Straightforward PLM software
Updated November 19, 2019

Straightforward PLM software

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Arena

Arena is being used company-wide but mainly by the Hardware and Design department for tracking products, BOMs as well as NPI projects. It's a good tool for keeping track of any changes made during a product life cycle as well as sharing product/project information with customers and suppliers.

Pros

  • Possibility of setting approval flows.
  • Visibility of products across departments and cross-continent teams.
  • Tracking of changes.

Cons

  • Cannot be customized, it's a rigid software and cannot be adapted to all of our business needs.
  • Doesn't auto-create item numbers upon new import.
  • Improved Quality
  • Product Reputation
  • Third-party Reviews
It does the job, integrates with most ERPs, has good training available online
I was not the decision maker during the selection process.
It's a good PLM software, but if your company has any "special" processes, it's not well suited.

Lessons for Success

Using Arena

ProsCons
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Consistent
Quick to learn
Familiar
Do not like to use
  • Arena is not that customizable as a software, which makes it quite straightforward to use (due to its rigidity) but also means that some of the processes in your company might have to be adapted to the way the platform operates
  • Easy to configure approval flows (customers, suppliers approval included)
  • Platform is not flexible, if your company has a product life cycle / NPI process that doesn't comply to the universal best practices, Arena might not be for you
  • We found the quality module too stiff to use for our purposes

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