Arena - a great resource for document control and quality processes
My company uses Arena for document control and for managing quality processes. This includes employee training, change control, NCMR, …
Overview
What is Arena PLM and QMS?
Arena, a PTC business, helps companies to design, produce, and deliver innovative products with a unified cloud-based PLM and QMS platform. Arena understands modern product companies rely on distributed teams and global supply chains to develop products, ensure regulatory compliance…
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What is Arena PLM and QMS?
Arena, a PTC business, helps companies to design, produce, and deliver innovative products with a unified cloud-based PLM and QMS platform. Arena understands modern product companies rely on distributed teams and global supply chains to develop products, ensure regulatory compliance (FDA,…
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- Competitors
- Tech Details
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- FAQs
What is Arena PLM and QMS?
Arena, a PTC business, helps companies to design, produce, and deliver innovative products with a unified cloud-based PLM and QMS platform. Arena understands modern product companies rely on distributed teams and global supply chains to develop products, ensure regulatory compliance (FDA, ISO, ITAR, EAR, and environmental compliance), and respond to customer demands.
Arena states that they have more than 1,400 global high-tech electronics and medical device customers. Companies with complex products comprised of electrical, mechanical, and software designs need a single system to collaborate in real-time. Arena enables every participant throughout the entire product lifecycle to work together–increasing visibility and traceability. This helps to accelerate new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI) by streamlining processes, automating review cycles, and reducing errors to increase profitability.
Arena PLM and QMS Features
- Supported: BOM Management
- Supported: Engineering Change Management
- Supported: Supply Chain Collaboration
- Supported: Quality Management
- Supported: Training Management
- Supported: 3D Visualization
Arena PLM and QMS Screenshots
Arena PLM and QMS Videos
Arena’s product-centric quality management system (QMS) software helps medical device manufacturers to deliver safe and compliant products to market faster. By connecting quality management processes to the product record, Arena helps distributed teams improve visibility and t...
Show More Arena PLM addresses modern product development challenges by bringing product information, people, and processes together into a single Cloud system to speed product development and commercialization. Through better visibility and enhanced collaboration, internal product teams...
Show More Arena PLM for AWS GovCloud helps companies that are subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ensure defense-related technologies are controlled, and, if exported, are done so only with proper export licenses.
Siemen's Teamcenter (also sold by SAP), Arena PLM & QMS, and OpenBOM are some of the most preferred product lifecycle management tools by users.
Arena PLM and QMS Integrations
- NetSuite ERP
- SAP Business ByDesign
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud
- Microsoft Dynamics GP
- QAD Adaptive ERP
- Zendesk Suite
- SOLIDWORKS
- Octopart
- Expandable
- SiliconExpert
- Sage 100
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Altium Designer
- 1Factory
- OrCAD
- Acumatica
- Jira Software
- FlowEQ
- Onshape
- Microsoft Dynamics AX, discontinued
- Salesforce Sales Cloud
- CADTALK
- Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
- Razorleaf CLOVER
- Siemens EDA Calibre
- Green Data Exchange (GDX)
Arena PLM and QMS Competitors
Arena PLM and QMS Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Arena PLM and QMS Downloadables
Frequently Asked Questions
Oracle Fusion Cloud PLM, MasterControl Quality Excellence, and Teamcenter are common alternatives for Arena PLM and QMS.
Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 9.5.
The most common users of Arena PLM and QMS are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
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Reviews
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November 13, 2020
Arena gets the job done with a nice, new UI
Arena is being used at our engineering and manufacturing company as our document control system. We use it to process changes to engineering drawings, manufacturing instructions, etc. It is used across the engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain departments. It provides a central source of truth and space for agreement for everyone in our international offices and our contract manufacturers.
- Document control is a strength of Arena. Everyone can always find the most recent revision of a document with ease.
- Arena is easy to customize to your application.
- The user interface is not the most intuitive. There are a lot of different tabs and information in various places that take some time to learn how to navigate.
- The approvals to reopening changes to re-approving are not streamlined, and some changes get lost if there is a rejection.
Arena is our PLM system and the single source of truth that controls our revisions. Our whole organization uses Arena to capture all changes and new releases. Sometimes Arena gets slow. Causing ECO's to take longer
- The new upgrade added a clearer picture in Arena as to how to look for information and View details.
- Arena tends to be slow when using actions.
