I have been using it for the last three months, it required that I attended a one hour training to learn the ropes, after the training it was very easy and simple to work with it. It's the PLM tool I have ever used.

Since it works on the cloud, you don't need to invest in a dedicated computer server to operate it. It runs in Windows, iOS, Mac, and Android OS so I can easily switch from one device to another and keep track of the approvals on my documents. It's user friendly, which reduced the learning curve and allowed me to ramp up my productivity in a short time. You can upload several documents, and the system will merge them as only one, which is very useful. It's an excellent tool for document control, it helps me to update versions, and nobody has to worry about finding the new version, they only need to know where is the master document.

There are some process that has to be done manually, like for example when you request the approval of a document once all the approvers give the ok, the platform still requires that an administrator approves the process.

ARENA PLM has been a valued partner for us for many years. It helped us create products faster and reduced our time to market, not to mention the errors we preventing because having clear and correct BOM'S the first time was so critical to us.

Creating full product BOM's and parts on a daily basis with ARENA is really easy and fast. Using their great application and integration specialists also permits fast product imports when rolling out new products from a new partner or a new acquisition.

Some features would gains to be redundant in some areas, like BOM'S and parts world, it would ease new user learning curves and speed up creations

I like that things are in steps. Makes it easier.

Our old software let you put in a MPN and will basically create the part for you. I really miss that. Often I forget to add sourcing because it’s in a whole new tab. Also searching can be improved, outs hard to find the parts you want.

Overall it has been a very positive experience. It easily allows us to review part history, have a single source of truth for file releases, and provides easy to find/read/review BOMs. It also allows for a great amount of flexibility on release workflows and approvals, as well as easy to review sharing settings for releasing parts to suppliers

Arena easily allows for a single source of truth for parts, assemblies and related documentation. It provides a quick way to view part status, history, and release state and easily allows these parts to be shared with external suppliers. It allows for a complex linking of files between multiple parts, as well as being able to track parts through the development cycle

Setup, migration, and training were difficult. Some things still need manual interaction on a daily basis such as marking primary files. Integrations with external software such as Jira and SolidWorks are non-existant, and custom integrations need to be created and maintained. Workflows need to be manually created to match workflows in other systems.

Close integration with our Contract Manufacturers and Suppliers. Ability to link the PLM with Non-Conformances (NC), Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), and Complaints.

Ease of use, customization, integration with Arena QMS, CADTALK, Rimsys, and FlowEQ.

The Help Pages are text only; remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The above being said, I do feel we have realized benefits from using the system in the way of organization and being able to process changes in the way they should be.

I do like the Engineering Change function and that fact that with the change function as well as others you can attach files.

I do not like the fact that some of the features needed for quality functions have to be made in the Quality World and require alot of clicks for approvals, complete etc. Currently to set up annual procedure reviews we are having to set it up as a project for notifications to go out 1 year from last revision. One of the most troubling areas for me is that if something changes in one document, such as a revision to a stated value the system does not provide you a list of all documents that the value is found in as some other systems do. For Engineering I think a very good system; for the actual needed quality actions I feel there are some areas lacking. Also have not been able to find an escalation process.

Overall the experience is great, but the options are so extensive that it can be quite overwhelming at times. Due to this it would be great if a person could save templates for ECOs and DCOs for example, even at a corporate level, to help save time on repeated tasks.

I like the confidence in knowing that we are all working with the same documents and revisions, without a risk of misalignments between teams.

DCOs and ECOs should have pre-defined macros especially in terms of approval matrices.In addition, the fact that Arena does not integrate with SolidWorks is a shame, as we have to manually create files every time which is a time consumer.

Overall experience has been great. Arena support, Arena Help, and pagetips is are very helpful

Ease of use! Able to train users very easily

Searchability is a bit wonky and it causes users to be confused

So far so good. But there is a scope for improvement with regard to running reports.

I like the intuitive interface where you could dig deep in the BOM with regards to Sourcing, Where used etc..

The ability to run reports and the customization aspect of things. Also the lack of ability to add in columns with respect to the requirements of the company

The configuration possibilities, the compliance to CFR for electronic signatures

Bill of Materials versions management does not allows to have a picture of old revisions.

I have implemented Arena PLM over the years. The basic PLM information is easy to create and control. The new features and functionality always make for a centralized location for all information on Products in all lifecycle phases. Supplier access allows seamless communication for critical changes incorporation to product lines throughout various product lifecycles. Change Order/Deviation/ Corrective Action Request interface for contract manufacturer to collaborate actions to take on factory floor with critical actions for inventory dispositioning, for material planning and procurement. Centralized location for compliance documentation associated to items within a product. Workflow for Change Orders and Change Requests. Redlines for all Change Order controlled revisions on BOM's. The system is easily modified for unique requirements per company policies. Cloud application eliminates maintenance and hardware requirements which reduces IT cost. Incorporation of best business practices for the release and controlling all product data. New enhancements make this PLM a gem in a fast pace industry.

Ease of use and all the features to control changes of product lines. On cloud enhancements and maintenance done by software provider. Many ways to make this software

Spellcheck. Minimal issues

Ability to manage the product record and collaborate with supply chain partners

In the startup environment with fewer than fifty employee Arena is simple to deploy, maintain, and exceptional for collaborating with key supply chain partners. Arena's ability to scale with the growth of the company and our expanding supply chain is critical to our success. As the company evolves and grown to more that 200 employees, Arena can evolve and keep pace when your business model. The ability to add additional features such as Quality, speaks well for the capability of the Arena Solution to grow.

