FOSTER CITY, Calif.--Arena Solutions (www.arenasolutions.com) reported last fall that its Arena PLM software is helping a number of clean energy companies accelerate the development of products for the wind, solar, and geothermal industries. Companies such as Nordic Windpower Ltd., SunLink Corporation, and Free Source Energies LLC--as well as others involved with transportation, storage, and conversion applications--are using Arena PLM to keep current products on schedule and speed new product introductions, according to the software developer.
“We're proud that Arena PLM is the product development backbone for so many clean energy companies working to decrease the world's dependence on fossil fuels,” said Craig Livingston, chief executive officer of Arena Solutions, in a news release. “The urgency for companies in this space is very real. With Arena PLM, instead of spending time and resources on expensive hardware and IT maintenance, clean energy companies can focus on speeding innovative, high-quality products to market ahead of their competition.”
Nordic Windpower Ltd., for example, implemented Arena PLM to accelerate the domestic and international rollout of its advanced wind turbines. The software has been instrumental in helping the company meet product launch goals, ensure the integrity of product data, and collaborate with contract manufacturing partners. “We're trying to make clean, sustainable wind power a more viable alternative by reducing its cost,” said Greg Mead, vice president of manufacturing and operations at Nordic Windpower. “Using Arena PLM, we can do it faster. Arena PLM streamlines processes and eliminates costly mistakes before they occur. We pass these lower costs onto our customers and ultimately will be able to expand production, distribution, and global use of this renewable energy source.”
SunLink Corporation, a major provider of highly engineered, aerodynamically designed solar electric mounting systems for the commercial market, chose Arena PLM to shorten new product introduction (NPI) times, collaborate more effectively with its supply chain partners, and better manage product revisions. Having Arena PLM for support in managing its design-through-manufacturing processes has allowed SunLink to focus more on boosting its competitive position and scaling to serve an industry poised to triple in three years.
“Arena PLM is helping us accelerate our time to market and improve our NPI project execution,” said Ranjan Prasad, director of operations and supply chain management for SunLink, in the release from Arena. “The software also ensures our entire supply chain has the revision information they need to build products on time and budget.”
According to Arena, every new product design brings “exponentially more documents to be managed across the extended enterprise and throughout the product's lifecycle.” Small- to medium-sized businesses have traditionally managed this information, the company says, with disparate applications, such as Microsoft Excel and QuickBooks. Arena PLM is said to provide a cost-effective way to replace an ad hoc collection of software with a single product record that's centralized across the extended enterprise. It connects employees, partners, and suppliers to engage in real time around engineering change, compliance, testing, and other design and manufacturing processes.
“To begin using the robust functionality of Arena PLM, we didn't have to make any big investments--no significant increases in headcount or operating costs,” said Laura Matykiewicz, of Free Source Energies, LLC, a developer of direct exchange geothermal units. “We pay as we go and get automatic software upgrades included in the price.
“The fact that Arena PLM is Internet-based is very significant,” continued Matykiewicz. “We can access it from anywhere, include partners and vendors in the process, and enjoy the benefits of PLM while keeping our IT and hardware costs low.”
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