November 13, 2020
Good Software for Changes and Quality Management
We use Arena for quality management and lifecycle management.
- Change orders
- Quality process
- BOM management
- Multiple clicks to get to some items in quality process
- Slow at loading files and updating those files
November 11, 2020
Quick learning curve & easy on-boarding process!
Arena is being used across the whole organization, however it is more specifically used by regulatory, quality, and operations departments. We use Arena as our main document control system for our device, including our Device Master Record and Design History Files, as well as all of our quality system documents. When manufacturing our system, all documents of the latest revision are pulled from Arena prior to the initiation of any stage. Our quality system goes through updates often, and these are documented in Arena after review by the respective team members.
- Easy navigation and search of documents.
- Display of information.
- ECO process, steps are clear and to the point.
- I'd like to see some functionality that assists the creation and fulfillment of document types based on existing documents. For examples, across our organization the same type of report may be placed in different categories because the creator isn't informed. If there is a way to either compare, search for similar documents based on type when creating a document, this would prevent confusion.
- I'd like the ability to create reports and plans that are directly linked to each other, rather than just by a numbering system. Some sort of link between these two would be easier for traceability.
November 10, 2020
Excellent PLM with Excellent Customer Support
We use Arena as our PLM system. It is our QMS repository and all Engineering Change Orders are completed through Arena.
- Customer service
- Advanced search options
- Revision tracking
- Cleaner UI (more obvious button placement).
- More direct export/download process.
- Revise change order process to make it easier to upload redlines.
November 10, 2020
ARENA - best PLM system
We use Arena for the whole company. Most everything is now electronic since switching to Arena. BOMs, specs, design history file documents (test reports, software docs, etc.). The entire company has instant access to the documents. We easily provide our vendors with BOMs, etc for purchases. ECO review is seamless, our ECO turn around time has decreased. In addition, our customers want to approve certain documents and we can easily provide them (via license) access to certain documents. We no longer have to put a package together to send via email or have them come into our office for signature (as we used to with the hard copy/manual system).
- BOMs - very organized, you can see changes from previous BOMs (via the redline system). Parts are linked to their sources, where used, etc.
- Attributes and search - we can call up Design history files for a single customer. During 3rd party audits, our documents are right there, no searching through binders.
- Training program - with the quiz at the end - we now have that quality requirement of "verification of effectiveness."
- Customer service is outstanding. Any time I have a question, a response is provided usually within 4 hours!
- The ticket process - I have not tried it enough to comment on it too much, but when I did try it, it seemed very tedious.
November 10, 2020
Arena FEEDBACK
Arena is used across the entire organization, internationally. It addresses documentation problems. We now have a standard process to review and approve drawings, documents, procedures, etc.
- Good repository for controlled documents
- Very steep learning curve
- Not the most user-friendly
- Requires a lot of administrative intervention
November 10, 2020
Arena: Complex to use
We use Arena for managing our product changes and BOMs. It is used by the whole engineering division. It addresses the need for change management, revisions, BOMs, and change approvals.
- Completeness
- Feature set
- Process
- User interface clarity
- Hidden menus, hidden items
- Terminology confusion
- Complexity of use
November 10, 2020
Quality
For training purposes and also to create item numbers, we also store most of our SOPs in Arena. The company used Arena daily to complete most tasks within our daily duties.
- Easy to use
- User-friendly
- Stores a lot of data
- Filter the options
- Search without categories needing to be added
- Link it with NetSuite, so item numbers transfer over
November 10, 2020
I love Arena!
We are using Arena throughout our entire organization. It helps ensure all of our documentation is in one place and we know what the latest version is of the item that we are viewing.
- Arena allows for easy customization and this is beneficial because the company can set up the PLM to meet their specific needs and tailor it to their business.
- The interface is very user friendly and this helps to eliminate the apprehension of using a system for an employee who is not a computer expert.
- Policies and user groups allow administrators to control what certain employees can and cannot see. This control keeps data accuracy intact and helps to create a structured approach to data acquisition.
- It is difficult to move from the demo environment to the live environment when setting up the system. The data can be transferred but the specific configurations cannot.
- There seems to be so many options to customize configurations with the exception of notifications. It would be nice to be able to modify the automated notifications that users receive in certain cases (add additional employees to notifications, etc.).
- The Quality world, in my opinion, is a bit limited in how you can customize it.
