Arena PLM

[pdybeck]

Is there anyone out there using Arena PLM that would be willing to share their thoughts on the product. I have seen it advertised and am wondering how well does it integrate with PDM/Works? Can you use the custom properties on SolidWorks parts and assemblies to drive the information that appears in Arena, or eventually to an integrated ERP system? My company is currently on a kick where we don't want to have to enter information more than once, for example on the decsription custom property for our SolidWorks files and then again in our ERP system. It makes sense to have the custom property information in SolidWorks drive/propagate this to all necessary locations rather than re-typing. I get the feeling that Arena could facilitate a single point of entry for data. Is that true? Does Arena understand the BOM structure in a PDM/Works vault and then build it automatically within Arena? Can Arena then push this information to an ERP system? Any comments on the matter would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Pete Yodis
Harold Beck and Sons

 

[lorien]

Dont know about Arena but you should check out

http://www.d2order.com.

The is a fully intergrated solution for Design to Order type companies which provides integration with SolidWorks, design automation, PDM and an ERP solution for companies that are Contract Driven. The underlying strategy of the product is one point of entry and no rekeying of data. It also incorporates 'across enterprise' workflow.Where companies already have ERP it can use its data mapping toolset to pass BOM data without rekeying.

Hope it is of interest

 

[RobMacEwen]

Pete

You should definately take a look at Arena. It is a system that can ensure that there is one souce of the truth in your company when it comes to data. It is integrated with PDMWorks and can pass data to ERP systems.

I work for Javelin Technologies, the largest SolidWorks Reseller in Canada and we are constantly being asked to rep different product information management products. We think that the way Arena functions with respect to the design and authoring tools as well as ERP is the right way to do things.

We like Arena, and have decided to promote it, for the following reasons;

-It is very easy to deploy. Especially compared to other PDM/PLM applications.

-It has great a change management and workflow environment.

-It can manage all of your company's documentation.

-It has a low total cost of ownership for customers when compared to competitors.

-It doesn't replace PDMWorks, it builds on it.

-Finally, The team at Arena is of a very similar mindset and approach to the market as SolidWorks was when they got going. We think Arena is the SolidWorks of the "PLM" market.

So without getting into a detailed technical discussion here I would encourage you to give Arena a ring and see for yourself.

A couple questions I would ask you to think about.

-Where do you manage your entire BOM and part numbers now?
-What other tools create portions of the BOM? (ie ECAD etc)
-Are you outsourcing any manufacturing? How do you communicate with suppliers?

One thing I would say is that I am not so sure that you want PDMWorks "driving" a PLM system. The issue is that it is often not the only input to the BOM. Typically all the control happens at the level of the PLM application and tools like SolidWorks are used as inputs in a controled fashion.

I hope this helps a bit.