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March 31, 2021
We currently use many different functions of Arena. Primarily as our main PLM to manage BOMs and ECOs and components. We also use the Quality Module for RMA and Failure Analysis tracking. The primary departments that use it are Operations, Engineering, Purchasing, Product Management, and Finance - so a good chunk of the organization. In addition to our group, we have proposed to use Arena in other groups among ABB as well. The business problems that it addresses are that it easily puts all the information in a centralized location for users from different groups to gain access. The management of BOMs, ECOs, parts and the revision control really helps to keep things in line.
- Revision Control - keeps things in check to ensure that right files are always being used.
- Easy User Interface - anyone can use it, even from a non-technical background.
- User Access control - easy to segregate between types of users to allow access to certain things.
- Workflow - would be nice to have an automated workflow to remind people to approve things or enter decisions (e.g. in ECOs and Requests)
- More customization - some templates are locked down and have to use certain fields, without the ability to change or remove them when making templates (e.g. in the Quality world when making a RMA template)
Arena was extremely easy to deploy and implemented on time. The implementation team was a great help and is always there to support when needed. I also find that when sending suggestions for improvements or changes they are super quick to respond, which is great in a fast-paced industry like ours.
April 01, 2021
Arena is used throughout the company and by most departments and all our divisions, here and abroad. It is also used by our assembly partners for parts selection and supply chain planning. Being a cloud-based solution, Arena permits many gains in time and timeliness of communications while keeping everything available to everyone at anytime anywhere. By communicating designs in real-time, itArena permits us to not only save time but reduce errors and roll out better designs faster. Time to market is key, and Arena has helped us with this.
- Having partners and suppliers be part of ECOs throughout their lifecycle
- Sharing procedures and documents in real-time anywhere at any time
- Provide a secure area for our documents and designs
- Ease of use and support
- Some mass edit features could be added, such as changing suppliers in sourcing for all affected parts when a semiconductor company acquires another company but keeps the same part numbers...currently parts need to be changed individually.
Arena's implementation was done fast and seamlessly. We had assistance throughout all phases and the implementation was with us at all steps of the exercise. The implementation was done on time and roll out through facilities was done effortleslly.
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.
Implementation was easy and pretty painless. It took us longer than expected but it was because we wanted to set it up the right way from the get go. Our implementation support was good.
November 13, 2020
Being used as a PLM system, mostly for engineering and operations. It's setup for the entire organization but few outside of engineering or operations use the system. Arena helps organize the release and change of our products, which are comprised of over 700 parts.
- Mostly intuitive menu-driven structure.
- Ability to save a lot of information in a central location.
- Flexibility on how to organize information.
- Sometimes the menu-driven structure requires too many steps and layers, making data entry time consuming or hard to find.
- Customer service could be better. Last time we requested tech support, our sales representative seemed somewhat impatient and uncooperative. Afterwards, we have been avoiding customer support.
- Training workspace should have a large watermark on the screen or something else that makes it evident that you are not working in the official work space. On a few occasions, colleagues, including myself, accidentally signed into training work space without realizing it. I was afraid we lost months of important data.
- An internal,network backup. The cloud based system is usually nice, but we lose access to important i nformation during internet outages. We lose internet about 2 hours a week.
Our support at Arena was generally good. Our latest interaction was less positive.
November 13, 2020
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
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.
Implementation was easy. Arena took care of everything - it was seamless. They came to our office and "held our hands" through the whole process. It could not have been any easier. We were very apprehensive - but it went so smoothly.
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.
I wasn't involved with the implementation of Arena. My company started using Arena around 4 years ago and I have only been here a little over 1 year. There are things I would have done differently and plan on doing so in the future when I have time. It seems like everyone involved has been happy.
November 13, 2020
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.
Since my starting with Symbotic, I caught on very quickly on how to use the tool. The recent upgrade made it even easier to function.
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
N/A for me
November 11, 2020
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
My company uses Arena for document control and for managing quality processes. This includes employee training, change control, NCMR, CAPA, etc. Arena is Part 11 compliant for electronic signatures which allows us to streamline approval processes and cut down time for releasing documents. Our entire organization uses Arena, although some functions utilize it more than others.
- Arena does a great job with creating a Bill of Materials and makes it really easy to access that information. It can be presented in many different ways to highlight critical information.
- Arena makes it easy for users to see outstanding action items and to see the progress of a change order or quality process.
- Arena provides a good user interface for training.