- Notifications should be able to be sent to supervisors and other interested parties in the Training world when employees are late in completing their training assignments.
- Feedbacks that result in potential future enhancements have no follow up with the submitter so you never know whether your suggestions will be implemented or not.
November 10, 2020
Join the vast world of Arena
Arena is currently being used across our entire organization. All departments touch the system in some aspects. Arena has been used for training, as well as our change control process. Arena has also addressed the Quality issues for our organization. We currently use it for all deviations, nonconformances, corrective/preventive actions, and OOS. Arena has also helped streamline the evaluation of our metrics. Additionally, our project managers have also used Arena to track the lifecycle of a project and assign various tasks. We also use Arena to mirror our ERP system and make sure all the item numbers match up.
- Streamline our metrics, so we don't need various spreadsheets and easier to pull real-time data.
- The training function has made tracking completion of training easy and being able to set due dates and revise procedures.
- The Quality function has made performing investigations and CAPAs much easier. Everything is now housed in one place, and notifications/reviews are much quicker.
- The initial learning curve may be quite large for individuals who have never used a QMS system; there can be a lot of functions!
- Something to keep in mind for budget-conscious organizations, licenses may be a bit pricey.
November 10, 2020
Excited to Implement
We are a start-up and needed a document repository compliant with the FDA regulations. We also wanted to implement an electronic quality management system that included training management. The entire organization will use Arena.
- Lots of ways to configure the process to fit your business needs.
- Implementation has been thorough.
- The ability to get in touch with individual performing implementation has been great and easy.
- Too many options making implementation longer than I had hoped.
- The system is not intuitive for a user. I log in and cannot see exactly what I want to do and where I want to go. Other systems do this better.
- It would be nice to have someone come onsite and train all users.
October 30, 2020
Arena Review in 2020
My whole company uses Arena. We use it for creating all our part numbers, routing all ECO's and CO's, employee training with and without a quiz, supplier approval process, In-coming inspections, CAPA, Complaints and NCMRs.
- Easy routing of ECO's along with e-mail notification.
- Nice Dashboard to be able to make searching easier.
- Easy part number creation.
- I would like to see department name next to employee's name.
- I would like to be able to add an attachment to a ECO review, like a e-mail.
- When creating a Supplier I don't want to have to complete the whole supplier fields at one time.
September 10, 2020
Arena as a true PLM tool
Being utilized by 100 internal users by a hardware department and 150 supplier users.
- Easy configuration.
- Easy promote links between request and change.
- Easy BOM views and APIs.
- Easy to setup routings.
- Arena Winter training was informative and helped users prepare.
- In the item file upload the click and drag option is not available yet and this is tedious based on user's feedback.
- BOM extended view. When the BOM gets pretty big it takes a longer time to refresh.
- Basic reports should be readily provided off the shelf without running analytics of simple weekly data of the change turn around process and request processing.
April 01, 2020
Arena user review summary
Arena is used across the whole organization. Both the US site and the overseas site. Arena addresses the following items: BOM, document control, revision control, engineering changes, link to suppliers and back up of important documents.
- Friendly
- Excellent support
- Responsiveness
- Reasonable fee
- Fee increase annually. Should be less
March 30, 2020
Arena is the future!
Arena is used in my organization as a quality management system. This is where we store approved documents. Arena is also used in my organization to approve workflows and processes. Some workflows and processes are required to have a review process by multiple employees in my organization. This is all done through Arena.
- User friendly
- Process flow approval notification
- Guides and walkthrough for new users
March 24, 2020
Glad to hop onto Arena!
We are currently using Arena as our quality management system. Currently, our supply chain and quality departments use this system. I have not found any problems with this system.
- User-Friendly
- Straightforward
- Challenging to navigate to use at first, but easy once you get the hang of it.
March 20, 2020
Arena: Highly useful, if somewhat limited
We use Arena for revision control of mechanical parts and assemblies, PCBA hardware versions, various software versions, and manufacturing equipment.
- Search Feature
- Flexible Data entry and PNs
- Ability to link, list BOMs, and find related items relatively easily
- Should auto-select revisions when making a change
- Should make selecting approvers more streamlined by default
- Integration with other systems, such as Mechanical CAD version control software (ie. SOLIDWORKS PDM in our case)
March 12, 2020
Arena from a daily user
Our entire organization uses Arena for product management throughout the lifetime of the device, as well as document control. With Arena, it is easy to manage document revisions, track training, specify critical specifications and implements well with our ERP system. Arena is used daily as a tool for tracking progress in critical project timelines.
