Foster City, CA — October 24, 2006 — Arena Solutions, a provider of on-demand product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions for manufacturing companies, today announced the availability of Arena PLM Fall '06.
The latest release of Arena's PLM application features integrated value-added services to enrich product data with dynamic reference content, improve bill of materials (BOM) accuracy and simplify collaboration across the outsourced supply chain.
First, Arena Solutions has added a new value added service into the Fall '06 application that enables manufacturers to integrate dynamic content from Avnet Prómiere directly into their Arena PLM solution through a point-and-click interface. Manufacturers can evaluate and integrate Avnet reference content within the context of their BOM in real-time, significantly improving the critical BOM scrubbing process. Avnet Prómiere offers a database of electronic component content through an existing content reseller relationship with IHS, a provider of critical technical information and decision support tools for a broad range of industries.
The content available from Avnet Prómiere includes both purchasability data from electronic component distribution company Avnet Electronics Marketing, and parametric and analytical data, along with documentation, from IHS. The combined content database consists of rich data for over 19 million unique electronic components, including end-of-lifecycle data, Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and environmental regulation information, product change notifications and part datasheets.
"A typical bill of materials can include thousands of components," said Michael Topolovac, CEO Arena Solutions. "If just one of those components is using outdated information, it can significantly impact product development. Now take that complexity and overlay it with an outsourced supply chain, where partners depend on having accurate data and you have a phenomenally bigger problem. With our latest release, Avnet and Arena are empowering customers to quickly identify data problems, improve data accuracy and proactively notify suppliers of any engineering change orders before it impacts their business."
Next Arena uses Skype Software to enable customers to instantly call and text chat with their co-workers, suppliers and partners within the context of their PLM environment.
"We are committed to simplifying and empowering more effective collaboration between manufacturers and their global suppliers," commented Topolovac.
Because Arena PLM is delivered on-demand, these feature and interface improvements are instantly available to all users.
