How Antares Scaled Procurement for Factory-Produced Microreactors

Under nuclear quality programs, purchasing hardware or services that can directly impact the performance or safety of a reactor must have stringent levels of control and traceability.

For Antares, a company building compact nuclear microreactors that deliver energy to critical assets on Earth and in space, this reality shapes its procurement practices. As a company developing next-generation nuclear technology, Antares’ sourcing pace, quality, and traceability are fundamental to its operations.

‍When Procurement is a Standalone, Disconnected Function‍

Before Silkline, Antares managed procurement across tools that didn’t work well together. The systems relied on static data, often creating unnecessary manual work. 

Information had to be manually reconciled across manufacturing systems, a design repository, and financial tools. Engineering design lived in one place. Manufacturing execution in another. Financial records somewhere else. As Antares transitioned from prototyping to qualification and production hardware, it became clear that the flexibility and features in their existing procurement tools could not keep up.

“What we had worked in the narrowest sense,” said Christian Kalin, Head of Operations at Antares. “But it was brittle and didn’t scale with the complexity of what we’re building.”

Without clean data flowing between design, manufacturing, and finance, the team struggled to answer questions that should be straightforward:

• Did we buy what engineering needs?
• Did the purchase reflect the latest design revision?
• Are we spending against the right assemblies?

As Antares’ supplier network expanded and sourcing complexity increased, the risk of unapproved suppliers, a missing certificate, or outdated specifications increased. To enable rapid scaling while maintaining quality and compliance, Antares needed supply chain infrastructure that could keep pace with their evolving designs and manufacturing.

Silkline stood out immediately. The interface made it straightforward to move data across systems without adding more manual work. The Silkline platform was configurable, extensible, and had all the features Antares needed, with a team that was attentive to feature requests and resolving issues.

“As we scale under formal quality requirements, documentation and revision control can’t depend on manual reconciliation,” said Matt Fredrick, Staff Build Quality Engineer at Antares. “We needed a system that enforces a single controlled baseline, and a partner willing to refine it as our processes mature.” 

Turning Procurement into a Connected Control Plane

With Silkline in place, procurement became the integration layer across engineering, manufacturing, and finance.

The most valuable capability Silkline delivers for Antares is the ability to push and pull data between core systems, forming a unified source of truth. Engineering intent flows into procurement. Manufacturing stays aligned with current revisions. Financial data reflects real assemblies, not just purchasing transactions. That alignment is critical when iterating on advanced hardware and managing Antares’ growing supply chain.

“Procurement now operates as part of our design and manufacturing process, not as a separate workflow. That changes how quickly and confidently we can iterate,” said Kalin. 

That alignment is critical in nuclear hardware development, where revisions need to happen quickly without compromising quality, safety, or compliance. In an industry where confidence in the accuracy and visibility of what you are purchasing is instrumental to success, Antares demonstrates that urgency, quality, and compliance do not have to be trade-offs. When procurement is connected, adaptable, and integrated across design and manufacturing, they reinforce each other.