CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
3 October 2007
Implementation Investments
iRex Technologies Selects Arena PLM as a Pillar for Their Success in Bringing Game-Changing Electronic Paper Technology to Market
Arena Solutions announced that iRex Technologies BV, the Netherlands-based inventor of electronic paper-and one of the most innovative electronic readers and digital sketchbooks on the planet, has selected Arena PLM to improve communication with its contract manufacturing partners and thus, streamline its product development process, reduce errors and increase the speed at which they can deliver their products to market and meet the high-level of customer demand. The company evaluated several competitive products and selected Arena PLM, after participating in its try-and-buy program, because of its on-demand delivery, lower cost of ownership and ease of deployment and use-requiring no additional hardware or IT staff.
The company, iRex Technologies BV, was launched out of consumer electronics giant Royal Phillips to commercialize its Electronic Paper Display technology which had been researched for decades. The team of specialists at iRex uses their expertise to create cutting edge electronic paper products for personal and business use. The company will rely upon Arena PLM to centralize their product information and automate key collaboration processes, including compliance management and engineering changes and requests. The company will use the analytical tools in Arena PLM to gain instant visibility into the product, project, and compliance status for their iLiad product, the company's portable electronic device that is being adopted by users around the world who appreciate the convenience of being able to sketch ideas just like they would on paper and carry volumes of books and other reading materials in a single source, much like the Apple iPod did for consumers' music libraries.
"Without the right tools, it would be impossible to produce the number of iLiad products that consumers are demanding from us in a cost-effective way," said Kees Gommers, director of operations and supply management for iRex. "Arena PLM provides us with the PLM infrastructure that lets us work more effectively with our supply chain partners, without requiring any additional IT expenditure or a long, drawn-out implementation effort or steep learning curve on our part. Instead, it was easy and cost-effective. Arena PLM is a critical tool that will support us in bringing iRex's award-winning products to market and to continue staying in the forefront of the main players in this market.
With on-demand Arena PLM, iRex will enable its extended teams to interact transparently with each other regardless of geographic or organizational boundaries. By centralizing the company's product information, iRex will be able to streamline communications, thus reducing the incidents of errors and unnecessary rework.
"At iRex, we knew PLM was an important investment to help us better work with our supply chain partners, but we were worried about the risks associated with the lengthy deployment of traditional client/server software," said Daniel Wiermans, the senior electronics engineer who led the evaluation of PLM solutions for iRex . "Arena Solutions' was unique in that they worked with us to validate the application in our environment and actually let us try the solution with our own data before we made our investment. We were up and running faster than I ever expected."
"Arena PLM is a perfect fit for iRex Technologies. Like every other manufacturer I know, iRex couldn't tolerate the disruption and lengthy downtime associated with traditional client/server PLM implementations. But, the company needed the efficiencies and control of a full-featured PLM solution. We offered them both, with the added benefits of it being on-demand and affordable. The fact they were also able to try Arena PLM with their own data before buying it and see the benefits immediately certainly helped, too," said Michael Topolovac, chief executive officer of Arena Solutions. "We look forward to a long successful relationship with iRex and are delighted to support them as they change the game in the electronics market where they have significantly advanced the technology, and deliver their innovative products to their customers faster and more efficiently than ever before."
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