So many easy ways it could be SO much better but, in my opinion, they refuse to improve
March 26, 2025
So many easy ways it could be SO much better but, in my opinion, they refuse to improve
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Arena PLM and QMS
Revision control of all parts, items, prints, drawings, etc.
Finished goods, plastics, electronics mostly
Pros
- I guess it is a positive that things don't just disappear out of Arena PLM and QMS
- At a high level it 'works' to manage item revisions
Cons
- In my opinion, the user interface is absolutely useless for doing anything with the data/info that is in Arena PLM and QMS.
- There are no ways to sort or organize anything. In my opinion, current search bar is the worst I have ever used in any tool.
- EVERYTHING has to be one externally in Excel etc. To me, just plain horrible.
- No way to view/compare two items.
- No way to view a BoM and the drawing for that item concurrently
- No way to copy a BoM to a different item
- UI will not scale to screen size. TONS of unused space on the screen, but since I HAVE to open two browsers to look at two items, that means I HAVE to shrink browser windows...but NOTHING re-sizes. Buttons, info, menus, all end up off the screen.
- I think it is REALLY bad!
- I think importing and exporting is really bad. VERY simple things will import OK (with multiple gotchas), but substitutes, alternates, reference designators, etc. ESSENTIAL items for electrical (or any complex) BoMs are not supported, and the resulting imports need TONS of manual corrections. In my experience, this entire process is RIFE for mistakes (exactly what a PLM is supposed to prevent and avoid).
- In my opinion, Arena PLM and QMS folks don't care at all about addressing the core functional and usability problems.
- In my experience, you will only get excuse after excuse from product managers, and customer care folks for the lacking features, and told to 'Use Excel' (Arena PLM and QMS is a database... being told to use excel to manipulate data in a database... tells us all how ridiculous this is).
- When updates happen, they only add some obscure feature that 1% of users might ever use (or color changes, or moving menus to confuse the user)... but, in my opinion, never any constructive or useful updates.
- See the (now closed) Arena PLM and QMS influencer's page. Arena PLM and QMS tried to make this about 'favorite x-mas songs', whereas users wanted to ask questions, try to find bug work-arounds, and ask for help from Arena (that never came). Result = page was shuttered because, in my opinion, it was not reflecting well.
- Change cycle time has increased for us. Mostly because Arena PLM and QMS makes it extremely difficult to compare items. BoM to BoM, BoM to print, etc. In my experience, it is all as obscure and difficult as possible.
- Sharing with supply chain partners is not benefited at all via Arena PLM and QMS. In my opinion, export options and formats are poor (get PDX out of here!!). There is no way to track 'Effective' to 'Completed'. In fact they are completely meaningless 'states' in Arena PLM and QMS.
- Integration with suppliers means nothing when suppliers don't want or care to use yet another program to get/view/import simple database information.
- Other
As far as I know, the only deciding factor was price. And we have learned that you get what you pay for :)
Been a long time, and it was called Agile then, and I did not use it a LOT, but my recollection was the interface was FAAARRR better than Arena PLM and QMS. Simple things like 'where uses' was a graphic with lines to all items/places where an items was used, including REF DES, etc. in the used assembly.
In my opinion, Arena PLM and QMS in comparison is really poor in this regard.
In my opinion, Arena PLM and QMS in comparison is really poor in this regard.
Do you think Arena PLM and QMS delivers good value for the price?
Not sure
Are you happy with Arena PLM and QMS's feature set?
No
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?
No
Arena PLM and QMS Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
None | Slow Resolution Poor followup Problems left unsolved Not kept informed Difficult to get immediate help Need to explain problems multiple times |
Not sure why we would pay extra, if nothing ever gets fixed or updated in a meaningful way for us.
Yes -
Dozens and dozens, over many years.
Not a single one has been addressed or fixed.
Using Arena PLM and QMS
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Technical support not required | Do not like to use Difficult to use Not well integrated Inconsistent Slow to learn Cumbersome Feel nervous using Lots to learn |
- Any sort of comparing, sorting, filtering, copying, pasting, importing, exporting.
Comments
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