Product Record
Provide persistent global access to a
centralized, revision-controlled product record.
Arena PLM enables even the most highly distributed organizations to ensure all product team members have access to current product information by providing persistent access to a single, revision-controlled product record containing all items, BOMs, files, costs/quotes, and sourcing relationships, (i.e., AVL / AML).
Free Recorded webinar
Leveraging On-Demand PLM for Rapid Growth: Insights from Ruckus Wireless
Learn how Arena PLM helped Ruckus manage its product record.
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Product Record Overview
Provide a Single Version of the Truth
Once invited to participate, authorized users have access according to role-based privileges that allow them to view, update or add to the product record. You can associate a virtually unlimited number of documents in any file format with an item and import or export information in multiple formats. Throughout the entire product lifecycle, Arena tracks complete change and revision history associated with your items and allows you to subscribe for automatic updates of this history. Now you will always know when a change occurred; making and it easy to identify the latest, most current version, of the product. Throughout the entire product lifecycle, Arena tracks complete change and revision history associated with your items and allows you to subscribe for automatic updates of this history. Now you will always know when a change occurred; making and it easy to identify the latest, most current version, of the product.
| Product Record Features | |
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Track an unlimited number of part-level attributes to fully define and strategically manage your items…more detail |
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Manage complex bills of material (BOM) using multiple views to help evaluate the indented product structure, sourced components, flat parts list or have the ability to define your own custom views that support your unique requirements…more detail |
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Capture and analyze material costs early in the development cycle, to make better design trade-offs that can significantly impact product profitability…more detail |
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Enable suppliers and partners to securely participate in product design processes across organizational and geographic boundaries…more detail |
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Assemble complete product documentation (including regulatory evidence records) and retain complete document revision history…more detail |
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Trace information and interaction history to evaluate requests and changes in the proper context…more detail |
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Innovative products rarely come out of a cookie-cutter approach to product development. Product managers need freedom to think out of the box, however, too often the result is loose-knit product management processes and product information spread across disparate systems.
Companies under competitive pressure to deliver new products to market faster and at lower price points, can't afford a miscommunication from having gathering information from multiple locations. These companies rely on expertise across departments and partners to outpace their competition; meaning the ability to intelligently manage product information becomes critical—in some cases, even more valuable than the product itself.
Arena PLM enables companies to standardize product information in a central, shared repository where it is managed and exposed to authorized users. By eliminating disparate sources of out-of-sync product data, companies maximize part reuse from preferred suppliers. Arena's repository serves as a central connection point to synchronize rapidly changing part and product structure information across systems. It helps reduce design errors while increasing the speed of information access. Perhaps most importantly, it allows product managers the flexibility they need to prototype and iterate designs without cluttering Enterprise Resource Planning systems with non-production parts and related data.
Communicate Changes and Easily Identify the
Latest Version of Information
Increasingly companies of all sizes are reaching out to suppliers, 3rd party design firms, and contract manufacturers for new ideas to improve their products and bring them to market faster. Even within their own organizations, product managers are inviting their counterparts in Procurement, Manufacturing, and Quality Control to participate more actively in design decisions throughout the product lifecycle, particularly early on.
The business challenge of managing multiple stakeholders quickly becomes a logistical challenge—how to keep everyone current on the latest changes; while retaining control over critical intellectual property. Paper documents are clumsy and become instantly outdated when components go obsolete or designs change overnight. In addition, once intellectual property leaves the company in the form of an electronic document, you lose all control over inadvertent disclosure to unauthorized parties—even months or years after terminating a relationship.
Arena PLM addresses these challenges by dynamically linking authorized users anywhere in the world to the latest product changes. Using only a web browser and Internet connection, users receive a notification anytime an item or assembly for which they are responsible changes: They can immediately access the latest revisions and documentation in complete historical context. Also, it’s easy to invite and manage access for new users, so companies can quickly add new partners to capitalize on changing opportunities anywhere around the globe.
Improve Efficiency and Control of Product Documentation
The emergence of various quality (e.g., ISO), industry (e.g., UL), and regulatory (e.g., RoHS) initiatives has forced many companies to take a critical look at how to manage significantly increased document administration overhead across multiple departments. In addition, customers with custom specifications are demanding more detailed product information, so building out a full product specification encompassing all documentation is more important than ever before.
Arena PLM provides easy-to-use tools to improve administration and multiple-user access to documentation. You can use full vaulting and edition control to capture current documents in a secure, centralized repository. This means all authorized users have fingertip access to current specifications and datasheets, manufacturing procedures, and evidence records.