- Arena lacks the capability to edit documents within its interface and requires users to upload new versions of documents when changes are made. This makes it a bit more challenging to collect and implement reviewer feedback
- Arena's requirement tracking world does not have the proper functionality we need and was not useful for us.
I was only peripherally involved with the implementation process but it seemed like Arena provided assistance when needed to set up the system and help with troubleshooting.
November 23, 2020
Arena is currently only being used by one of the operating companies within my greater organization. It is used in the Quality Assurance department to manage Quality Systems including the document control process. Arena is a controlled database and does a great job of enforcing specific privileges when creating or editing electronic records. Quality records and documents often contain sensitive information that only specific personnel should access to read or edit, and Arena aids in solving that administrative problem with relative ease and usability.
- Enforcing functional approval to permanent changes to Quality System controlled documents. All affected personnel need to give timely notification and approval for document changes.
- Expediting the progression of a Change Order to a process document change. In the healthcare industry, it is imperative for the time between decisions and changes to be minimized, and Arena accomplishes this well.
- Requiring electronic signatures for submitting and approving changes. Tracking of user changes is important for both the internal record and external auditing purposes.
- The use of multiple workspaces can be more seamless. Sometimes related documents are in different workspaces, and so one must toggle between workspaces to cross-reference documents.
- Navigation of a Change Order can be difficult when saturated with information in Summary, Item, Files, Approvals>Decisions, and History>Status view. A single view can be dense with information and attribute options.
- By default, Notices at the top are enabled and can be distracting or unnecessary after one gets accustomed to the software. Perhaps a simplified view layout could be an option to more experienced users.
Arena was fairly quick and easy to implement. It was ordered with ample lead time to anticipate any possible delays, and it was implemented and deployed well within the allotted timeframe. The implementation team was very accessible and helpful in addressing any concerns we had in a timely manner. Most inquiries were answered by a member of the Arena team on the same day.
Arena is primarily being used by our entire company as a way to manage BOMs, parts, assemblies, and product sourcing. For us, it allows us to better track components and assemblies throughout the life of a project. It also allows us to manage our sourcing for purchased components.
- BOM management
- File legacy and revision management
- Product sourcing
- Costing
- More streamlined copying of BOMs.
- Improved linking of sourced components.
I was not a part of the initial implementation of Arena.
November 13, 2020
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.
I was not part of the Arena implementation team, but Arena took a few months and a lot of tedious work to implement. Previously, document numbers were tracked in a Microsoft Access database. All of that information had to migrate to Arena over a period of time, which made it difficult to create new numbers. There were multiple training sessions held, but most people learned how to use it by navigating through it themselves. Our implementation team did a great job.
November 10, 2020
We use Arena across the quality, regulatory and operations departments to control product design and manage the Quality System.
- Bill of material.
- Quality module - CAPA Workflow.
- Quality module - Risk Management File/Design History File/Device Master Record.
- The reporting interface is fairly weak. We export to Excel to organize and sort the data.
- Linkage could be improved. I'd like to ability to link to closed workflows within the Quality Module.
We implemented the BOM first and then added Quality Modules slowly over 5 years. It was easy to implement with minimal outside expertise.
November 10, 2020
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.
It was easy to deploy and train users on in a very short amount of time.
November 10, 2020
Our organization uses Arena all across different departments, from Design & Engineering to purchasing, manufacturing, and quality.
- Very robust in creating and maintaining Bills of Materials (BOM).
- Intuitive and easy to use ECO & ECR functions.
- Can keep all the necessary files for an item, including drawings, purchase specs, quotes, etc. in one place.
- The new version is slow in some browsers (I have tested in Opera, and the speed has decreased with the new update).
- There could be an option to review a 3D model inside Arena, instead of having to save a 3D model files and open it in CAD software.
- The interface could be more modern.
I was not in charge of implementation, but as a user, I found it easy enough to work without official training. In case of the need for more training, I found enough resources provided by Arena.
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
Yes, it was easy to deploy, we had some training sessions with our quality team to get used to the program, but it was easy to learn and navigate.
Arena is being used by approximately 50% of my organization plus one of our major account holders and both of our contract manufacturers. Arena is mainly used for new product engineering, but will be implemented in manufacturing in the future. The goal is to have full company adoption by the end of the next fiscal year.
