Arena PLM & QMS - Stellar Product
Updated March 22, 2023
Arena PLM & QMS - Stellar Product
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Arena PLM and QMS
Arena PLM and QMS is used primarily by the Operations, Engineering, Product Development Teams, along with our CM Partners. Arena ties all of our departments together to ensure everyone is on the same page with our product development, launch to market, and most importantly continual improvements. Without Arena, there would be no control as to how our product is configured and ultimately this could result in severe loss of revenue, lessen our consumer confidence, and our Quality team would find it very difficult, almost impossible, to track potential issues and risks.
- Extremely easy to configure, not cumbersome or overpowering, big plus with todays technology, meets your individual companies needs
- Onboarding Suppliers and CMs extremely effective ensuring our communication strategy is on track
- Cloud based, portable, access from anywhere, with no constraints
- Communicates in easy to understand nomenclature, straight forward, concise and clear
- Users can easily access information basically at their fingertips, without deep dives to try to find what they need. Tying reference items to each other ensures all the needed documentation is in one place.
- Would be nice to be able to add graphics and images on the change order specification page, for better clarify
- Implementation of a change after it is effective is lacking visibility, and has to be managed manually
- QMS could be a bit more streamlined, so there are not so many steps
- When an upgrade is done, it can change areas where you were not expecting to be changed and it may not be something I wanted changed
- When configuring an advanced supplier to an item, if that supplier is already configured, they should not show up as a new selection
- Duplicating an item, where the same supplier is used has an error when it is selected, few too many steps are added to get the results needed
- When adding users or suppliers to a change, their whole account information takes up a good majority of the screen, this is not needed, only the user name should be visible for easy access
- Approvers or comments only personnel used to be very easy to add, employees and suppliers are now separated, more steps involved, when it used to be simple and consice
- Our overall business objectives have improved ten fold, information has been communicated quickly and most importantly effectively
- Ensuring on time delivery of product to market, coinciding with our announcement of our product launch, no delays
- Quality has important information at their finger tips and can supply to needed departments quickly, and effectively, items are clearly defined and traceable
- Company information is all in once place, not on personal computers, or on a server that only a few people can access, tradeoffs are tremendous to ensure the integrity that the information stored is correct, and easily available
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
Myself and my director had used [Arena PLM and QMS] at other companies and were thoroughly impressed. Selecting Arena was like riding a bike again, no learning curve, look and feel was the same, no new training needed. Very easy for users to navigate, and training was a breeze. Same stellar support staff at Arena, questions answered quickly and clearly. Features are not too overwhelming, clearly state what is about to happen,
Yes, initial implementation was easy, Arena staff was stellar in ensuring information was imported correct. It was implemented as promised, on time, no hiccups, no issues, no problems at all. I was extremely satisfied with the entire Arena implementation team, and support after was equally stellar, they were there anytime I needed them.
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?
Yes
Did implementation of Arena PLM and QMS go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Arena PLM and QMS again?
Yes
I've used SAP, Agile in the past, for PLM, and unless the server is in your office, you cannot configure anything, and should it crash, you as the client are stuck until the issues are resolved. In my 15 plus years using Arena, there has only been one instance where the server was down, and the support team quickly resolved the issue with no loss or data or breach of any kind. Both PLMs are very light on what you can configure for your own company, most of it is out of the box, and you are stuck with it, whereas Arena Solutions gives you much more freedom to really tailor it to your company's specifics and what works for you.
Using Arena PLM and QMS
Indirectly, we capture all reports and pertinent documents only.
Arena can be access from anywhere, so the transition to WFH was very easy, no down time, or issues, room at my home became my work office in an instant! We were able to Zoom and share screens to talk about just about everything going on in Arena and elsewhere
Brought on board more CMs, expanded approval teams, and more new users as well. Added to our categories, created attributes specific to our business and the needs we have
You will not be disappointed!!!!
A bit limited at the moment, email tag back and forth for now, not sure I communicated clearly an issue I was having, and it is something only a document control person would understand, my success coach did not understand, maybe they have never used the product? Might be a good idea to have them do this, so they can better answer and address the issues their customers encounter
Lessons for Success
Since I had used it in a previous company, I knew its benefits, and was able to communicate them to my peers and get them excited about it as I was. Just dive in, the water's fine!!! Don't be afraid to configure a new path with something, it's all continual improvements!!
Opening multiple browsers with Arena in each one, makes it easier to toggle between items and changes or look for information, and not forget what I was working on. The items tab in an item, you can add another item as a reference, this is great for CMFs, reports, just about anything, this way it does not have to be on the BOM, but shows anything related to this item, I love this!
Get in there and go for it! Do not be afraid, try it, see if it is what you thought, if not, change it back, I typically keep a record of what the original change was for reference
Evaluating Arena PLM and QMS and Competitors
I would not change anything, Arena is stellar, and I already knew the advantages, so it was a no brainer to select them, win win for everyone!
Arena PLM and QMS Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Keep it simple and concise,not too many players either
- Dotting t's and crossing i's
- Reviewing the legacy data to ensure it's accuracy
- Not everything was setup as I thought it would be
- Had to do back ground configurating, and some didn't work as I expected
Arena PLM and QMS Training
Configuring Arena PLM and QMS
Just try something and see if it does what you thought it would do, if not, you can always change it back. I typically keep notes of what I am changing, in case I need to change it back
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
We have not done any
Arena PLM and QMS Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Need to explain problems multiple times |
No, did not, as the current support system in place is stellar, never an issue with resolving any issues I encounter, or if there is something I would like to see if it can be done, they pass on to their product team for consideration.
Sure, we had a new product in development, and we did not want to share the particulars with the entire user group, so Arena suggested creating a new workspace with only the select few users who needed to see the information. They walked me through the whole process and I was able to proceed with this new product moving though the design process, with very little downtime or snags, it worked beautifully, and it was a win win!
Using Arena PLM and QMS
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Item creation, creating new categories, creating new users, creating new approval groups
- I was asked to generate a list of our top level part numbers in Excel, not the BOM, just the part numbers, and after my search, was able to export these found items, and whalah, success!
- Basically exporting a BOM in Excel, pick and choose what I do not want to show, it's great, or if I needed a quick BOM for reference, can create it in PDF form
- Adding suppliers to a change for approval, along with users, too many clicks to get the desired result
- The Reports tab, really hard to get my desired results, so I don't use it
- The quick search bar is gone, lots of wasted space now, where in the past, everything was across the top, now, it's drop down, and not very user friendly
- Compliance, so we don't use it
Arena PLM and QMS Reliability
Integrating Arena PLM and QMS
- None at this time
N/A
- Yes, Solidworks
Not at this time, I contacted them, and said possible 6-9 months away
Relationship with Arena, a PTC Business
Number of users for discounts, maintenance afterwards
Not at this time
Upgrading Arena PLM and QMS
Yes - We had no choice, upgrades are automatic, and we have to take them, and cannot reverse them. This last one was not too good, as it removed some things that I used on a daily basis, our users were a bit confused, and I had to enlighten them, after I figured out what the upgrade did. It was not well received in our organization
- None that I can think of
- Hoping that some of the feedback I sent will be taken seriously and implemented