As an Arena system administrator and user I would like to see more flexibility to develop custom work flows. The stage one, stage two methodology is perfect for managing the review and release process gates. However, I need the ability to customize the workflow after the change orders has been released and locked. There is a need for review and approval after release with supply chain partners that can not be addressed and part of the Implementation process.

Revision control, products being fully tested, any product related approvals come from Arena. We have established this with our suppliers and email approval from [sensitive content hidden] no longer works. It has really saved us.

Where do I start? Arena has been a fantastic tool to get everyone working with the same data, it has helped eliminate silos and everything product related can be found in one location!

I think the admin side of things can be a little burdensome, but overall, I would still recommend it!

Arena PLM has been a core part of my work for over 5 years, it continues to improve with helpful features that improve user experience. I've never felt like I was forced to change my workflow with any of the updates, and if I need any help their customer service is excellent.

I really like the continual effort to provide more features and customer support to implement your PLM environment in a way that works for your company.

The only thing that I have a difficult time with is making editing multiple lines easily if all parts are rolling to the same status, but that's a minor issue.

Arena is a straightforward tool to learn and use.

The search feature within Arena is terrible and it seems to get stuck with Chrome and firefox unless cookies are deleted weekly. The search feature is limited to a limited "world", and gets stuck with limiters (e.g. search only within completed changes) that aren't apparent when starting a search. If you don't know the naming conventions used prior, Arena makes finding information time-consuming.

Arena has served us well as our PLM. It does what we need it to do!

The thing I liked most about the product was the ability to customize it to fit our needs. Once you understand how to use it the software can keep an excellent record of your product, parts, documents etc. that is easy to navigate.

The thing I like least about this product is the number of steps required to complete a task. Updating information for lots of items is cumbersome and the import tool that is meant to speed this up lacks documentation making it frustrating to learn. While I understand that some of this might be related to the flexibility that it offers there are a few features that could greatly improve efficiency, specifically related to making the same change to a large batch of items.

We primarily utilize ARENA for part and document management. The main feature of ARENA that makes it an efficient tool is the ability to easily connect related parts. If a new part is generated, it is very easy to build out a BOM and attach all relevant documentation. And from the other side, it is easy to locate these items when searching for a particular part. Generating new items and documents is simple and straightforward, and the reviewing system is simple to use (and includes notifications for those who need to complete reviews).

The search function can be tricky to utilize, and is occasionally glitchy. Sometimes searches for known item numbers of document names will return no results, and wild-card searches seem finicky at best. On occasion, the behavior of the Changes functions can make Revisions somewhat difficult. Depending on whether a change has been rejected or withdrawn, it is sometimes impossible to make further edits to a revision until that change is "deleted", even though it had already been rejected. So there are a few minor issues that can impact the ease of use of the system.

We predominantly use Arena for BOM tracking/DHF/DMR creation and maintenance, and quality. The experience for both has been great. Easy to use, clear rev control, and sign-off abilities were the stars of the show.

It is quite a bit more easy to use than competing products (once you get the hang of it). Everything is sorted into categories ("Items", "Requests", "Changes", etc.) so there's no one massive database one must search through. Prescriptive instructions both within the body of the website and in the instructions sections.

I wish the advanced search was a bit easier to use. Relies a bit on preexisting knowledge to use, i.e. when to use asterisks, etc.

Many useful features that allow for supported processes to be robust

many clicks needed to execute tasks such as adding items, adding files

I use the software since 2014 and I love it. As I already mentioned, it's super user friendly and it takes no time to work comfortable with it. I contact support service few times and received the feedback in less then 24 hours. I like that developers listens users inquiries and improve Arena in new releases. Also it's very important that they provide webinars before software updates and send video that Administrators can share to all users.

It's hard to say because the product is great. However I wish it would be less limitation with number of items mass uploading. For example sometimes our ECOs have more then 100 items but we can not upload more then 50 in one shot

When used by our team, most all love the ease of the system and the overall functionality.

Arena is easy to use and offers a detailed breakdown of our BOMs and tracks our change management with ease.

There are some features that can be improved upon but more so from an admin side and not from the user. It all in all is a very good tool.

Arena PLM is a friendly user tool.

The features I like most about Arena PLM is the software memorirzed what I searched so I do not need to re-enter the part number again. It is an excellent feature.

I need to set up correctly to get the correct export file in Excell format

Overall this is a really great product. The high level actions are easy to understand, and there are even graphics that can be used as specific inputs and outputs so that a presentation can have products rather than widgets. Also, the negatives of the strange statistical anomalies really are not a big deal. An experienced operations manager or engineer will know what to pay attention to and what is noise.

This program's biggest upside is its ability to provide a testing ground for potential upgrades, expansions, or new factories, facilities, etc. without needing to spend huge dollars on a physical pilot or building or the labor cost of a time study or statistical analysis from a Black Belt or other highly paid employee

Some of the random variables do not take into account reality well enough. I understand that true AI is not possible right now, but the fact is that purely statistics based tools can produce results that would never occur in the real world (i.e. A factory only attempts to build 3 units in an entire day and 3,000 the next day because it is possible in a Poisson Process).

Having used a different PLM before, I do like this one a lot better because of how straightforward and easy it is to use.

Ease of use, decent amount of customization, straightforward BOM/Parts and Documentation revision/tracking.

Some options/fields don't jive with other tools we currently use. Customization needs customer support though in some cases.

Overall the experience is good compared to other PLM software I used in the past.

Streamlined workflows. Being on the cloud not worry about updates.

Some features are hard to use, in particular when it comes to creating ECOs. We have a dedicated product documentation team to help with that.