Menlo Park, CA - Arena Solutions released its Fall ’05 PLM updates this week, available immediately to new and existing subscribers. The latest release for the on-demand solution enables collaboration with suppliers; management of regulatory standards (such as RoHS, and WEEE); and customization options through a point and click, Web-based interface.

"We realize that PLM is a cross-enterprise application that involves multiple companies, all of which are affected by recent trends in outsourcing, the need to access the evolution of a products, etc.," CTO Erik Larkin told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY last week. "Multiple customers use it to access data, provide product records and engage with suppliers, and this 45th upgrade reflects the increased needs for collaboration, compliance management and customization."

The release also introduces Arena PLM Enterprise Edition, with increased customization; adaptable compliance management; advanced reporting features for product performance visibility; and integration into applications such as CAD, EDA and ERP.

Design for Compliance (DfC)

On-demand, scalable compliance management enables manufacturers to comply with current regulations, as well as pending and future regulations.

"Arena recognizes the increased public interest in regulations, which will extend past the upcoming RoHS deadlines," said Larkin. "Compliance management and documentation diligence are integrated into our solution, with all information available down to the design level to enable DfC."

"In today’s global economy compliance is not achieved in isolation, but through a collaborative effort between a manufacturer and their supply chain," Michael Topolovac, CEO, said in a statement. "[We] enable simplified collaboration and shared responsibility for product manufacturing across the entire value chain."

Web-Based Collaboration

The Fall release extends collaboration capabilities to address the earlier research and discovery phase of supplier engagement. Subscribers can find new supplier relationships via the Supplier Marketplace, an online directory of product design firms, CMs, component suppliers and fabricators.

User interface improvements are based on the latest Web standards including AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

Point and Click Customization

A simple, point and click interface allows companies to tailor their PLM to best match their product data and business processes - without having to pay high-customization costs or write a single line of code. Companies can customize their data model within Arena PLM to define and classify the unique nature of their products, down to the component level. They can also model business processes tailored to their best practices, such as product enhancement requests, new part number creation or even cost reduction improvements. Users can also organize and present information, such as BOM and item specifications, in customized views and forms.