- Document uploads
- Revision tracking
- Project planning
- Slow UI
- Hard to fix mistakes
- Costly
Arena is primarily utilized by our supply chain and quality team. The platform was implemented to help store confidential information within the organization as part of being compliant. Arena aids in streamlining communication from various locations to ensure efficiency in supply chain and quality.
- Allows different locations and sites to be on the same page
- Common ground to store confidential information
- Easy to navigate and pull information from other departments
- It could be a little more user-friendly in search functionality
- Report generation is more convoluted compared to other platforms
March 11, 2020
PLM that you can tackle yourself!
We use Arena for BOM management, engineering change orders, document change orders, workflow management, training controls, and various aspects of our Quality Management System. Arena is used by Engineering, Operations, Support, and Manufacturing departments and has been a big advantage for configuration control, plus communication. Overall, Arena has been a huge helper!
- BOM management
- ECO/DCO workflow
- UI/UX design has improved with the new version
- PDF export of redline BOMs is poor/missing
- Analytics section could be stronger
- Alerts for trends would be helpful
March 08, 2020
For most Quality processes and BOM management, Arena is the best in the arena; very willing to improve where necessary
Arena is used throughout our organization for BOM management (PLM) and for Quality Management.
We are able to collaborate on solving non-conformance reports and complaints as well as share BOMs and specs with suppliers. We are able to demonstrate RoHS compliance with Arena. Every Audit by our Certification body is accompanied throughout the entire audit by Arena, whether by using search results for the particular area under question, or printouts from reports generated.
We are able to collaborate on solving non-conformance reports and complaints as well as share BOMs and specs with suppliers. We are able to demonstrate RoHS compliance with Arena. Every Audit by our Certification body is accompanied throughout the entire audit by Arena, whether by using search results for the particular area under question, or printouts from reports generated.
- BOM management - The integrated modules, such as Items, Quality and requirements, provide much power to the reviewers, and have impressed our CMO dramatically.
- SCRIBE - this has allowed us to solve problems faster and through efficient collaboration, in almost any "world".
- Requirements Module - It is very hard to utilize this module for approving Requirements, as such function doesn't exist. Baselines feature is hard to understand how to best utilize it. We need to play around a lot, it seems, to figure out how to best accommodate our needs. We don't find an easy way of reflecting obsolete or replaced verification reports (when designs change etc...). Otherwise, we have non-current traceability which doesn't help us demonstrate complete design verification.
- Training Module - This module seems to be lacking basic compliance features of ISO 13485, and the ability to have multiple items or files comprising one training program and tracking the fulfillment of the entire program (package of multiple steps). Also the option of having on-the-job training doesn't seem to be naturally incorporated into the functionality.
March 07, 2020
Quick Review
It is used to manage engineering drawings and models for various parts as well as organize our BOM and manage our various releases into production.
- Redline the BOM while you make changes
- Links back to the change order from the part you are working with
- Manages the various released revisions to go back and look at
- There are some functions that I am not sure what they are for and are maybe not needed.
March 07, 2020
How I see Arena as an admin..
Arena is being used as the main PLM. Where we kept all of the history and documentation of our products, we use these products across departments, from Marketing to Engineering to Manufacturing. The only obstacle that I have trouble with is Arena does not have many flexibilities for admin. Admin should have more power to edit the change, such as add more items, documents during the transitions.
- Documentation keeper
- History keeper
- Cloud base which can be accessed everywhere
- Arena should have a feature to help navigate to the next or previous part number.
- Add the feature that allows the user to add documentation during Change.
- More feature adds for basic license such as quality.
March 07, 2020
User-Friendly PLM
Arena is used by Engineering, Quality, Purchasing, partially by Manufacturing, Production, and Finance departments to track Engineering Change Requests and orders along with laboratory requests and orders, maintain new item masters and BOM lifecycles.
- Easy to find information regarding items, structure, files and current related changes, and history.
- Easy to track who works or worked on ECR/ECO
- Extremely user-friendly.
- The latest winter updates a bit of confusing: an area for ECR recommendation not obvious, currently it's + symbol, it's not user-friendly, we use it for two months, and some users have trouble to find the way to promote ECR. I think it should tell it to add a recommendation like it was before.