebuilt machinery template. You define the item types and workflows so the structure matches the standard and the lifecycle you actually run.
Impact Analysis Across a Machine Family
See what a requirement change touches across derivatives before you make it, including the verification that has to be repeated.
Learn moreTwo Way Jira and Azure DevOps Sync
Controls and software engineering carry on in the tracker already in use while requirements, safety functions and evidence stay governed in Matrix Req.
Learn moreTechnical File and Report Generation
Generate traceability matrices, coverage reports and technical documentation from live project data rather than a manual export.
Learn moreFAQ
01Does Matrix Req ship a prebuilt IEC 61508 or ISO 13849 template?
No. Matrix Req is configurable rather than preloaded. You define the item types, attributes, workflows and trace rules that match your safety lifecycle, usually with our team during onboarding.
If you need a tool that arrives with a machinery safety process already modelled out of the box, we will tell you honestly that we are not that tool.
02Can Matrix Req calculate SIL or performance level?
No. Matrix Req records the SIL or performance level you determine and keeps it traceable to the analysis and the verification behind it.
Quantitative calculation of failure rates, diagnostic coverage and architectural constraints belongs in a dedicated functional safety calculation tool. Use that for the numbers and Matrix Req for the requirement, risk and evidence chain.
03Does it help with the EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230?
It helps with the evidence, not the interpretation. Regulation 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027 and widens what the technical file has to cover, including software and cybersecurity aspects.
Matrix Req holds requirements, risk records, verification results and the trace between them, which is most of what a technical file is assembled from. What the regulation requires of your specific machine remains your regulatory assessment to make.
04Can safety and security requirements live together?
Yes. IEC 62443 security requirements can be an item type alongside functional safety requirements, traced to the same system and to their own verification evidence.
Keeping them in one structure is usually the point, because the two arguments have to stay consistent with each other as the design changes.
05Do you have industrial automation reference customers?
Not in numbers we would point at, and we would rather be straight about that. Matrix Req's customer base is concentrated in regulated product development in life sciences.
The mechanics the platform provides, configurable item types, bidirectional traceability, risk records, coverage analysis and audit history, are not sector specific. IEC 61508 is the parent standard that both the medical and automotive functional safety standards derive from, so the evidence logic is familiar ground for us. If you are evaluating us early, we will be clear about what is proven and what is not.