- Integration with SolidWorks
- User-friendly interface
- Saved Searches
- BOM structuring that isn't arbitrarily alphabetic
- Bulk functions through the regular interface, not through imports of .csv
- Access configuration for external supplier users
- Allowing admins to view as other user levels
The implementation contact was very helpful during and after configuration. We were able to deploy Arena very quickly and our success manager assisted in every step of the way. This included direct contact, configuring our workspace to our needs and specifications, and uploading our first BOM to give an example as well as to make sure we had a proper baseline. I was very satisfied with the implementation team.
November 10, 2020
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.
The implementation was fair. We had functional interactions with our Arena rep, and he helped with a lot of the questions and transferring of legacy data into the system. The implementation was delayed a bit, but not by a large amount. We were satisfied with the implementation team, and our two administrators who received the training gave positive reviews and have helped get the rest of the organization up to speed. The implementation team was very accommodating and accessible.
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.
We are still in the implementation phase but it is going well so far.
December 08, 2020
We use Arena for quality control and is used across the whole organization. It helps us maintain our revision control and change control for effective backtracking of root cause and design verification and validation. It also helps us to keep check of equipment calibration and keep track of decisions pending approvals and helps maintain change control flow.
- Ease of customization and to establish a Quality system
- Excellent customer support
- Easy formatting
- Auto-generate numbers in a pattern
- Templates for BOM creation
- Integration with companies with different Quality system
Building and deploying Arena could be less intuitive. Introductory courses could help set up the system in a better way. An online tutorial to set up Arena from scratch could be helpful. It took a bit more time because of lack of resources who were familiar with Arena. An online tutorial of the whole setup procedure would be very helpful in educating people about setting up Arena.
It is being used across the whole organization (Marketing, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, Manufacturing, Sales, Finance, and Quality Control) as a document management system. It addresses the use of using outdated standard operating procedures and labels.
- T process of creating items and change orders, it is easy to use and very clear.
- Training Videos are very helpful, the help tab is very useful.
- The interface is very clean and easy on the eyes.
- Advanced search is very helpful.
- Drag-and-drop files directly into items.
- When I try to upload a file into an item and press cancel, then try again to add a different file in that same box and press done, the upload is not successful...I would need to delete that box in order for a the upload to work.
I was not involved in the implementation of Arena in the beginning, but I do perform Arena Validation reviews. The process is so much easier on our side because Arena provides proper and detailed validation paperwork. Thank you!
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
It took three months to deploy. It was not very easy to deploy because I was trying to learn how to use Arena as I was deploying it, but we made it work. Arena was a learning process, and it was implemented on time. I was satisfied with my implementation team.
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.
The import from raw SAP was easy and the integration with the right team members on board made it seamless between Arena and in-house experts on our side.
Arena PLM and QMS Scorecard Summary
What is Arena PLM and QMS?
Arena, a PTC business, helps companies to design, produce, and deliver innovative products quickly 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 1,300 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 accelerates new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI) by streamlining processes, automating review cycles, and reducing errors to increase profitability.
The vendor states that with Arena’s cloud solutions, internal teams and external partners can leverage a comprehensive product development platform to accelerate product launches while reducing expenses, increasing profitability, and speeding the time to market.
Categories: Quality Management, Product Lifecycle Management
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Arena PLM and QMS Integrations
NetSuite ERP, SAP Business ByDesign, SAP ERP, Microsoft Dynamics GP, QAD, rootstock, Kenandy, Zendesk Support Suite, SOLIDWORKS, Octopart, Expandable, SiliconExpert, Sage 100cloud (formerly Sage 100 ERP), Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV), Altium Designer, 1Factory, OrCAD, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (formerly Dynamics AX), Salesforce CRM
Arena PLM and QMS Competitors
Arena PLM and QMS Pricing
- Has featureFree Trial Available?Yes
- Does not have featureFree or Freemium Version Available?No
- Has featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?Yes
- Entry-level set up fee?Required
Arena offers flexible packages to fit your team’s needs ensuring you get the right capabilities to meet your specific business requirements so you never overpay. Our cloud-based PLM and QMS solutions include role-based subscriptions to meet your diverse team needs with the necessary security to protect your product information. Our fixed-fee QuickStart™ implementations help us deploy rapidly to provide the lowest total cost of ownership.
Arena PLM and QMS Support Options
| Paid Version | |
|---|---|
| Phone | |
| Live Chat | |
| Forum/Community | |
| FAQ/Knowledgebase | |
| Social Media | |
| Video Tutorials / Webinar |
Arena PLM and QMS Technical Details
| Deployment Types: | SaaS |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems: | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application: | No |