Arena Solutions provides cloud-based bill of materials (BOM) and change management software for small and midsize hi-tech manufacturers. Its suite of cloud applications, including BOMControl, PartsList, and PDXViewer, enable engineering, manufacturing, and their extended supply chains to speed prototyping, reduce scrap, and streamline supply chains. Engineers looking to streamline BOM creation and management will find important new functions in the fall 2012 release of Arena Solutions’ cloud-based BOMControl system. Read the rest of this entry »

Arena PLM is moving further into the area the company is good at, and leveling the playing field for smaller hi-tech/electronics firms to be able to play with big boys. Read the rest of this entry »

Part I of this blog post analyzed the white paper entitled “Manufacturing Outsourcing: Seven Common Pitfalls to Avoid” , authored by Symphony Consulting and Arena Solutions. It also established an intrinsic connection with product lifecycle management (PLM) software technology as a global sourcing collaboration enabler.

Indeed, several macroeconomic trends seem to be helping the PLM market, starting with the rampant offshoring of facilities and/or expansion of outsourcing and contract manufacturing overseas. There are also escalating mergers and acquisitions (M&As) within multiple business sectors and the inexorable spate of regulatory and compliance mandates within many industries and geographic regions.

This dovetails into the relentless pressure for companies to innovate and bring ever more functional (if not even “ever-cooler”) products, that have ever-shorter lifecycles, ever more quickly get to the market, and thus differentiate, especially in the electronics/high-tech and consumable packaged goods (CPG) sectors. Read the rest of this entry »