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Arena: useful for cross-discipline configuration management
Updated March 20, 2023

Arena: useful for cross-discipline configuration management

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Arena PLM and QMS

Engineering and Supply Chain/Operations use Arena for product lifecycle management down to the component level. Arena allows us to have clear version control and traceability during development and into the production of multiple products and controlled exchange of data with suppliers.
  • Customizable attributes and multiple views/templates for things lets users with different focuses or work-flows tune their experience to best fit.
  • Redlining- showing changes in different views of an item between different revisions (not just consecutive revisions) is really helpful.
  • Saving advanced search filters as shortcuts on the dashboard is also really helpful- I just discovered this!
  • Flexibility in what files suppliers are allowed to see within an item
  • Trouble with exporting BOMs with component substitutions included.
  • I wish there was a view that lets you see all of the higher-assemblies an item is part of.
  • Good revision control has made work-flows more efficient.
  • Positive impact on NPI due to controlled channel for data exchange; fewer miscommunications.
  • Easy communication and exchange within our organization, no ambiguity or uncertainties about everyone being aligned.
N/A Arena was in place at my organization before I started this position.
N/A Arena was already in place at my organization when I started this position. I am told there was a learning curve for the company but everyone seems pretty comfortable with it now.

Do you think Arena PLM and QMS delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Arena PLM and QMS's feature set?

Yes

Did Arena PLM and QMS live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Arena PLM and QMS go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Arena PLM and QMS again?

Yes

Arena is the first PLM tool I have had direct interaction with. It's been a positive experience for me.
My experience using Arena so far to incorporate electrical components and synchronize the component database has been smooth sailing. Being able to automatically sync BOMs from our PCB design tool is a useful feature that also allows easy integration with supply chain and sharing with vendors. It seems the electrical design workflow has different needs from mechanical workflows, for example, where having flexibility with the revision control and numbering scheme becomes very handy (for example, a BOM for a circuit assembly may have components change but not the overall design- getting to name a rev however we want, 1.1, lets say, and not being locked into a fixed number or lettering scheme saves a lot of time and work so we don't have to go back to the design software and recreate the design output files with a whole new rev. This may have something to do with the particular way my organization has Arena set up, but it was nice to be able to find a compromise since mechanical items are not managed in that way.