Analyst Reports
Arena Solutions: Carving Out a High-tech Cloud PLM Software Niche
An article by Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) explores Arena’s recent technology development and how Arena’s “product development platform” addresses today’s changing production environment and challenges/opportunities like the Internet of Things (IoT).
In this article, you’ll learn the following:
- What global challenges make an all-in-one product development platform imperative.
- The cost of depending upon disconnected silo product development solutions.
- The power of the cloud to accelerating time to market for IoT companies.
- How Arena allows companies to view the bill of material (BOM), propose new engineering change requests and/or orders (ECRs/ECOs) as products evolve from concept through end of life (EOL).
Download today and discover why TEC says when it comes to evaluating solutions to maximize product development success, “Arena Solutions should be at the top of the list.”
All-In-One Product Development Platform
In the IDC Technology Spotlight, Digital Transformation Through a Product Innovation Platform, author Jeff Hojlo, Program Director at IDC Manufacturing Insights focuses on how, in today’s world of product innovation, development, and manufacturing, 3rd Platform technology (cloud, mobile, analytics, social) and innovation accelerators (cognitive, robotics, 3D printing, and IoT) are being applied for better meeting customer needs, faster time to market, and competitive differentiation.
Challenges manufacturers face include:
- Product, demand, and supply complexity, driven by the increase in electronic and software content (particularly for automotive) and the Internet of Things (IoT)
- Global expansion and competition with new market opportunities pursued by global and local players
- Mass customization and personalization of products where customers expect their own unique “flavor” of product
- Value-chain expansion as suppliers and partners become design and innovation collaborators
- Enormous increase in the amount of data that can fuel innovation, which is both a blessing and an enormous challenge
Cloud PLM: Market Evolution or Revolution?
Connected products are now in many industries including high tech, automotive, apparel, medical device, and health & fitness. To put the “smart” in smart products, manufacturers need to manage the development of software and printed circuit boards efficiently along with the development process. Due to the complexity of connected products, OEMs are planning to move to the next generation of product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions that IDC Manufacturing Insights calls the Product Innovation Platform.
This Technology Spotlight examines the opportunity for manufacturers considering the deployment of PLM in a cloud architecture. You’ll discover why many are moving to the next generation of PLM. Some reasons include:
- Product complexity, driven by the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected products
- Global expansion and competition
- Need to collaborate more efficiently throughout the product development cycle
- Mass customization and personalization of products
Is cloud PLM a market evolution or revolution? Read this IDC Technology Spotlight to discover why IDC Manufacturing Insights believes it’s a natural evolution of the PLM market.
All PLM Clouds Are Not Created Equal
The first document articulates there are clouds—and there are clouds. It showcases the differences between varying types of clouds (public and private) as well as delineates what is considered a world-class solution. Of no surprise to anyone, Arena offers users the aforementioned world-class solution. The work kicks off with a laymen’s definition of terms and then springs quickly into a deep technical discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each cloud type.
Arena Solutions: A Program Review
Originator of Multi-Tenant, Cloud PLM Makes the Solution Scalable for Largest Enterprises.
This paper is an overarching analyst review of Arena and its solutions. The purpose of the piece is to immunize us against the faint hearted objection of “no one ever got fired for selecting Oracle.” As all are aware, in many pursuits we compete against much larger competitors and occasionally an evaluator—who’s less secure in their job—will give Goliath the nod vs David even when facts suggest otherwise. This writing bolsters the evaluator’s confidence as it has the leading PLM authority affirm Arena PLM is ready for prime time, irrespective of the size of the manufacturer.
Why Quality Management Belongs in PLM
Quality Management System (QMS) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) are two proven disciplines that help companies improve quality and product profitability.
Unfortunately, these highly complementary initiatives are typically owned by different departments and managed as separate processes — this leads to disparate QMS and PLM systems implemented with little integration to support either quality and product innovation.
When companies bandage together silo’d systems, design processes are compromised and products suffer from serious costly quality errors.
Does Quality Management belong in PLM? Discover the answer by downloading this eBook. Read the first-hand story of four Arena Solutions customers whose businesses benefited significantly from having quality and product lifecycle management systems in a single unified solution.
In this eBook, Tech-Clarity clearly demonstrates how an all-in-one Quality and PLM solution enables companies to:
- Better manage their quality management processes and regulatory requirements
- Develop an accurate, cohesive view of the product and its history
- Focus on their core competencies: delivering world-class products, on time and on budget vs battling complex third-party vendor integration challenges
“A big advantage managing quality in Arena is the ability to link quality records to the part record and bill of materials (BOM). It’s not helpful having disconnected software systems for quality and product development where impacted teams don’t have cross-functional visibility. We contrasted both PLM and standalone QMS software solutions and costs. There was a cost savings for PLM, but the connected quality processes and links to the product BOM led us to select Arena, even before considering total cost. Since our initial implementation, we’ve improved complaint investigation duration and timeliness of CAPA management through process improvements supported by Arena’s product-centric quality management system approach.”
— Chris Hill | Director of Quality
